NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. stocks and oil prices flip-flopped as uncertainty rose about what will happen following a two-week ceasefire in the war with Iran, which is set to expire Wednesday. The S&P 500 erased an early rise and fell 0.6%. The Dow Jones fell 293 points and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.6%.

BRUSSELS (AP) – Italy on Friday gave crucial support to plans by the European Union to seal a huge free trade deal with five South American nations neighboring Venezuela that has been negotiated for over 25 years.

TOKYO (AP) – Japan on Tuesday scrapped a ban on lethal weapons exports, a major change in its postwar pacifist policy as the country seeks to build up its arms industry amid worries over Chinese and North Korean aggression.

PARIS (AP) – Dozens of angry farmers demonstrated in France and Greece Thursday, halting traffic and blocking key roads with tractors to protest European Union plans to move forward with a free trade deal with five South American nations.

ŠIAULIAI AIR BASE, Lithuania (AP) – NATO intercepted Russian strategic bombers and fighter jets that flew over the Baltic Sea on Monday, a muscular display of air power on the alliance’s eastern flank away from the spotlight on the Middle East.

SAO PAULO (AP) – Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Saturday he hopes the massive free-trade deal between South American bloc Mercosur and the European Union will be signed in January. Protests on Friday by European farmers and opposition from France and Italy threatened to quash an agreement that has been under negotiation for more than 26 years.

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

BRUSSELS (AP) – Italy signaled on Wednesday that it might not support a massive transatlantic free trade deal between the European Union and South American countries, casting further doubt on the agreement as European leaders gather for a summit in Brussels and farmers enraged by the trade pact descend on the capital.