“I want to be taken seriously, no matter what my weight.”

Coming up on today’s show:

• On Saturday, three men drove into pedestrians on London Bridge before getting out at a nearby nightspot and attacking civilians. Seven died, and dozens were hospitalized in the attack. For more on the British government’s ongoing response to Saturday’s attack, The Takeaway turns toUsama Hasan, head of Islamic Studies with Quilliam International.

• The United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, and Libya have all severed ties with Qatar in what’s being described as the worst diplomatic crisis to hit Gulf Arab states in decades. Marc Lynch, director of the project on Middle East Political Science at George Washington University and a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment Middle East Center, explains. 

• As soon as President Donald Trump took office, he and his administration moved quickly to try to lift economic sanctions and normalize relations with Russia, new reports show. Tom Malinowski, former assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor under the Obama administration, has the details. 

• Karen Sughrue, a senior producer for Retro Report documentary team, looks back at the “bystander effect,” and what it means in the digital age with new platforms like Facebook Live.

• Bill Cosby’s trial kicks off today in the suburbs of Philadelphia. The actor will face charges of drugging and molesting one woman, Andrea Constand, but more than 50 women have come forward sharing their experiences of alleged assault and harassment by the same man. Annette John-Hall, a reporter for public radio station WHYY in Philadelphia and host of the podcast “Cosby Unraveled,” explains what you need to know. 

• This week, The Takeaway is exploring America’s obesity epidemic. More than two in three American adults are overweight, and one in three are obese. For some public health experts, this is the biggest problem we face as a society today. Dr. Sam Klein, director for the Center for Human Nutrition at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, discusses the science behind obesity.

• Amanda Hourihan is overweight, but healthy. She exercises, runs marathons, and tries to eat healthy. But when she goes to her doctor, the only thing he can see if her weight. If medical professionals truly want to help overweight Americans, Amanda says they are going about it all wrong.