Good morning. Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general who received President Trump’s endorsement in the state’s U.S. Senate race, easily won yesterday’s Republican primary runoff, defeating the establishment incumbent, John Cornyn. In a stark display of Trump’s hold on the party base, Paxton was the second primary challenger to knock out an incumbent Republican senator in less than two weeks. There’s more political news below. I’m going to start today, though, by checking on three stories from around the world.
This is a cease-fire?The pause in fighting between the United States and Iran may be shaky. But the United States still calls its strikes against Iran this week “self-defense,” and officials declare they’re “using restraint” in their attacks on Iranian speedboats and missile launch sites. They say they’re close on a deal to end the war. There’s no such restraint in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which is also technically under a cease-fire, though there has hardly been a cease in fire. Israel pummeled the Iran-backed group yesterday, hitting targets across Lebanon and pushing deeper into the country. “We are at war with Hezbollah,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday night, adding that he had ordered the military to “press on the pedal even more.” What that looks like: Yesterday’s Israeli strikes killed at least 31 people in Lebanon, the health ministry there said. Strikes earlier in the week killed at least 11 people, including two children, the ministry also said. (Israel says it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure.) Israel also issued an evacuation warning for Nabatieh, one of the largest cities in southern Lebanon — a sign that airstrikes there could be imminent. Hezbollah, for its part, said yesterday that it had launched drone and rocket attacks on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. There, the cease-fire looks a lot more like a hot war.
It’s hot in Western Europe this week. It was over 95 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday in London. It was over 90 in Bordeaux. Madrid’s bound for the same this week, forecasters say. And summer hasn’t even started. The heat wave came far earlier than normal. In Britain, the average high temperatures in May are around 59 — few were expecting those digits to flip yesterday. That’s dangerous. Extreme heat can cook you, more quickly than you think, and those who have chronic conditions like kidney disease or hypertension are at extra risk. Heat waves in Europe have become more frequent and more severe recently, as scientists point to a rise in global temperatures brought about by the burning of coal, oil and gas. A study yesterday blamed the high temperatures in Western Europe this week on “human-driven climate change.” In Madrid, one woman talked to The Times about the furnace-like conditions. She recited an old Spanish proverb that says “you shouldn’t pack away your winter clothes until the ‘40th of May,’” meaning early June. “Well, that saying makes no sense anymore,” she said.
I love finding a surprising number in The Times, some figure that informs beyond its series of digits. Today’s is worth dwelling on for a moment: 2.4 trillion— That is how many cigarettes are sold in China each year, nearly half the global total. Xi Jinping, the country’s president, may have quit smoking years ago. But his government hasn’t done much to help its constituents join him. Cigarette sales are falling in most countries. In China, the numbers are going up. Smoking there rose 39 percent from 2003 to 2023, even as it fell 26 percent in the rest of the world. And while younger people are smoking less, older ones are smoking more, in part because it’s an inexpensive habit in China: A pack costs roughly $3. In contrast, if you want a pack of Marlboro Reds at my local bodega? That’ll be $20. Joy Dong, who reported on all this from Hong Kong, says it shows how powerful China’s state tobacco company is. It’s a literal monopoly: A single agency both regulates the cigarette industry and makes most of the smokes. The government’s brand, the China National Tobacco Corporation, generated roughly $244 billion in profit and tax revenue in 2025. That’s about 7 percent of national government revenue and nearly what China says it spends on defense. Big numbers!
Redistricting
More on Politics
War in the Middle East
Around the World
Other Big Stories
Workers have started building the structure pictured above outside the White House. What is it for? (Click an answer to see if you’re right. The link will be free.)
Even students who don’t use A.I. to write might use it to brainstorm. That choice can erode their creativity, Rebecca Winthrop writes. Here are columns by Bret Stephens on the risks of a deal with Iran and Thomas L. Friedman on Trump’s miscalculations in the war. Morning readers: Save on the complete Times experience. Experience all of The Times, all in one subscription — all with this introductory offer. You’ll gain unlimited access to news and analysis, plus games, recipes, product reviews and more.
Camp vs. class: The organizers of London’s prestigious Chelsea Flower Show temporarily lifted a ban on garden gnomes. Cue the controversy. In Hollywood: The rich and famous all have assistants. But after Matthew Perry’s injected him with ketamine, killing him, some are wondering what the limits of their duties are. Custody battle: A couple started I.V.F. and then split. Who gets the embryos? Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about Ferrari’s new electric vehicle.
N.H.L: The Vegas Golden Knights swept the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference final with a 2-1 victory in Game 4 of the series. N.B.A.: The Oklahoma City Thunder bounced back from their worst game of the season to beat the San Antonio Spurs 127-114 in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals. Tennis: Naomi Osaka debuted her latest couture-inspired outfit for her first-round French Open win. Follow our live coverage of the tournament.
You can keep chopping your rhubarb and reducing it into mush on the stovetop. That’s a fine way to cook the stalks. But if you roast rhubarb instead, you get a similar softness without losing too much shape, which I really like when I stir it into yogurt in the morning. (Rhubarb’s great on pound cake, too.)
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