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NEW YORK (AFP) – When British climbing legend George Mallory took his iconic 1921 photo of Mount Everest's north face, the mighty, river-shaped glacier snaking under his feet seemed eternal. Decades of pollution and global warming later, modern mountaineer David Breashears has reshot the picture at the same spot -- and proved an alarming reality. Instead of the powerful, white, S-shaped sweep of ice witnessed by Mallory before he died on his conquest of Everest, the Main Rongbuk Glacier today is shrunken and withered. The frozen waves of ice pinnacles -- many .. the size of office buildings -- are...

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has invited Italian populist leader Matteo Salvini to Berlin in order to discuss Europe’s border crisis. The pair has already spoken on the phone and are in “full harmony” on migration and security policies, according to a statement from the Italian Interior Ministry. Mr Seehofer is the leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) party of Bavaria, which has pushed for a cap on asylum seeker numbers and disagrees with ruling coalition partner Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on the issue. Mr Salvini serves as Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister...

The rescuers had initially shielded the migrants from the knowledge that they were stranded. But, faced with a barrage of questions, they told them why... Italy and Malta have both 'refused' to let the vessel dock, with Italy vowing to turn away boats carrying migrants from Africa.....Mr Salvini, who has promised to deport hundreds of thousands of migrants, said:.. 'Saving lives is a duty, but transforming Italy into an enormous refugee camp isn't.'...Calling for Brussels to resolve the issue, he said: 'Italy has stopped bowing its head and obeying. This time we say no. Doctors Without Borders warned that the...

An Italian coastguard ship carrying more than 900 migrants was allowed to dock in Sicily Wednesday, after Italy controversially turned away a separate foreign vessel with rescued migrants on board. ... The migrants aboard the Aquarius, run by French NGO SOS Mediterranee, were stuck on the overloaded ship as Italy and Malta bickered over who should take them.

When every last Trudeau eyebrow has been scraped off the floor of the Manoir Richelieu, it's worth remembering that the divisions in the G7 are not quite as straightforward as the media would have us believe. For one thing, it's not G6 vs Trump; there's another disrupter in town: Just met the new Prime Minister of Italy, @GiuseppeConteIT, a really great guy. He will be honored in Washington, at the @WhiteHouse, shortly. Signor Conte heads what would once have been regarded as a pantomime-horse coalition of two rear ends: the left-wing Five Star Movement (M5S) and the right-wing Northern League...

Fincantieri The US Navy announced in February that five types of warships would compete for a bid to supply the branch with 20 next-generation guided-missile frigates. And last week, we got to tour one of those five frigates: Fincantieri's FREMM Alpino, a ship outfitted with anti-submarine systems. "The world has changed certainly in the last two years when you take look at what Russia is doing and what China is doing," retired Admiral Rick Hunt, who now works for Fincantieri, told Business Insider on the ship's bridge. "And frankly, I think that means we got to up the game of...

The president’s top economic adviser on Wednesday implied that the U.S. may not abide by any rulings from the World Trade Organization (WTO), a tough signal ahead of a Group of Seven summit this weekend where Trump is expected to face a backlash from allied leaders over his protectionist trade agenda. “International, multilateral organizations are not going to determine American policy,” White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters at a press briefing organized to preview President Trump’s trip to Canada for the G-7. The comments paint an unyielding stance on trade as the president prepares to meet...

Spain offered on Monday to take in a humanitarian ship stranded in international waters with 629 migrants aboard, prompting Italy’s new anti-establishment government to claim victory in its bid to get European partners to help more on immigration.

Sometimes the most extraordinary finds occur by sheer luck. At least that was the case of a fourth century B.C. chamber tomb that came to light five weeks ago during the construction of an aqueduct in a Rome suburb, when an earthmover accidentally opened a hole in the side of the chamber... The tomb contained the remains of four occupants -- three men and a woman -- and funerary wares. Archaeologists are calling it "the Tomb of the Athlete" because of the presence of two bronze strigils, the instrument used by ancient Greek and Roman athletes to scrape sweat from...

