NTD News Today

U.S. President Donald Trump says the United States is “low-keying” negotiations with Iran as economic pressure builds on the regime. The U.S. military had launched strikes against Iran every day for about two weeks straight before Trump announced a stop in the attacks, saying that they would lead to more negotiations. A U.S. naval blockade is still in effect against the country’s ports.
“We are low-keying it,” Trump told Axios about talks with Iran. “We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money.”
A major earthquake struck the western portion of Colombia on Monday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), with local officials reporting damage and injuries.
The quake registered at 7.4 magnitude on the Richter scale, the USGS reported. It hit about 3 miles east of San José del Palmar in the western portion of the country, roughly 250 miles to the west of Bogota, the capital.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Aug. 7 she will not support Todd Blanche for attorney general, putting Blanche’s nomination in jeopardy. Murkowski said in a post on X that she believes the country needs an attorney general “who will check the worst impulses of this administration” and that she’s not confident that person is Blanche.
Murkowski also said she is concerned that if Blanche is confirmed, the government will proceed with a fund of nearly $2 billion to award people who bring forth claims they were targeted unfairly by the government.
The U.S. labor market stalled last month as the economy unexpectedly lost jobs, new government data shows. Payrolls fell by 23,000 in July, from a downwardly revised 20,000 in the previous month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This fell short of the average monthly gain of 34,000 over the last 12 months.

A Senate committee on Aug. 6 voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in contempt of Congress. The full Senate could consider the matter before making a referral to prosecutors, but Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has said that might result in a negative vote.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday called Iranian negotiators "extraordinarily difficult people" and said any nuclear deal would take time.
Speaking to Fox News, Vance acknowledged American frustration with the stop-start nature of diplomatic progress but said Iran's "fractured system" includes both those wanting peace and "crazy radicals who want the war to continue."

Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan’s Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, defeating U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens in a massive victory for the party’s progressive wing in a battleground state. El-Sayed will face Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman who ran unopposed for the GOP nomination, in November.
President Donald Trump said late Tuesday that an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be announced within days, as Iran reported progress in talks with Oman on a safe shipping corridor and Qatar said mediators were circulating proposals between Washington and Tehran.

Oil prices fell as low as 5% on Tuesday to a three-week low after comments by Qatar and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent raised hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the Middle East conflict, which would improve oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Senate Republicans are expected to advance acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination to be the next attorney general on a permanent basis. It had been delayed over concerns about the “anti-weaponisation” fund from two GOP members on the panel.
Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) previously threatened Blanche’s bid to lead the Justice Department over the $1.77 billion fund, which would be used to compensate people who suspect they were unfairly prosecuted by the Department of Justice (DOJ).