It was the downing of a U.S. helicopter by an Iranian drone over the waters of the Strait of Hormuz. It could have been any other skirmish: U.S. and Iranian forces had spent days engaged in increasingly serious encounters in the area while talks for a peace agreement dragged on. But that clash last Monday particularly upset President Donald Trump, who had just agreed a ceasefire in Lebanon. The Republican announced on Tuesday that the United States had to return the blow. A sequence of events began that seemed to push the two countries to the brink of resuming large-scale hostilities.

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The United States and Iran reached a preliminary peace agreement on Sunday to end three and a half months of war in the Middle East, according to an announcement by Pakistan, whose prime minister said the agreement will be signed next Friday in Switzerland. Both Iran and U.S. President Donald Trump have confirmed the deal. The Republican has also announced the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz following the signing of the agreement.

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Spaniards are currently getting a close look at a pope the world still knows little about. He has gone from being a mystery, a man who seemed feeble, to becoming, in the space of two months, a startling revelation after he clashed with Donald Trump in mid-April and, two weeks ago, published a far-reaching encyclical; an argument against the techno-fascism of Silicon Valley. His visit to Spain will culminate in the definitive discovery of Prevost, since it is his first major trip to Europe and he will speak to the entire Western world. But what does this pope think and why has he been so disconcerting?

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Is the war in Iran over? On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump made yet another of his sudden about-faces — and one of the most dramatic — regarding the war in Iran. Hours after announcing that his forces would launch a new round of attacks — the third in three consecutive nights — he proclaimed on social media that he had canceled that decision because the two adversaries had already approved a memorandum of understanding that only needed a few final touches. He later noted that the pact could be signed as early as this weekend, perhaps in Europe, with the United States represented by Vice President J.D. Vance. But Iran insists that, although most of the document is already finalized, the United States “continues to change its positions.”

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Let’s start with the proven facts: Disclosure Day is the most anticipated film of the summer. Its director and screenwriter, Steven Spielberg, revealed details about its plot this week on one of Stephen Colbert’s final shows: he says it tells the story of the theft by officials, “committed to the truth,” of all information held by the government “about UFOs and extraterrestrial visits,” and the system’s desperate attempts to prevent it being revealed.

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