“Conflicting signals from the United States and Iran over the status of talks to end their five-month-old war boosted uncertainty on Tuesday, with the latest attack on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz highlighting risks to global energy flows. U.S. President Donald Trump said the talks were under way on Monday, warning of a ‘last chance’ for Tehran to sign a good deal, but Iran denied that negotiations were being held or planned. … One cargo vessel broadcast it had been hit by an unknown projectile near the strait off Oman’s coast, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said.” [editor’s note: I don’t think the status is “uncertain.” On this issue, at this time, the Iranian regime is clearly more credible/believable than the US regime – TLK] (08/04/26)
“At least 16 people have been killed in Russia and 11 in Ukraine, according to local officials from each side, as both countries continue to exchange attacks. Early on Tuesday, Russian state news agency TASS said that five people had been killed in a drone attack …. Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, said seven people, including three children, were killed and nearly 40 wounded when drone debris fell on the resort village of Arkhipo-Osipovka …. Sergey Aksyonov, the Moscow-installed head of Russian-occupied Crimea, who reported that the death toll on the peninsula had risen to four people …. In Ukraine, three people, including an emergency response worker and his eight-year-old son, were killed in a Russian attack on a petrol station in the Kryvyi Rih district of the Dnipropetrovsk region …. Additionally, eight people were killed, including two children, in an overnight attack in Zaporizhzhia.” (08/03/26)
“Bitcoin neared $64,000 in Asian morning hours Tuesday, up 2% over 24 hours and 1% on the week, recovering the $63,000 level it lost during Monday’s session. The low came near $62,250 before a steady bid carried it to just above $64,100 overnight. Ether lagged near $1,865, up marginally on the day but still down 1% over seven days, the only major in the red on the weekly view. XRP rose almost 1% to $1.08 and is up 2% on the week. BNB added 1.5% to nearly $591 and leads the majors over seven days at almost 5%.” (08/04/26)
“Myanmar’s detained democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi met the nation’s Red Cross representative on Monday, the president’s office said, the first publicised meeting between her and a foreign official since she was ousted in a 2021 coup. The military deposed Suu Kyi in February 2021, jailing the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and triggering an ongoing civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people on all sides. … She was detained on a host of charges which rights groups say were concocted to sideline her and her popular National League for Democracy party. The president’s office said in a statement that Arnaud de Baecque, the resident representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Myanmar, met Suu Kyi on Monday morning.” (08/03/26)
“The picture shows a group of leading MAGA rebels who have clashed with President Donald Trump seated around a wooden table, smiling as they pose for the camera in exile. Included in the gathering: Media personality Tucker Carlson, former Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie and former Trump administration counterterrorism official Joe Kent. … Carlson said in a recent interview that ‘I’m going to help build a third party.’ Democrats and Republicans are in ‘lockstep’ on war in the Middle East and other issues, Carlson said, adding the government should focus on ‘the welfare of its own people.’ Greene previously said she is ‘in talks’ to launch a new party.” (08/03/26)
“A Swiss geologist and a local miner were killed on Thursday in the Central African Republic, north of the capital, Bangui, according to a statement from the local public prosecutor’s office on Monday. Luca Maggini and the miner were kidnapped by unidentified men in the evening and later killed, according to Frédéric Pounou, a geologist who was working alongside Maggini when he was kidnapped. … The attack occurred near the village of Gbango-Carriere, 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of Bangui, and also resulted in the kidnapping of a staff sergeant in the Central African Army, according to the public prosecutor’s statement.” (08/03/26)
“The Michigan Supreme Court has ordered state regulators to reconsider a key permit that allowed a planned tunnel to carry an oil pipeline under part of the Great Lakes to move forward. The 6-1 decision further clouds the future of the 73-year-old pipeline owned by Canadian energy transportation company Enbridge that carries petroleum from Superior, Wis., to Sarnia, Ont. The part of the pipeline in question, called Line 5, runs for six kilometres along the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac where Lakes Huron and Michigan meet. Enbridge wants to bury the pipeline in a tunnel under the straits. Environmentalists and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer want to move the pipeline away from the waterway altogether, saying a spill would be catastrophic to the Great Lakes and surrounding area.” (08/03/26)
“Ousted Venezuelan [ed-]President Nicolás Maduro voiced support from jail for a new round of negotiations between the government and the opposition, saying he welcomed ‘every path of dialogue that helps consolidate peace, coexistence and reconciliation among Venezuelans.’ The message was published Sunday on Maduro’s official Telegram account. The 63-year-old former leader issued the statement from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he has been held since U.S. authorities [abducted] him and his wife, Cilia Flores, in January 2026 on drug trafficking and weapons trafficking charges.” (08/03/26)
“A federal judge is allowing the Department of Homeland Security to go ahead for now with plans to build a border wall through a levee system protecting a small Texas town on the border with Mexico, rejecting arguments by the town that the wall could lead to flooding. The decision late Sunday marks a victory for the Trump administration as it races ahead with efforts to build a $46 billion wall along the U.S.-Mexico border from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The town of Presidio, with a population of about 3,200 people, argued the wall could cause flooding and that the administration isn’t following the law as it rushes forward with its plans. The town’s development district sued earlier this year to stop the department from going forward with construction.” (08/03/26)
“The California Democratic Party on Sunday endorsed a state ballot measure that would impose a one-time, 5% wealth tax on billionaire residents, a popular initiative that has drawn opposition from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and ultra-rich corporate executives who are spending big to defeat it. California Democrats’ executive board voted 145-90 on Sunday to endorse the billionaire wealth tax, which will appear on the November ballot as Proposition 40. The Sacramento Bee reported that ‘delegates and observers erupted into cheers’ following the vote, which barely cleared the 60% threshold needed for a formal endorsement. Dave Regan, president of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, the union leading the campaign for the ballot initiative, said the California Democratic Party’s endorsement of the proposal ‘puts to rest the idea that California Democrats are not united by the billionaire tax; they are’.” (08/03/26)
