Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi created a stir Saturday by making the German chancellor wait while he chatted on his mobile phone with Turkey's prime minister about who should become NATO's new chief.
In images shown live on European television stations, Berlusconi appeared to gesture to his phone to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as if to explain why he wasn't proceeding with other NATO leaders to be greeted by her.
A visibly perplexed Merkel eventually went ahead without Berlusconi, who was deep in conversation and walked toward the bank of the river as he talked on the phone instead of joining the other chiefs of state.