Manuel Gual posted a photo:

Route 66 Dreams: Classic Cars Across the American Desert

Description

A cinematic visual journey through the mythic atmosphere of Route 66, featuring vintage cars, abandoned gas stations, neon motels, desert highways, red rock landscapes, and golden sunset light. The series blends classic Americana, road trip nostalgia, open-road freedom, and a slightly surreal retro mood, evoking the timeless romance of travel across the American Southwest.

These images were generated by Artificial Intelligence.

The only softness to be found in the sculptures of Tamara Kostianovsky is the material. Using upcycled fabric mostly found from items in her own home—old T-shirts, worn-out sweaters, kitchen rags—Kostianovsky creates colorful sculptures that deal in death. Read the full article by Emilie Murphy by clicking above.

The post Nature Made Flesh: Tamara Kostianovsky Turns Upcycled Fabrics Into Visceral Sculptures first appeared on Hi-Fructose Magazine.

Eric Lafforgue posted a photo:

© Eric Lafforgue
www.ericlafforgue.com

WASHINGTON, June 13 — Little is known about what President Donald Trump hopes to achieve at next week’s G7 summit in Evian, France, beyond one certainty: the US president is likely to set the tone – and perhaps the agenda.

Much may depend on the outcome of peace talks involving Iran, which appeared to be gaining momentum on Friday.

“It is not possible to ‘manage Trump’ the way it has been possible during his first term,” Liana Fix, an associate fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP ahead of the summit.

The gathering will bring Trump face-to-face with the leaders of France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Most of those leaders have at some point been targets of Trump’s trade threats, diplomatic pressure or public criticism, with the notable exception of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, whom he is known to admire.

‘Expect the worst’

Neither Trump’s declining approval ratings nor the US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down his blanket tariffs is expected to soften his approach towards allies.

European leaders, in particular, have learned through disputes over Greenland, trade and the Iran conflict “to hope for the best but to expect the worst”, Fix said.

The US has also informed European partners of plans to significantly reduce the number of aircraft and warships committed to Nato operations in Europe, according to a New York Times report.

“I don’t think you’re going to see a weakened president,” Jackson James, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the US, told AFP.

“I think he’s going to go over there and do what he always does, which is just try to bully his way through these very, very complicated issues and try to get the American agenda, as he sees it, fulfilled.”

Trump “says he doesn’t like these multilateral meetings”, but “cannot bear for an assembly of world leaders to meet and he not being there”, said Victor Cha of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“So he shows up at these things and he leaves early,” Cha said, referring to Trump’s behaviour at previous summits.

Versailles charm offensive

French President Emmanuel Macron is reportedly hoping to persuade Trump to stay for a dinner at Versailles on Wednesday evening, appealing to the US leader’s fondness for grandeur and ceremony.

France has already adjusted the summit dates so they do not clash with Trump’s 80th birthday celebrations or a mixed martial arts event he is due to host at the White House.

Some analysts also see the absence of South Africa from the summit guest list as a gesture towards Washington.

Paris has denied any pressure to withdraw an invitation to South Africa, which Trump has repeatedly accused – without evidence – of discriminating against its white population.

Analysts say one topic likely to attract Trump’s attention is trade relations with China.

Ukraine dynamics shift

The balance of power has also evolved on the issue of Ukraine, where Europe is no longer viewed as being as dependent on Washington as it was a year ago.

In 2025, “Europeans just sort of agreed that they had to bend the knee to Trump because of Ukraine” and its need for US military support, said Max Bergmann, a Europe expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“But now we’re just in a different dynamic where Ukraine is not as dependent on the United States.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited to participate in discussions in Evian, setting the stage for another potentially high-stakes encounter with Trump. — AFP

Pejasar posted a photo:

Manuel Gual posted a photo:

Route 66 Dreams: Classic Cars Across the American Desert

Description

A cinematic visual journey through the mythic atmosphere of Route 66, featuring vintage cars, abandoned gas stations, neon motels, desert highways, red rock landscapes, and golden sunset light. The series blends classic Americana, road trip nostalgia, open-road freedom, and a slightly surreal retro mood, evoking the timeless romance of travel across the American Southwest.

