NPR News: 09-06-2026 12AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. U.S. envoy Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner met with President Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin Saturday. It was a new effort to try and find an end to Russia's war with Ukraine, as NPR's Charles mains tells us for Moscow. The re-engagement on Ukraine now comes as some things are changing with Russia's war. Keep in mind CIA director John Ratcliffe was recently in Moscow for a brief visit with his Russian counterparts in the intelligence community. Presumably Ukraine was part of those discussions. So it could be there's a new diplomatic window here, but the prevailing view is that the U.S. is concerned this conflict is about to escalate even further than it already has. The envoys will be in Kiev on Sunday for meetings with that country's president. Both sides say they will halt airstrikes on each other while the envoys travel throughout the region. The U.S. ambassador to Israel says he will continue to denounce what he calls acts of terrorism against Palestinians by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

1:00However, he says the U.S. is limited in its power to curb the escalating violence. That violence has increased dramatically this year. Report a new amusla who is in the West Bank has more on our story. Ambassador Mike Halkibe referred to the settlers as terrorists during a visit Saturday to the Palestinian town of Turmusaya. He visited with relatives of Palestinian-Americans killed by settlers. 80% of the residents here are U.S. citizens. Halkibe, a Baptist minister, has made several visits to the West Bank, which he refers to by its biblical name Judea and Samaria. He's a longtime supporter of Israel's settler movement and says those carrying out the violence are a, quote, very tiny minority. When asked by residents what the U.S. will do to stop the violence against American citizens, Halkibe said U.S. jurisdiction is limited. For NPR News, I'm no amusla in Turmusaya. The U.S. Forest Service is closing dozens of research stations across the country, but

2:04they cut sir not as deep as they could have been. This week, the head of the Forest Service backtracked from an earlier projection that it would shudder even more of these facilities where scientists are working to preserve public land. NPR's Kiara Eisner has our reports. On Thursday, the Forest Service announced it had finished its review of which research stations it would close. 41 facilities across Hawaii, Alaska, and New York City were among the locations added to the list of places that wouldn't be shuttered because of their, quote, critical importance. The news came after months of lobbying and advocacy from scientists, lawmakers, and defenders of public lands. Some scientists were relieved their research could continue. Their staff believed the months of dispute and review were an enormous waste of time, and that the facilities should never have been endangered in the first place. Kiara Eisner, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News. Spider-Man has swung past another box office milestone this week, NPR's Bob Mandello

3:07has our details. When Supergirl flopped earlier this summer, there was much talk about audiences suffering superhero fatigue. Apparently, they were just waiting for the right superhero. Spider-Man brand New Day passed $900 million in North American ticket sales on Friday. Only one movie has ever made more money at the American box office. Star Wars The Force Awakens, which topped out at $936 million back in 2015. Spider-Man brand New Day is expected to swing past that all-time domestic record in the next two weeks. I am totally out of control. New Day is going to be even better overseas with global ticket sales now topping $2.3 billion. I didn't know you could get that big. Making it the third highest-earning film in history, Bob Mandello, NPR News. The U.S. Central Command says American forces have hit three Iranian oil tankers. In a statement, the military says the tankers were hit with missiles after Navy warships were targeted. The Navy ships were able to evade what the military calls multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks,

4:08and no U.S. forces were injured. The military says the tankers were part of a shadow network helping to fund Iran. Ten days after devastating floods hit the country, rescuers into Paul were able to free two people who had been stranded by the high water. A woman was rescued alive from a house while a man was pulled alive from a tunnel of the Hyderopower project, at least 1,300 people were killed by the flooding, and more than 5,000 others remain missing. I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News. As the political landscape shifts beneath our feet, we're all vulnerable to a well-funded distraction economy determined to take our eye off the bomb. Our weekly politics series, if you can keep it, is here to help, where our focus is not the force race, but the state. We tackle the big political stories of the day and why they matter for our democracy. Join me, Todd Zwilland, and me, Jen White, on the 1A Podcast, from WAMU and NPR.