What began as a photo opportunity between two world leaders has spiraled into geopolitical acrimony. An escalating war of words between President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over who asked whom to pose for a photograph at the recent G7 conference now threatens to impact material relations between the Trump administration and Italy’s right-wing government. 

‘Developing rift’ 
Meloni is “clearly irked” at Trump’s “suggestion that she ‘begged’ him for a photo” at the recent G7 summit, said NBC News. While the prime minister “didn’t respond publicly” to other Trump barbs this spring, the “most recent clash, by contrast, quickly escalated.” “Italy and I never beg,” she said in a video response on social media over the weekend.

The “continuing exchange” between the leaders has “highlighted a developing rift between the two countries” stemming from Trump’s war on Iran, said the BBC. The binational relationship has “grown strained,” said Axios, particularly after Italy “denied U.S. aircraft permission to land at its bases” in March. Meloni’s pushback on Trump’s photograph claim is a “punctuation mark” on a growing trend among European leaders to speak against the Trump administration, said CNN.

Opportunity ‘deftly utilized’
Meloni had been trying to “preserve some harmony” between herself and Trump “until this week,” said The New York Times. She’s “doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity,” said Trump on Truth Social. Now that the U.S. has allegedly “defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her ‘numbers up.’ No thanks!!!"

Trump may be correct that Meloni’s furthering of this feud is being done with an eye toward domestic Italian politics, said Fox News. The prime minister “must have calculated” that a “public row” with Trump “yields no tangible consequences other than an increase in her domestic and international standing,” said Mattia Diletti, a political science lecturer at Rome, Italy’s Sapienza University, to the outlet.

Meloni “deftly utilized the opportunity” presented by the president in his photography blame-game to “distance herself” from Trump, said the Financial Times. In reimagining Italian foreign policy moving forward, she “has to be careful not to appear to flip-flop.” Italians will “remember her closeness to Trump, so she has to tread this very carefully.”

As rabid fans pack stadiums for the World Cup, some of the tournament’s most contentious issues are not about what the players say or do but what they wear. Several competing countries are in the crosshairs of political debates regarding their team jerseys, and in some cases, FIFA has been forced to intervene.

Colombia
Abelardo de la Espriella, the right-wing presidential candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump, turned the Colombian jersey into his campaign’s “official attire,” said The New York Times. Sen. Iván Cepeda, de la Espriella’s leftist opponent, “slammed his rival’s choice of apparel, accusing him of stealing a national symbol,” said The Associated Press. Despite Cepeda’s anger, the sea of yellow jerseys seemingly propelled de la Espriella over the finish line, as he appeared to narrowly defeat Cepeda in Sunday’s election, becoming Colombia’s president-elect.

Haiti
The team (pictured above) was forced to alter its jersey design after FIFA “deemed certain elements to be too political in nature,” said The Guardian. FIFA’s issue was with the shirt’s “right hip” depicting “silhouettes inspired by the Battle of Vertières and the Haitian Revolution.” One of these silhouettes represent Haitian revolutionary leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

Many supporters were angry that FIFA forced Haiti to adopt the change. The association’s decision is part of an “effort to discredit the Haitian Revolution,” and the “mere implication of Dessalines, standing alongside his fellow revolutionaries, was enough to elicit a backlash,” said Julia Gaffield, a history professor at William & Mary College, at The Conversation. Despite FIFA’s ruling, the jersey has become a “fan favorite” and is still sold on the manufacturer’s website.

Mexico
The team’s jerseys were “embroidered by hand by 150 Nahua women high in the mountains of central Mexico, in a tiny town called Naupan,” said The New York Times. But activists have accused the manufacturers of “exploiting the Nahua women while profiting off their image.” 

There are “murky details behind the Adidas collaboration with the artisans of Naupan,” said Luz Valdez, a Mexican activist and influencer, in a TikTok video. The artists were reportedly “not even allowed to use their traditional sewing method.”

Swimmers in Chengdu, China’s Jiangtan Park bathe in an aquatic version of “The Starry Night” by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. A mosaic of colorful tiles transformed the pool into a living artwork. 
VCG / Getty Images

Madonna’s bold 14-minute film to mark her latest album, “Confessions II,” has put music videos back in the spotlight. Here are some of the trailblazing artists who helped revolutionize the genre.

Michael Jackson, ‘Thriller’ (1982)
As well as being “one of the greatest pop songs of all time,” it also has “one of the most memorable music videos ever recorded,” said Kelly Murphy and Dale Maplethorpe at Far Out Magazine. Essentially an entire “horror movie in its own right,” the music video offers the world an “iconic” and unforgettable dance.

A-ha, Take ‘On Me’ (1985)
Director Steve Barron’s “thoroughly immersive” video for A-ha’s “Take On Me” expertly mixes live action with hand-drawn animation, said Slant Magazine. After more than four decades, it remains “one of the most gripping narrative videos of all time” and a “testament to the power, proficiency and poignancy of the medium itself.”

Madonna, ‘Vogue’ (1990)
“‘Come on, vogue’ — Madonna commands it, and the world listened,” said Rolling Stone. In her third collaboration (pictured above) with director David Fincher, the Queen of Pop brings vogueing, an “outlandish” form of dance that originated in Harlem’s queer, underground ballroom scene, into the mainstream.

Childish Gambino, ‘This Is America’ (2018)
The “gut-punch impact remains no matter how many times” you watch “This Is America,” said Rolling Stone. Donald Glover’s “musical alter-ego” Childish Gambino wanders from scene to scene, shimmying his way through “dancing kids, angry cops” and scenes of both “social unrest and unfettered Black joy.”