|
June 26, 2025 
|
|
|
Good morning. We’re covering potential talks between the U.S. and Iran and the outcome of the NATO summit.
Plus: Why baby talk matters.
 |
| Cleaning up a home in Tehran that was hit in an Israeli airstrike. Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times |
Trump said the U.S. would talk to Iran
Two days into a cease-fire between Iran and Israel, President Trump said there would be talks “next week” between the U.S. and Iran. But he cast doubt on the need to iron out a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program. “I don’t care if I have an agreement or not,” he said. Here’s the latest.
Trump argued again that the strikes he ordered last weekend had dealt a crippling blow to Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, pushing back against a preliminary U.S. intelligence report that said otherwise. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, said a “conversion facility,” which is key to producing a nuclear weapon, had been destroyed. Top C.I.A. officials also said that the strikes had “severely damaged” Iran’s nuclear program.
Officials in Iran are also claiming success in the 12-day war. Residents of Tehran took to the streets yesterday for a victory rally, and Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said Israel had “failed in achieving its sinister goals: the destruction of facilities, the dismantling of nuclear expertise and the incitement of social unrest.”
Related: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not been seen publicly or heard from in nearly a week — a surprising and unnerving absence for Iranians.
 |
| President Trump and Secretary General Mark Rutte of NATO during the alliance’s summit in The Hague yesterday. Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times |
NATO members said they’d increase military spending
After a one-day meeting in The Hague, leaders of NATO countries agreed yesterday to raise their military spending to 5 percent of national income by 2035, acceding to a demand made by President Trump.
That includes 3.5 percent to be spent on military essentials like troops, weapons, shells and missiles, up sharply from the current target of 2 percent. The remaining 1.5 percent is for “militarily adjacent” projects like improved roads and bridges, better emergency health care, better cybersecurity and civic resilience.
Response: The increased funding is meant to meet the threat of a militarizing Russia. The pledge seems to have pleased Trump, who made a public commitment to Article 5 of the NATO pact, which calls for collective defense. “They want to protect their country,” he said of European allies, “and they need the United States, and without the United States it’s not going to be the same.”
 |
| Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Nairobi, Kenya, yesterday. Luis Tato/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
Protesters fought the police in Kenya
At least eight people were killed and hundreds were injured in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, yesterday, according to rights groups, as thousands faced off with the police amid nationwide political protests.
The marches, which marked the first anniversary of huge demonstrations against a tax plan in which 60 people were killed, laid bare the public anger at President William Ruto’s government. All television and radio stations were told to cease live coverage of the protests.
 |
| Shuran Huang for The New York Times |
Science & Technology
 |
| Martin Meissner/Associated Press |
 |
| via Yousuke Kaifu |
In 2019, in a feat of “experimental archaeology” to investigate the navigation skills of ancient humans, a Japanese research team built a dugout canoe similar to one that might have been used more than 30,000 years ago. Two new studies present the results.
Lives lived: The architect León Krier, who called for a return to classical architecture and created the experimental British town Poundbury, died at 79.
 |
| via Speedo |
 |
| Franziska Wegdell/Kokolopori Bonobo Research Project |
Origin story
Other mammals bark, meow, roar and hoot. When it comes to our children, human beings chatter and coo. Baby talk — which scientists call infant-directed speech — doesn’t seem to be something we share with other primates, a new study found. And it might help explain our species’ grasp of language.
In every culture, adults speak to children many times a day, and sometimes every few minutes. “We can’t help ourselves, basically,” said Simon Townsend, a comparative psychologist at the University of Zurich and an author of the study.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.
 |
| Kate Sears for The New York Times |
Cook: Char herby chicken thighs with lime-basil butter on a grill.
Ask: Are paper receipts toxic to the touch? Our Well desk answers the question.
Plan: The medieval French town of Hyères has everything a visitor could want.
Game: The Alters, a sci-fi video game that explores miscommunication and human fallibility, is “rewardingly stressful,” our critic writes.
Read: See the new books Times readers are most excited about.
Play the
