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Secrets, UFOs, and smokescreens: Why Washington is obsessed with extraterrestrials

Stephen Bassett, ufologist, political activist and lobbyist, in Washington, May 14.

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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Front pages of the 'Roswell Daily Record' for July 9 and 10, 1947.Emily Blunt, in a promotional still from Steven Spielberg's film ‘Disclosure Day.’Screening of the documentary ‘The Age of Disclosure’ at the Capitol for members of Congress.Dan Farah, director and producer of ‘The Age of Disclosure,’ alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
  • ✇El País in English
  • A whirlwind week: From the threat of escalation to the imminent signing of an agreement Macarena Vidal Liy
    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 be
     

A whirlwind week: From the threat of escalation to the imminent signing of an agreement

15 June 2026 at 09:26

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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© BONNIE CASH / POOL (EFE)

Trump leaving the White House on Saturday.

US and Iran announce an agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz and end the war

15 June 2026 at 09:25

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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© Vahid Salemi (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A mural on the wall of the former U.S. embassy in Tehran.
  • ✇El País in English
  • Leo XIV, the peacemaker Íñigo Domínguez
    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
     

Leo XIV, the peacemaker

9 June 2026 at 13:58
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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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  • ✇El País in English
  • Iran denies Trump’s claims of a peace agreement to the end the war Macarena Vidal Liy
    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 cou
     

Iran denies Trump’s claims of a peace agreement to the end the war

12 June 2026 at 08:37

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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© Majid Asgaripour (via REUTERS)

People walk next to a symbolic mock-up of an Iranian missile in Tehran, June 11.
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