The Key Players in the U.S.-Iran Talks, and the Deadly Rise of Giant Trucks and S.U.V.s

0:29This podcast is supported by BetterHelp. dot com slash New York Times. From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Will Jarvis in for Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, June 22nd. Here's what we're covering.

0:45What the president has asked us to do is turn over a new leaf to transform our relationship with the people of Iran and to extend an outstretched hand. Last night, Iran and the U.S. wrapped up their first round of negotiations over how to turn a pause in the war into a lasting peace. What today really represents is the beginning of a technical negotiation that's not going to solve every disagreement, but is going to allow us to sit together. Vice President J.D. Vance led the U.S. delegation in the talks, which were held at a lakeside resort in Switzerland. Meanwhile, Iran is being represented by the country's Speaker of Parliament, a brigadier general who is a key figure overseeing Iranian forces in the war, as well as the country's foreign minister, Abbas Aragchi.

1:32Aragchi played a big role in the nuclear deal Iran struck with the Obama administration about a decade ago, and the leader of the U.S. side in those talks called him a, quote, very tough negotiator. Coming out of the negotiations this weekend, some of the thorniest issues, including sanctions on Iran and the country's nuclear program, remain unresolved. but mediators said there was some encouraging progress. That included a temporary line of communication to help ensure the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, along with what they described as a new effort to wind down the fighting in Lebanon.

2:07The conflict there, between Israel and the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah, is one of many potential tripwires that could threaten the fragile 60-day ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. that was announced a week ago. Another factor that could complicate things is President Trump, who issued new threats against Iran this weekend, even as Vance was talking about turning over a new leaf. Trump told Fox News that after the ceasefire expires, he can do, quote, whatever I want. As of this morning, it's not clear what the next steps in the peace talks will be. According to Iranian state media, the country's delegation is now on its way back to Tehran.

2:52On the National Mall, the reflecting pool, one of the key pieces of President Trump's effort to remodel the nation's capital, is rapidly deteriorating. The pool has suffered from leaks and algae blooms for decades, and earlier this year, the administration gave two companies no-bid contracts to carry out renovations. One was for a firm with ties to Trump, which repainted the bottom of the pool, and the other company, which worked on the water purification system, is directly connected to a Trump donor who lives next to Mar-a-Lago. But since the companies finished their work, the algae has returned, and large chunks of the new paint have started floating to the surface.

3:33Over the weekend, President Trump claimed without evidence that vandals had caused the problems. The Times spoke to one man who was arrested, a three-time Olympian who said he'd just stopped by to have a look at the pool during a bike ride, reaching down to touch a bit of the peeling paint, when he was taken into custody and charged with destroying government property. He said, quote, I guess I was there at the wrong place, wrong time. The White House and U.S. Park Police did not respond to requests for comment. On social media, Trump said he'd met with contractors on Saturday to discuss the state of the reflecting pool, and that the problems had become so severe that the pool would likely have to be at least partially drained for repairs again.

4:20Every decision I've taken has been about putting the country I love first. That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party. In London this morning, the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation. And I will do everything I can to ensure an orderly handover of power. Starmer took the post in 2024 after the left-leaning Labour Party took power. That election was dubbed a loveless landslide. And since then, the party has struggled to deal with economic stagnation, government debt, and underfunded defense and health care systems. and the country has faced a growing wave of anti-immigrant populism.

5:02Amid that backdrop, Starmer was increasingly seen as weak and indecisive. Polls showed he was one of the least popular prime ministers in modern British history. Now he could be replaced as soon as next month, with his most likely successor being Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester. Burnham is also a member of Labour, but many lawmakers in the party think he's more authentic and charismatic than Starmer. and would be able to bring new energy to British politics. One political expert there told the Times that, quote, if the sausage isn't going to change, Burnham might at least add some sizzle.

5:44For decades, American roads were steadily getting safer for pedestrians. But around 2009, the trend reversed. And since then, pedestrian fatality rates have increased by nearly 80%. And that increase is unique to the United States. Other countries haven't seen a similar surge, suggesting that possible culprits like the rise of smartphones don't tell the whole story. So what happened? Michael Keller is an investigative reporter at The Times. He's part of a team that poured through accident records and car schematics, crunched nearly a decade's worth of data, and built visual simulations of crashes with dummies.

