Ukraine peace push, German vote, Paris butter craze | Reuters World News

Hi, I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. It's Sunday, September 6th. Today, a new US push for peace in Ukraine. Washington and Tehran fire at vessels near Iran. A blockbuster summer for Hollywood. And a new Paris boutique butters up customers with the finest dairy products. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the frontlines in 10 minutes, 7 days a week. Russian President Vladimir Putin there, saying he's ordered the Russian military not to strike Kiev for three days. Noting a corresponding pause of Ukraine strikes on Moscow. While US envoys Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner visit both capitals in the Trump administration's latest push for peace. The Kremlin is calling Saturday's talks with Whitkoff and Kushner useful but has given no further detail. US President Donald Trump suggested on Friday the US had a fresh proposal aimed at ending the war but didn't elaborate. Our correspondent Max Hunter is in Kiev, where Whitkoff and Kushner are meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. Max says Ukrainians are keen for peace but not at any cost. I think people want peace but they don't want peace on Russia's terms. Kiev has been under pretty withering attacks for the last few weeks. I mean, we had pretty intense sort of nighttime missile attacks before and that's been followed up by, in the last two weeks, a constant barrage of daytime drone attacks using kind of new jet drones that are very hard to stop. So it's been pretty dangerous and exhausting in Kiev last few weeks. We had a couple of people out on the street tell us today that they want peace. People are aware that peace shouldn't mean capitulation. I think that's the overall mood in Ukraine, that they don't want to give away too much and people are especially cautious, as indeed is the government, not to create the situation where Russia can simply regroup and attack again. I think most people and indeed government officials want to make sure that cannot happen. And in Germany, voting is underway in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, where the Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany, or AFD, have been ahead in the polls. The closely watched election could see the AFD become the first far-right party to take power at a state level since World War II. You can follow the results of the election on Reuters.com and the Reuters app and listen to yesterday's episode for more analysis from Berlin. We'll have the result in tomorrow's pod. The US and Iran both say they've fired up vessels in the waters around Iran. US Central Command says it struck three Iranian vessels, including one off the coast of Karg Island, after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles at two US Navy ships. CENTCOM added that no American personnel were harmed. The IRGC responded by threatening intensified strikes against US military vessels in the region, and said later it had targeted three tankers as well as three US-linked vessels in other areas. We heard about the challenges that they face living in their own homes on their own property, some of the intimidation that is being carried out by people that I have characterised as being terrorists. That's US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee speaking in the Palestinian town of Termez Aya in the occupied West Bank, where residents say they're facing increasing attacks from Israeli settlers. Most of the town's Palestinian residents are US citizens. Huckabee says there are limits to what the US embassy can do, and that Israel has a responsibility to protect residents from violence. People in these communities have a right to live with a level of security and safety, and that the government has a responsibility to make sure that that happens. The visit comes amid mounting international concern over settler violence in the West Bank. The Israeli government has condemned settler violence, though perpetrators are rarely arrested or prosecuted. Militaries have relied on satellites for decades, mostly for communication and navigation with soldiers and weapons systems on the ground. But space is no longer just a place for military communication. Increasingly, it's a domain they expect to operate in, and if necessary, fight in. For major powers like the US and China, that means a lot of investment and R&D. Reporter Castle Brian Lowe has been looking at how the world's two biggest space powers are preparing for the possibility that conflict could one day extend into orbit. Space has become increasingly important to military operations, as we've seen in Ukraine and in the Middle East recently. What we found was that Chinese military-linked researchers are developing so-called pursuit satellites that could be capable even of capturing other satellites on orbit. And we also found that the US and UK conducted their first military operation in space in the path of a Chinese satellite that's suspected of spying, in what some military officials phrased to us as equivalent to a naval operation or an air mission to send Beijing a signal. Space is becoming increasingly important to all of our lives, from our mobile phones to our banking systems to our agriculture industry. And what Western officials say is that threats to space could have impact not only for military, but also for the public at large. Now to some good news for Hollywood, which has enjoyed the strongest summer box office numbers since the pandemic. In the US and Canada, ticket sales topped $4.6 billion between May and the end of August, a big jump from last summer. Big releases like Spider-Man, Brand New Day, The Odyssey and Toy Story 5 helped drive those numbers. So after years of false starts and setbacks, is Hollywood finally pulling off a real comeback? Reporter Dawn Chmielewski has more. What's interesting about this moment is that theatres are full again. Studios have released a variety of films that in some instances actually depart from the recent habits of loading us up with superhero movies and sequels. This summer, studios invested in original stories and audiences really responded. Studio execs are nothing short of euphoric about the results. They're optimistic that perhaps this momentum will carry through to the winter months and particularly to December when Dune 3 is released and when the new Avengers film reaches theatres. It is possible this year the total box office in the US and Canada could exceed $10 billion, which is again a level it hasn't reached since before the pandemic. And finally, a flaky, rich croissant. A melt-in-the-mouth pain au chocolat. A lightly daubed baguette. What do they have in common? Symbols of France, enhanced by that beloved staple, butter. France is the world's biggest consumer of butter, with each citizen consuming an estimated 17.5 pounds or 8 kilograms of a dairy product yearly, according to the country's agriculture ministry. And now in Paris, there's a boutique dedicated to the very finest. At Le Butter Shop, customers line up to sample flavoured butters the way you'd sample ice cream, raspberry, chocolate, wild garlic. The store's owner, Owen Leo, says once people taste high-quality butter, they're hooked. I think the complexity of butter is just incredible. There is so much to offer once you enter that world. There is so many different flavours. There is so many different fat percentage from different regions, different cows. And judging from the crowds, the message is spreading. 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