These images were generated by Artificial Intelligence.

Researchers in Australia have created the largest map of cosmic magnetic fields ever assembled, revealing the invisible forces that shape galaxies across the Universe.

[Read More]

President Xi Jinping hailed China and Russia’s “unyielding” ties in talks with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, as the pair met to underscore their alliance days after Donald Trump’s own visit to Beijing.

The two countries’ ties have deepened since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as Russia has become increasingly dependent on China, its main oil customer.

Putin was received by Xi outside Beijing’s opulent Great Hall of the People in much the same fashion as Trump last week, complete with chanting children and military fanfare.

But the language was much warmer, with Xi telling the Russian leader Beijing and Moscow have “continuously deepened our political mutual trust and strategic coordination with a resilience that remains unyielding”, according to Chinese state media.

Opening talks, both were quick to laud their countries’ special ties as they extended their treaty of “friendly cooperation”.

Putin, quoting a Chinese phrase, told Xi: “A day apart feels like three autumns”, adding that relations had reached an “unprecedentedly high level” despite “unfavourable external factors”, Russian media footage showed.

In an apparent swipe at the United States, Xi warned of “unilateral and hegemonic countercurrents running rampant” in the world.

In contrast to Trump’s visit last week, which yielded little in the way of immediate concrete announcements, Putin and Xi signed a slew of agreements on Wednesday on trade, media and energy.

The two leaders later had talks over tea, which the Kremlin had previously said would be reserved for “the most important issues” such as Ukraine, Iran and relations with the US.

That session lasted around 1.5 hours before Putin headed to the airport, according to Russian media.

Fossil fuel push

Beneath the camaraderie, Putin is now perceived by many to be the junior partner in the relationship.

The Russian leader has been weakened over four years of the Ukraine conflict, with his country’s economy shrinking in the first quarter of the year as factors such as wartime spending, labour shortages and sanctions take their toll.

Analysts believed Putin would use his visit to push for progress on the “Power of Siberia 2”, a major natural gas pipeline running from Russia to China through Mongolia.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media Wednesday that while the two sides had reached a “basic understanding” — including on “the route and how it will be built” — there was no “clear timeline”, and “there are still some details to be worked out”.

The US-Israeli war on Iran has hampered crude and gas flows from the Middle East, giving an opportunity for Putin to offer Russian energy sources as an alternative.

“Russia and China are actively cooperating in the energy sector… We are, of course, ready to continue reliably supplying all these types of fuel to the rapidly growing Chinese market,” Putin said Wednesday.

His priorities may differ from China’s, which wants the Middle East conflict concluded as soon as possible.

Underlining that, Xi told Putin on Wednesday that “a comprehensive ceasefire is of utmost urgency, resuming hostilities is even more inadvisable and maintaining negotiations is particularly important”.

‘Sovereign foreign policy’

Xi has played host to a series of world leaders as an increasingly unpredictable United States under Trump has pushed many to shore up alliances with Beijing.

Many have urged him to use his influence with Russia and Iran to help bring an end to the respective conflicts there.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had asked Trump to discuss ending the war during his meetings with Xi last week.

The pair did talk about the issue, but the US president left China without a breakthrough.

Beijing has regularly called for talks to end the war in Ukraine, but has never condemned Russia for sending in troops — presenting itself instead as a neutral party.

The two leaders talked about Ukraine, Chinese state media said after the visit had ended, without giving further details.

On Wednesday Putin said that Russia and China were “committed to an independent and sovereign foreign policy”.

In a joint statement released by the Kremlin, Russia said it “positively assesses the objective and unbiased position of the Chinese side regarding the situation in Ukraine and welcomes China’s aspiration to play a constructive role”.

Pejasar posted a photo: