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Russia, Sean Hannity, Kendrick Lamar: Your Tuesday Briefing

Training at a self-defense camp in New Delhi. The class is part of an initiative to address sexual assault, an issue that has long been pervasive in India but is seldom discussed.Credit...The New York Times

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Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

• President Trump rejected new sanctions on Moscow on Monday, a day after the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. said that Washington would impose penalties on Russian companies that helped Syria’s chemical weapons program.

By overruling his advisers, Mr. Trump highlighted what analysts say is an inconsistent strategy toward Russia. He says he wants a good relationship with President Vladimir Putin.

In Britain, Prime Minister Theresa May defended American-led airstrikes on Syria but was accused in Parliament of acting on “the whims of the U.S. president.” Weapons inspectors hoping to assess the site of a suspected chemical attack near the Syrian capital were denied access.

Separately, the U.S. and Britain warned of possible cyberattacks from Russia involving internet routers in homes and businesses.

• The fight over what to do with materials seized last week from President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, landed in the lap of a federal judge in Manhattan on Monday.

Judge Kimba Wood didn’t agree to let Mr. Trump review the 10 boxes of documents and roughly dozen electronic devices before prosecutors do. But she didn’t say prosecutors would get the first look either. Discussions are to continue.

The day’s biggest surprise came when, to audible gasps in the courtroom, the Fox News host Sean Hannity was named as one of Mr. Cohen’s clients. Mr. Hannity denied it, saying that he had never paid Mr. Cohen for his services and that their discussions were brief and centered on real estate.

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Sean Hannity in 2016. On his prime-time show Monday night, he said, “My discussions with Michael Cohen never rose to any level that I needed to tell anyone that I was asking him questions.”Credit...Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press

Separately, we looked at what effect James Comey’s book tour — and his pointed critiques of Mr. Trump — might have on the former F.B.I. director’s image as a principled professional.

• The treatment, which unleashes a patient’s immune system to kill malignant cells, has been making gains against a number of cancers.

A major new study shows that adding immunotherapy to the standard treatment of chemotherapy greatly improves the odds of survival for people with the most common type of lung cancer.

“I’ve been treating lung cancer for 25 years now, and I’ve never seen such a big paradigm shift as we’re seeing with immunotherapy,” said one doctor who was not involved in the study.

• Under the leadership of Jerry Falwell Jr., Liberty University has become a powerful force in the conservative movement. The evangelical school in Lynchburg, Va., is now a requisite stop for Republican presidential candidates.

Its growth has largely been driven by online learning: By 2015, Liberty was the second-largest provider of online education in the U.S.

The Times collaborated with ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative-journalism organization, to look at the forces behind Liberty’s rise.

• “At this time, girls aren’t safe,” a 16-year-old in India told our correspondent. “Men treat us like we aren’t human.”

After a rash of brutal sexual assaults across the country, women and girls are signing up for free self-defense classes taught by the New Delhi police.

The initiative also includes a course called “gender sensitization for boys.”

The Daily Poster

Listen to ‘The Daily’: Trump’s Fixer

For months, the federal investigation into possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia focused on Washington. Now, the inquiry has led back to New York, and to Michael D. Cohen.

Republicans hoped to make their $1.5 trillion tax overhaul the centerpiece of the 2018 midterm elections. But many Americans, including President Trump, have lost interest.

(Speaking of taxes, if you haven’t filed your return yet, get on it. Today’s the deadline.)

Tesla is stopping production of its Model 3 to try to work out kinks that slowed assembly of the compact car.

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With a starting price of $35,000, the Model 3 is supposed to be Tesla’s most affordable and top-selling car.Credit...Joe White/Reuters

China, which has been in a growing trade dispute with the U.S., made a peace offering today: It said it would drop requirements this year that electric-car companies operating in China find local partners, and that the rest of the auto industry would follow.

U.S. stocks were up on Monday. Here’s a snapshot of global markets today.

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

Learn to forgive yourself.

How to make mac and cheese.

Recipe of the day: Tonight, try a riff on the banh mi sandwich, with crab cakes.

This land is his land

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has opened millions of acres of public lands for development, emerging as a leading figure of the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back environmental regulations.

He has struck a different note in his home state, Montana, however.

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The Upper Missouri River Breaks, a national monument in Montana that Ryan Zinke has urged President Trump to protect.
Credit...Danita Delimont/Getty Images

A viral cascade from the sky

Viruses play an essential role in the ecology of the planet, but scientists still have only a rudimentary understanding of their impact and origin.

#MeToo and Russia

Two of the biggest stories of 2017 led to Pulitzer Prizes on Monday.

The Times shared prizes with The New Yorker for reporting on sexual harassment by powerful men, and with The Washington Post for coverage of President Trump’s possible ties to Russia.

The Times also won a Pulitzer for editorial cartooning. See our winning work and a full list of winners (including the rapper Kendrick Lamar).

Best of late-night TV

A glass of red wine in hand, Stephen Colbert reacted to the news that Sean Hannity was a client of President Trump’s personal lawyer.

Quotation of the day

“All of those statements reflect the political talk in 2016. There is nothing in that document that is outside the political talk going on.”

Melody Brannon, a lawyer whose client is one of three men accused of planning to bomb an apartment complex in Garden City, Kan., where many Somali immigrants live.

The Times, in other words

Here’s an image of today’s front page, and links to our Opinion content and crossword puzzles.

What we’re reading

Recommended by Alan Henry, an editor for Smarter Living: “This article on Vice’s food site, Munchies, is a long, fascinating look into the history of freeze-dried foods, and how the ‘prepper’ movement is leading to big sales. The writer lived off doomsday rations for a full week — something I hope to never have to do!”

Each week, The Times’s crossword column, Wordplay, highlights the answer to one of the most difficult clues from the previous week’s puzzles.

This week’s word: babas.

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Baba au rhum, a rum-flavored cake and crossword puzzle clue.Credit...Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

A baba au rhum is a rich, rum-flavored cake that is popular in France and Italy. Babas is the plural. The word appeared in Thursday’s crossword, clued as “Rum cakes,” and has been seen in only 32 other Times puzzles.

The baba originated in France and was supposedly inspired by the Polish king Stanislaw I, whose daughter Marie married King Louis XV. Stanislaw was said to be partial to a cake called Gugelhupf, though he discovered that the dry dough tasted better when dipped in liquor.

Stanislaw’s baker, Nicolas Stohrer, went on to popularize that combination, and one of his descendants eventually established rum as the alcohol of choice. Stohrer’s patisserie is still around in Paris today.

The success of the cake has spread to Italy and the U.S. Babas are now often made with raisins in their dough, and they usually resemble Bundt cakes or doughnuts in shape. Variations may use sweet wine or liqueur in place of rum.

Sam Ezersky contributed reporting.

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