Rome, June 20 -- The Italian government closed ranks on Friday to slam US President Donald Trump over his claim that Premier Giorgia Meloni had "begged" for a photo with him during the recent G7 summit, a pushback that suggested the longtime US ally had enough of Trump's boasting. Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani abruptly cancelled a planned trip to the United States this weekend, calling Trump's claims "serious and offensive" toward Meloni and all of Italy. Meloni for her part posted a video calling Trump's claims "completely fabricated" and expressing astonishment that he would invent such things about an ally. She concluded: "Italy and I do not beg." Trump had made the comments in an interview broadcast Friday morning on the La7 network. The La7 correspondent had asked Trump about Ukraine, but Trump raised Meloni and the conversation turned to their meeting during the just-concluded G7 meeting in Evian-les-Bains, France. ap...