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Good morning.

Topsy-turvy Brexit politics and tensions in Hong Kong will likely simmer through the weekend, while India aims for the moon.

By Alisha Haridasani Gupta

Lawmakers shift to the next Brexit fight

With a bill stopping a no-deal exit from the E.U. on its way to becoming law, the British Parliament pivoted to the next big question: general elections.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was expected to call for a snap election on Thursday but was essentially blocked by an opposition split not over whether to hold the vote, but when.

What’s next? The bill is now with the unelected House of Lords, which is expected to approve it by Friday evening. If passed, the bill could get a final sign off from the queen on Monday.

Boris Johnson: His actions in the past few days, from suspending Parliament early to kicking out rebel Conservative lawmakers, have decimated the narrow working majority of his party from 1 to minus 43.

His take-no-prisoners approach also led to the resignation of his brother Jo Johnson, a Conservative lawmaker and government minister.

Analysis: Mr. Johnson’s gambles may actually work in his favor, write our Interpreter columnists, and his defeats “may have been the best thing that could have happened to him, politically speaking.”

Mobile phones being charged in a makeshift shop at a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh. Bernat Armangue/Associated Press

Rohingya Muslims brace for a blackout

About one million Rohingya Muslim refugees who had fled ethnic cleansing in Myanmar are on the verge of losing cell service, one of their few links to the outside world.

Citing state security and public safety, the Bangladeshi government has threatened to impose a communications blackout on Sunday at the camp housing them, the world’s largest.

Context: The Bangladeshi government wants to return the Rohingya to Myanmar and has declined to categorize most of them as refugees, costing them the rights that come with the designation.

Reports from the camp say that mobile internet service has already been disrupted at night and early in the morning, and a night curfew keeps aid workers and others out.

A protester in Hong Kong last month. Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times

China weaves a U.S. conspiracy in Hong Kong

There’s a wealth of reporting showing that the demonstrations against Beijing’s broadening control in Hong Kong have been largely leaderless.

But in state media and official statements, the authorities in China are building the case for American orchestration. They have also expressed their suspicions privately in meetings with U.S. counterparts, according to officials from both countries.

The evidence? Images of protesters waving the U.S. flag and statements of support from congressional leaders in Washington.

Analysis: China has a long history of blaming foreign forces for internal disputes, including the Tiananmen Square protests 30 years ago. Analysts say that the ferocity of China’s current finger pointing reflects an increasingly anxious leadership.

What’s next: Demonstrators intend to carry on with protests this weekend, and have plans to disrupt the airport again on Saturday.

If you have some time, this is worth it

No one told you life was gonna be this way

Rozette Rago for The New York Times

“Friends,” believe it or not, turns 25 this month. With one of the best casts in TV history, the comedy ran for an entire decade, typically had around 25 million to 30 million viewers a week and still somehow resonates today.

Our salute argues that quirky Phoebe Buffay was actually the most grounded of the beloved sixsome, explains why a reboot is highly unlikely and notes that some of the biggest fans today are younger than the show.

Do you love the Morning Briefing and want to help our journalists seek the truth? Support The New York Times for $2 a week.

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Here’s what else is happening

India: The Chandrayaan-2 will attempt to touchdown on the lunar surface on Saturday, potentially making India the fourth country to land on the moon.

Hurricane Dorian: The death toll in the Bahamas, now 23, is expected to rise as floodwaters recede and rescuers are able to sift through the storm’s devastation. The storm is lashing the Carolinas as a Category 2, with rain, strong winds and tornadoes, and forecasters warned of eight-foot storm surges.

U.S.-China trade: Stocks around the world rose on Thursday after officials from Beijing and Washington said that stalled negotiations would restart in early October — the 13th round of talks. But the talks would take place after new American tariffs kick in, making it even more difficult to reach a consensus.

Nissan: The chief executive, Hiroto Saikawa, said he had received higher compensation than he was entitled to — but not knowingly.

Taiwan: The Solomon Islands is said to be considering severing diplomatic relations in order to establish ties with China, the biggest buyer of its exports. That would leave just 16 countries that officially recognize Taiwan’s government and not the Chinese government in Beijing.

Japan: A train derailed after colliding with a truck in Yokohama, killing at least one person and injuring dozens of others. It was a rare accident for a country that boasts one of the world’s best rail safety records.

WeWork: The parent company of the co-working spaces operator is considering reducing its $47 billion valuation by tens of billions of dollars ahead of its initial public offering, according to two people familiar with the situation.

Amazon: The e-commerce giant has built a vast logistics network in the U.S. — including hiring contractor drivers across the country — to deliver goods ever more rapidly. A joint investigation between The Times and ProPublica found that the speed comes at a price: accidents that result in serious injuries and deaths.

Kasia Strek for The New York Times

Snapshot: Above, Maurice, the most famous rooster in France, with his owner. A court ruled that Maurice has the right to crow to his heart’s content from his resort-island home, disappointing some vacationers but affirming the country’s eternal rural values.

What we’re watching: “GLOW,” on Netflix, a series that turns 1980s women’s wrestling into Pop Art. “You definitely should watch it, and Netflix should renew it,” our TV critic James Poniewozik says. “But if they don’t pick it up, ‘GLOW’ should totally go to Vegas.”

Now, a break from the news

David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Vivian Lui.

Cook: Grab a bag of tortilla chips and some cowboy caviar (it’s not as fancy as it sounds).

Listen: The duo 100 gecs’s debut album, “1000 gecs,” smashes electro-pop, dance music and dozens of other rapid-fire reference points into something exhilarating. It’s a Critic’s Pick.

Read: “Ducks, Newburyport,” a new novel by Lucy Ellmann that was recently shortlisted for the Booker Prize, runs 1,000 pages. It’s mostly made up of a single 426,100-word sentence.

Smarter Living: Phasing out old-style light bulbs in your home can lower your electricity bill — and help the environment. Our Climate Fwd: newsletter looks at how the bulbs have lowered household energy use in the U.S. (though the Trump administration aims to relax rules requiring them). Pro tip: LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are the most efficient bulbs on the market, and they last the longest — up to 25 years.

And if you’re heading out on vacation, doing a few errands and chores before you leave can make coming home far more pleasant.

And now for the Back Story on …

A milestone in shopping

When Piggly Wiggly opened its doors on this day in 1916, grocery shopping changed forever.

The Memphis business was one of the first self-service groceries. Customers could fetch and compare items themselves rather than wait for clerks to, um, wait on them.

It quickly became the standard.

A newly opened Piggly Wiggly supermarket in California in 1962. Allan Grant/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images

The store became a national chain, making its inventor, Clarence Saunders, a tycoon. His Pink Palace Mansion is a Tennessee landmark.

But by 1923, he was involved in a bitter dispute with the New York Stock Exchange. He’d cornered Piggly Wiggly stock in retaliation for traders shorting it. The fallout resulted in a slew of lawsuits and his ouster from Piggly Wiggly.

“They have it all — everything I built, the greatest stores of their kind in the world, but they didn’t get the man that was father to the idea,” Saunders said. “They have the body of Piggly Wiggly, but they didn’t get the soul.”

His next venture was a little too far ahead of his time. His “Keedoozle” stores tried automating shopping — eight decades before Amazon opened its automated store.

That’s it for this briefing. I’ll be there for you (when the rain starts to pour).

— Alisha

Thank you
To Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Nadav Gavrielov wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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