First Thing: Trump-backed Ken Paxton ousts John Cornyn in Texas primary

The WFP says 363 million people around the world are now at risk of acute hunger, 45 million of them as a result of conflict in the Middle East and the consequent oil price spike. It comes against the backdrop of two famines declared in 2025, in Gaza and Sudan.

• How much has funding declined? The WFP’s funding was cut last year by a third, with the US, the largest donor by far, decreasing its contribution by more than half.
• How does the US-Israel war on Iran affect famine? Most directly, it drives up food prices, mostly because of transport costs, but some aid routes have also been blocked.

South Carolina Republicans defy Trump again to reject rapid redistricting drive

Lawmakers during a redistricting debate in the South Carolina legislature in Columbia last week. Photograph: Jeffrey Collins/AP

Republican lawmakers in South Carolina have defied Donald Trump and rejected an aggressive effort to gerrymander the state’s congressional districts ahead of November’s midterms.

In a 26-18 vote, state senators rejected mid-decade redistricting in a special session of the legislature, shooting down an attempt to split up the Democratic congressman Jim Clyburn’s district.

The proposal would have cancelled the congressional election, for which early voting began on Tuesday, and rescheduled it with new district lines that would have significantly reduced the number of reliably Democratic voters in Clyburn’s district.

• How many Republican senators voted with Democrats? Fourteen of South Carolina’s 34 Republican state senators voted with Democrats against the redistricting bill.

In other news …

Experts have questioned the Trump administration’s justification for pausing weapons sales to Taiwan, saying the transfers are unconnected to the Iran war. Photograph: Ritchie B Tongo/EPA

• The Trump administration’s war against Iran should not affect arms sales to Taiwan, experts have said, after a US official suggested that a pause in the delivery of a key weapons package was due to the conflict.
• The US military launched another strike on Tuesday on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one man and leaving two survivorsSince the US began its campaign against alleged drug-smuggling boats in Latin American waters in September, it has not provided evidence that any of the vessels were carrying drugs.
• Iceland’s foreign minister has said she fears her country faces a “Brexit moment” in its approaching EU referendum amid warnings over misinformation, foreign interference and AI.
• The Russian government has told top banks they should shoot down Ukrainian drones themselves, as Kyiv’s forces target infrastructure used to carry out and fund the war.

Stat of the day: The average female face is rated more attractive than about 60% of male faces

The research gathered together the world’s largest dataset on facial attractiveness, drawing on 52 studies in 76 countries. Photograph: AleksandarNakic/Getty Images

The average female face is rated more attractive than about 60% of male faces, a new global study has found. Both men and women rate the average female face as more attractive than men’s, but the perceived gap declines with age, researchers said.

Well actually: I’m a sex educator – here’s why I don’t define sex at all

Using a singular definition of sex indirectly affirms that there is a right and a wrong way to have sex. Illustration: Donnie O’Donnell/The Guardian

Maya Walsh-Little, a sex educator, asks a seemingly simple question at the beginning of her classes: “What is sex?” She argues that no matter how much knowledge you have about sexuality, it can be useful to investigate your ideas about it. “Using a singular definition of sex indirectly affirms that there is a right and a wrong way to have sex, and right and wrong roles to play during sex,” Walsh-Little writes.

Don’t miss this: The agony of losing your furniture as well as your soulmate

Illustration: Vaso Michailidou/The Guardian

Breakups are bad enough, but have you ever also lost all your furniture in the process? For cohabiting couples, dividing the apartment’s furnishings, appliances, as well as decorations and other items, can be costly – economically and emotionally.

Climate check: Climate crisis is accelerating antibiotic resistance across world, study says

Rising temperatures and altered rain patters amplify the antimicrobial resistance genes in pathogens such as salmonella, the researchers said in a study. Photograph: Janice Haney Carr/Centers for Di/PA

The climate emergency is worsening a global rise in antibiotic resistance that poses a serious threat to human health, according to a study showing the crisis was associated with a 10% global increase in salmonella antibiotic resistance genes between 1940 and 2023. While antimicrobial resistance is mainly driven by the overuse of antibiotic drugs, the research suggests that rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns can influence the spread and mutation of bacteria.

Last Thing: How Japan’s feline fixation has become an industry worth billions

Yanaka Ginza, a neighbourhood in north Tokyo, is seeing a tourism boom fuelled by its historical association with cats, Japan’s most popular pet. Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

The influence of cats is evident across Japanese society, with one neighbourhood in Tokyo even nicknamed “cat town” for its historical association with felines. Now a report has credited the animals with generating an expected ¥3tn ($18.8bn) in value to the Japanese economy this year in a phenomenon dubbed “catnomics”.

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