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President Trump said Thursday that he was canceling strikes on Iran as talks were back on with Iran and a peace deal was imminent.

NPR's Leila Fadel asks former State Department advisor and negotiator Aaron David Miller about peace talks and Iran's strategic options following President Trump's announcement that a deal is close. Copyright 2026 NPR

Pope Leo XIV visited the Canary Islands on Thursday, where he issued a forceful defense of migrants.

When I tell you, reader, that the new film Stop! That! Train! plays exactly like an extended, slightly better-than-average Acting Challenge on a slightly better-than-average season of RuPaul's Drag Race, some among you will nod sagely, and hie your butts to the theater in boisterous gaggles of girls, gays and theys.

David Hockney believed painting could change the world; in the midst of all our miseries, he said, art lets us see the world as beautiful, thrilling, mysterious. Hockney, one of the best-known contemporary artists, has died at home, age 88, his publicist said Friday. The artist, who died on Thursday, was one month short of his 89th birthday, publicist Erica Bolton said in a statement. He is survived by his long-time partner and companion Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima.

Good morning. You're reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day. In another whiplash decision, President Trump announced yesterday that he canceled new attacks in Iran, after announcing earlier in the day that more strikes were coming if the country didn't agree to a peace deal.

Stay up to date with our Politics newsletter, sent weekly. Families of transgender youth in California learned this week that their private medical records will not be sent to the Trump administration, for now. That's after a federal judge temporarily blocked hospitals in California from producing any documents responding to criminal subpoenas from the Department of Justice.

Four years in the making. The U.S. Men's National Team is finally ready to play its first game of the 2026 World Cup with a match on Friday against Paraguay in Los Angeles. For the 26 Americans on the squad, just making it to soccer's most prestigious tournament and the world's biggest sporting event is a culmination (or continuation) of a lifetime of soccer highs and lows. Here's what to know about each of the players on the team.

LOS ANGELES — The referees chosen to work the 2026 World Cup have some new tools to speed up the games and ensure that any match-altering officiating mistakes are corrected. Among the many changes that fans will see during the World Cup: A substituted player must exit the field within 10 seconds. If there's a delay, the team plays a man down for at least one minute before the replacement can enter the field. There are now five-second countdowns for goal kicks and throw-ins.

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Todd Belt of George Washington University about whether there's a strategy behind President Trump's fixation on a UFC fight and building projects across Washington, D.C. Copyright 2026 NPR