Turkey committed a major diplomatic faux pas on Tuesday when a visibly frustrated European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was relegated to a socially distanced sofa, while European Council chief Charles Michel sat in an armchair next to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.
When the EU’s most senior officials arrived for talks with Turkey’s president, it quickly became apparent that only two chairs were laid out for the three leaders.
As head of the EU’s executive arm, Ms von der Leyen is no less senior than Mr Michel. On the opposite sofa sat Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, whose role ranks lower than hers.
It led to the hashtags #SofaGate and #GiveHerASeat trending on Twitter, with Ms Von der Leyen appearing exasperated by the situation in a video broadcast by the European Commission.
She stood looking at Mr Erdogan and Mr Michel and appeared to gesture with her right hand and say “um” or “ehm.”
Social media users pointed out that when Mr Erdogan met the predecessors of the two EU chiefs – who were men – all three were given seats beside each other.
"The president of the commission was clearly surprised," European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said. He added that Ms von der Leyen should have been treated "exactly in the same manner" as Mr Michel.
"She does consider that these issues are important and need to be treated appropriately, which they clearly were not," Mr Mamer said.
Mr Michel and Ms Von der Leyen were in Ankara for talks with Mr Erdogan about developing a closer relationship. Both EU officials said they hoped they could build better ties with Turkey, but also voiced their concerns about human rights breaches in the country.
Ms Von der Leyen was particularly critical of Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, a treaty intended to protect women from violence.
“We urge Turkey to reverse its decision because it is the first international binding instrument to combat violence against women and children," she said.
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Director: Daniel Espinosa
Stars: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona
Rating: 2/5
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Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
Company Profile
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Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries
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Number of employees: 130
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The specs: 2019 Infiniti QX50
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Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
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Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
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