6:21The takeaway, he said, is that Americans' taste for big trucks and SUVs may be killing pedestrians, as more and more people trade in their sedans for larger vehicles. When hit by a sedan, the dummy is first struck in its lower body, below its center of gravity, sending it over the hood and often onto the windshield. In contrast, when the dummy's hit by the truck, it's hit above its center of gravity. It's knocked violently to the ground and is dragged under the vehicle. And that difference in hood heights can result in two wildly different types of crashes and injuries. The result of being hit by a vehicle with a taller hood is that you're more likely to have serious injury or more likely to be killed.

7:03Michael says that hood height is not the only problem. As vehicles have gotten bigger and heavier, manufacturers have made their frames thicker to support that weight and keep people inside safe. But that has made blind spots worse, in some cases way worse, with the bigger frame around the windshield completely blocking pedestrians from view during left-hand turns. To analyze this, the Times used a 3D scanner to compare sight lines in some of the country's most popular pickups. Compared to their counterparts from the 90s or early 2000s, all of them had less visibility. And in one case, with the Chevy Silverado, the overall blind spots nearly doubled.

7:42Taking all this into account, my colleagues estimated that if today's vehicles were roughly the same size as 20 years ago, up to 400 pedestrian lives would be saved each year in the U.S. In response to questions from the Times, automakers said blaming larger vehicles for pedestrian deaths overlooks other issues like the design of American roads, and they said that new technology designed to detect and avoid pedestrians would help improve safety. For the full investigation, including how car companies are now making nearly all their profits from bigger vehicles, go to nytimes.com.

8:27And finally, I always say to a writer, I say 50 % of what I give you is gold and 50 % is dross. And it's your job to figure out which is which, because I spew and, you know, the ideas just come to me. James Burroughs, a master of the TV sitcom and the director behind many of America's most famous shows like Cheers and Will and Grace, has died at 85. Known as the Steven Spielberg of sitcoms, Burroughs won 11 Emmys and directed more than 1 ,000 episodes of TV. This is everybody. This is Chandler and Phoebe and Joey. And you remember my brother Ross? Sure. He worked on everything from Friends to Frasier.

9:07Look at me, I'm a nervous wreck. I've got to do something to calm down. Double espresso, please. The son of a Broadway playwright, Burroughs got his start in theater before realizing he could use his skills in TV, since sitcoms were basically short plays in front of a camera. If you had, of the many episodes of television you've directed, you had one episode that you would put in a time capsule or something like that. Which one would it be? The Pilot of Cheers. The Pilot of Cheers. It was in the early 80s when Burroughs' career exploded as he helped create a sitcom about a bar in Boston where everybody knows your name.

9:42Half noon, everybody. No! How you doing, Norm? What do you know? Not enough. Over more than a decade of working on Cheers, Burroughs directed almost all of the show's 275 episodes, including its last ever, which was one of the most watched finales in TV history. What's most remarkable about Jimmy Burroughs was that he had impeccable taste in terms of what was funny. When he looked at a page, he could tell what would get laughs. And when he was in the room shooting, he could tell the take that would work. He could tell where the body should be in space for the joke to land. My colleague Alexis Siloski is a culture reporter for The Times.

10:30She says beyond his natural instinct for comedy, Burroughs also had a gift for nurturing actors and turning individuals into ensembles. Part of his genius was that on the surface, it seemed like he worked on a lot of workplace sitcoms. Cheers is a workplace sitcom. Taxi is a workplace sitcom. News Radio, one of my favorites, that's a workplace sitcom. But his idea was that, no, these aren't workplace shows. These are family shows. And that is what he felt he did. He felt that he made families.

11:07Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, a look at the growing movement in the U.S. to deprescribe and get patients off of antidepressants. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Will Jarvis. The headlines will be back tomorrow with Tracy Mumford.

11:30Thank you.