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 Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. Iran says it won't negotiate directly with the United States unless the T administration honors an agreement reached in June. The Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, called for limits on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. NPR's Hadil al-Shulchi has more from Istanbul. Speaking to reporters, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqqi said that Iran was exchanging messages via intermediaries, but that he would not call the process a negotiation with the U.S. He said that the brokers were trying to find a way back to talks. Qatar and Pakistan have been the main mediators in the process. The U.S. broke a 60-day ceasefire that was stipulated in the Memorandum of Understanding when it began a new wave of strikes on Iran in July. Araqqi said that an agreement between Iran and Oman to open the Strait of Hormuz was in its final stages. Iran has said that the opening of the Strait is contingent on conditions, including the U.S. going back to the June agreement. Hadil al-Shulchi, Istanbul.

Water levels at the nation's largest reservoir have reached their lowest level ever. From member station KJZZ, Alex Hager reports, Lake Mead hasn't been this low since it was filled around 90 years ago. The Hoover Dam straddles the Arizona-Nevada border and holds back water from the Colorado River to create the reservoir. Its water flows to big cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, plus a massive agriculture industry that puts produce on grocery shelves across the country. Climate change and drought have been cutting into those backup supplies for about 26 years. And policymakers have struggled to respond with a plan that reigns in demand. The federal government has been working on a deal with California, Arizona, and Nevada to cut back on the amount of water flowing to those states. It's part of an effort to leave water in Lake Mead and boost the dropping reservoir.

Last week's weak monthly jobs report is raising alarms about the strength of the U.S. economy. The Labor Department says employers unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July. And the department revised the numbers for May and June, down by a total of 100,000 jobs. This as inflation has been ticking up. That's left some Americans worried that artificial intelligence is impacting the jobs market. Jed Kolko is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and was an economic advisor during the Biden administration. We have not seen widespread effects of AI on the labor market, but there will be disruption and there is a lot of concern about what AI means not only for will I have a job in the future, but also what will I be doing in that job, what will that job look like, and what skills might I need to learn in order to be successful in the labor market in the future. This is NPR.

Hundreds of thousands of rideshare drivers in California are poised to form a union that will give them a place at the bargaining table with giants like Uber and Lyft. Samantha Kennedy from member station KQED has more. State regulators said that the California Gig Workers Union received at least 30 percent of active driver support the group needs to form a union. It comes after a years-long fight from the independent contractors who were not eligible for benefits an employee would otherwise get. Driver Hector Castellano says they'll focus on better pay and benefits. You know, I've been fighting for this for so long, and it's been like rolling coaster, going up and down. Lyft says it's committed to engaging in good faith, and Uber says that it looks forward to their work with the group of drivers. The California Gig Workers Union anticipates regulators will certify the results after a 30-day waiting period.

At the weekend box office, Spider-Man, brand new day, took the top spot, with an estimated $144 million in its second weekend. The Sony Marvel film has made $1.6 billion globally in just 10 days of release, putting it on track to be among the biggest blockbusters ever. And it's the highest-grossing movie of the year so far. In second place, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey added $31 million this weekend, bringing its global take to $1.1 billion. It's Nolan's first movie to reach that threshold since 2012's The Dark Knight Rises, and it's his biggest box office hit ever. This is NPR.