A ship carrying more than 600 rescued migrants, including 123 unaccompanied minors and seven pregnant women, remained stranded in the Mediterranean Sea on Monday after Italy's new populist government refused to allow it to dock the day before, in a move described by rescuers as unprecedented. Matteo Salvini, Italy's hardline interior minister and leader of the anti-immigration League party, called on the country to "close the ports" and pledged Sunday to "STOP the filthy business of illegal immigration." Supplies on the ship are beginning to run low and a number of people are in need of medical treatment, including 15...

A group of more than 600 migrants appear to have become the first subjects of the new Italian government's tough immigration stance without having even set foot on Italian soil. A charity rescue vessel carrying 629 people is currently stranded in the Mediterranean after Matteo Salvini, the new Italian interior minister, reportedly refused to allow it to dock at Italian ports. Mr Salvini, whose far-right League Party's tough line on immigration won it a record number of votes in March's election, has promised to deport half a million illegal migrants from Italy. He was sworn in as the country's interior...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has largely abandoned support for the European Union’s migrant quota system, instead, pushing for what she has termed “flexible solidarity” and a “Marshall Plan” for Africa to prevent illegal migration. Merkel made her remarks on Wednesday at a meeting of the European People’s Party, a European Union parliamentary group of which Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CSU) is a member, Le Point reports. “If we fail to provide a common answer to questions of illegal migration, the foundations of the European Union will be called into question. Action is really needed here,” she said. Merkel appeared to...

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday she expected “contentious discussions” at a G7 summit this week, given differences with US President Donald Trump on trade, climate and security. Speaking two days before the Canada meeting of the club of major industrialized democracies, Merkel also said the leaders may not necessarily manage to agree on a final joint statement. “I think everyone knows there will be difficult discussions there, because G7 summits deal with the global economy, trade, climate protection, development—and foreign policy,” she told German parliament. […] Merkel vowed to enter the talks “in good faith”, but stressed that...

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of Seven rich nations headed for a summit in Canada on Thursday more divided than at any time in the group’s 42-year history, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies risk causing a global trade war and deep diplomatic schisms. In a bid to rebuild America’s industry, Trump has imposed hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, including those from key G7 allies like Canada, Japan and the European Union. He has threatened to use national security laws to do the same for foreign car imports and has walked back on environmental...

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel shared a picture on her official Instagram account that shows her staring down President Donald Trump during the G-7 Summit in Canada this weekend. True to form, online commenters have since turned the photo into a humorous caption contest. Merkel—or an aide that runs her account—shared the picture on Saturday, as Trump was preparing to depart early from the meeting in Montréal, Quebec ahead of a high-stakes Singapore meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The photo depicts Trump sitting behind a table with his arms crossed, while stony-faced aides and leaders look in his direction....

Just met the new Prime Minister of Italy, @GiuseppeConteIT, a really great guy. He will be honored in Washington, at the @WhiteHouse, shortly. He will do a great job - the people of Italy got it righthttps://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1005550889422110721

“I am in agreement with President Trump,” Mr. Conte tweeted Friday. “Russia should reenter the G8. It is in everyone’s best interests.” Conte’s comment followed remarks by President Trump earlier on Friday regarding Russia’s role in the group of leading industrialized nations (G7). “With that being said, Russia should be in this meeting,” Trump said of the G7 summit, which begins Friday in Quebec. “Why are we having a meeting without Russia being in the meeting?” “Whether you like it or not, and it may not be politically correct, but we have a world to run,” Trump said. “And in...

In my last column on the political situation in Italy I noted reports of a breakthrough in the creation of a government based on the new populist, anti-EU parliamentary majority resulting from the stunning electoral triumph of both the Five Stars and League parties.   As the New York Times reported on May 31 (with evident deep regret): “After 88 days of impasses and negotiations, two Italian populist parties with a history of antagonism toward the European Union received approval Thursday night to create a government that has already unsettled the Continent’s political order.” Horrors!  How dare the Italian people “unsettle” the...