The Fight for Affordable Housing

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Daniel Bach (0:33)

President Trump's posts threatened to disrupt talks with Iran, but both sides agreed to continue. Plus, yet another British prime minister resigns, and we kick off a new series looking at how to fix the US housing shortage.

Leora Tanwatko-Ross (0:46)

Housing really dies a death by a thousand cuts. If you say, like, you know, this housing proposal needs to fix every problem, it needs to provide housing, but it also needs to make sure it fixes all the traffic problems in our town, then builders will just simply pull out.

Daniel Bach (1:03)

It's Monday, June 22nd. I'm Daniel Bach for The Wall Street Journal, filling in for Luke Vargas, and here is the AM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

We begin in Switzerland, where the US and Iran have agreed to continue negotiations towards shoring up a preliminary peace deal to end the war. Vice President JD. Vance was there to lead the talks over the weekend, which the US had hoped would center around curbing Tehran's nuclear program.

JD Vance (1:32)

The question before us now is, how much more can we accomplish together? Can we turn over a new leaf? Can we change relations in the Middle East permanently?

Or do we go back to doing things the old way, which is not our preference, but is certainly very much something that can't happen.

Daniel Bach (1:47)

For now, the sides have agreed to a mechanism aimed at ending fighting in Lebanon, a key sticking point for Iran. Journal Middle East correspondent Benoît Faucon is in Lausanne following talks and says Vance was put in an awkward position following some social media posts by President Trump, which Iran's lead negotiator took exception to.

Benoît Faucon (2:06)

Khali Barth was very angry that Trump obviously threatened Iran over its support of Hezbollah during the talks. Obviously, he didn't know during the session because they don't have their phones, but once he came out, I mean, I was told by someone who was president that he said, you know, did you know that your boss was going to say that, you know, it's kind of really causing to question the sincerity of these talks, of this engagement. And that was very embarrassing for Vance, obviously. But the talks through intermediaries did continue and make a lot of progress. So Iran really wants to make progress because that means it's going to be cash coming into its coffers that he badly needs in an economic crisis, cash that can come over for unfrozen assets or for oil sales.

So they kind of become very pragmatic when it comes to that conversation.

Daniel Bach (2:52)

In a statement earlier today, Qatar and Pakistan said a line of communication between Iran and the US had been formed to avoid incidents and enable safe passage for commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. The statement also said that technical talks will continue for the remainder of the week in Switzerland on all issues.

In the UK., Keir Starmer has announced he's stepping down as Prime Minister.

Keir Starmer (3:19)

The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election. I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace.

Every decision I've taken has been about putting the country I love first. That is why I will resign as leader of the Labor Party.

Daniel Bach (3:52)

Starmer's decision comes just days after former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham was elected to parliament on a promise to launch a leadership challenge to oust Starmer and shake up the ruling Labor Party.

Keir Starmer (4:03)

I have spoken to His Majesty the King this morning to inform him of my decision. I will ask the National Executive Committee of the Labor Party to set out a timetable with nominations opening on the 9th of July and completed by the summer recess.

Daniel Bach (4:20)

Labor is trailing anti-immigration party Reform UK in public opinion polls. But Burnham says he could beat the right by returning to Labor's working class roots and avoiding the division that has marked US politics in recent years.