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Commissioner nominees mostly male as leaders flout von der Leyen order

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Commissioner nominees mostly male as leaders flout von der Leyen order

Of the 17 EU capitals that have named their Commissioner picks so far, only five have put forward a female candidate.

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The roster of candidates bidding to join Ursula von der Leyen’s next College of Commissioners is predominantly male, with only five of the 17 countries that have so far nominated candidates putting forth a woman.

This means that only 29% of the nominees put forward so far are female – whereas in von der Leyen’s previous term in office 48% were women.

Von der Leyen, representing Germany, had asked capitals to nominate two candidates — one male and one female — to give her leeway in appointing a gender-balanced College. No member state has yet obeyed that demand.

It’s an early challenge for the Commission president von der Leyen as she aims to ensure gender parity during her second term in office.

The College is the cabinet that steers the work of the EU’s executive arm and is formed of one Commissioner representing each of the bloc’s 27 member states.

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“I want to pick the best-prepared candidates who share the European commitment. Once again, I will aim for an equal share of men and women at the College table,” she told the European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg following her re-election in July.

EU governments have until 30th August to submit the names of their nominees to von der Leyen, who is due to start interviewing them this week. She is then expected to allocate policy portfolios to candidates in time for their appointment votes in the relevant committees of the European Parliament in September and October.

With von der Leyen herself elected as president and former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas on track to become the EU’s foreign policy chief and one of the Commission’s vice presidents, the most prestigious roles in the executive are set to be occupied by women.

The four other women nominees come from Croatia, Finland, Spain and Sweden. The current Croatian Commissioner Dubravka Šuica has been nominated to stay on for another term, Spain has put forth environment minister Teresa Ribera in a bid to secure a high-profile climate or energy portfolio, while Sweden has also fielded a heavyweight in EU affairs minister Jessika Roswall. Finland has nominated MEP Henna Virkunnen.

Scarcity of female candidates

Men are clearly dominating the race for the remaining Commissioner posts, as they always have done. Of the nine member states yet to announce nominations, rumoured female picks are few and far between.

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The Danish minister for development cooperation and global climate policy, Dan Jørgensen, is the frontrunner to be nominated by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, according to EU diplomats.

Miguel Poiares Maduro, a former regional development minister, is also tipped to be Portugal’s choice. The Luxembourgish government, meanwhile, is rumoured to be torn between two male candidates: current Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, a socialist, and MEP Christophe Hansen, who belongs to the governing centre-right party.

In the remaining six countries that are undecided or keeping their choices under wraps — Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Italy, Lithuania and Romania — there are few female candidates tipped to be nominated.

Von der Leyen’s next move unclear

Von der Leyen is the first woman to preside over the EU’s executive arm, and has vowed to develop a “Roadmap for Women’s Rights” during her second term to close the gender pay and pensions gap, tackle violence against women and reconcile care and career.

But her credibility as an advocate of women’s rights is at stake unless she is able to strike a balance in her own team.

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Her outgoing Commission was the most equal to date, composed of 14 men and 13 women. In previous terms, women have been sorely under-represented, making up just a third of former President Jean-Claude Juncker’s cabinet between 2014 and 2019.

However, her demand for two nominations representing both genders is not enforceable by law, meaning she relies on the goodwill of EU leaders.

Asked by Euronews what action von der Leyen could take, a European Commission spokesperson said in a statement: “A couple of weeks ago, the Commission sent the president’s letter to the member states asking them for the names of candidates for the post of Commissioner. The deadline for the answer from member states is 30 August.”

“We will not be commenting on individual announcements by member states in this context,” the spokesperson added.

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Countries have aimed to justify flouting von der Leyen’s demand for two names by saying they are selecting the best candidate for the job.

Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris said in July that he would only field former Finance Minister Michael McGrath despite taking gender parity “extremely seriously”.

Harris said Dublin “doesn’t lightly send their finance minister to Brussels,” meaning the government could be reluctant to propose another female candidate to compete with heavyweight McGrath.

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This article has been updated to include Henna Virkkunen of Finland as one of the female Commissioner nominees.

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Minnesota braces for what’s next amid immigration arrests and in the wake of Renee Good shooting

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Minnesota braces for what’s next amid immigration arrests and in the wake of Renee Good shooting

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman by an immigration officer, Minnesota’s Twin Cities on Sunday braced for what many expect will be a new normal over the next few weeks as the Department of Homeland Security carries out what it called its largest enforcement operation ever.

Protesters screamed at heavily-armed federal agents and honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt their operations in one Minneapolis neighborhood filled with single-family homes.

There was some pushing and several people were hit with chemical spray just before agents banged down the door of one home on Sunday. They later took one man away in handcuffs.

“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”

Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.

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People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners in the neighborhood where 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed Wednesday, watching for any signs of federal agents.

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More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .

“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but the Twin Cities remained anxious. Minneapolis public schools on Monday will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.

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Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.

While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said on Sunday that the investigation into Good’s shooting death shouldn’t be overseen solely by the federal government.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.

“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened,” Smith said on ABC’s “This Week.”

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

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Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”

“That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.

Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn’t be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”

The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests across the country over the weekend.

Thousands of people marched Saturday in Minneapolis, where Homeland Security called its deployment of immigration officers in the Twin Cities its biggest ever immigration enforcement operation.

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Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis, Thomas Strong in Washington, Bill Barrow in Atlanta, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

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Netanyahu and Rubio discuss US military intervention in Iran amid ongoing nationwide protests: report

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Netanyahu and Rubio discuss US military intervention in Iran amid ongoing nationwide protests: report

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the possibility of U.S. intervention in Iran, according to a report.

The two leaders spoke by phone Saturday as Israel is on “high alert,” preparing for the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Iran, according to Reuters, citing multiple Israeli sources. A U.S. official confirmed the call to Fox News Digital but did not provide additional details.

The report comes as nationwide anti-regime demonstrations across Iran hit the two-week mark.

On Saturday, the Iranian regime triggered an internet “kill switch” in an apparent effort to conceal alleged abuses by security forces and as protests against it surged nationwide, according to a cybersecurity expert. The blackout reduced internet access to a fraction of normal levels.

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KEANE WARNS IRANIAN REGIME TO TAKE TRUMP ‘DEAD SERIOUS’ ON PROTEST KILLING THREAT AMID ONGOING DEMONSTRATIONS

Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds his end-of-year press conference at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2025. (Kevin Mohatt/Reuters)

On Sunday, Iran’s parliament speaker warned that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America strikes the Islamic Republic.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf issued the threat as lawmakers rushed the dais in the Iranian parliament, shouting, “Death to America!” according to The Associated Press.

President Donald Trump offered support for the protesters on Saturday, writing on Truth Social that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”

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IRANIAN MILITARY LEADER THREATENS PREEMPTIVE ATTACK AFTER TRUMP COMMENTS

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran’s Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

At a news conference Friday, Trump said Iran was facing mounting pressure as unrest spreads across the country.

“Iran’s in big trouble,” he said. “It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago. We’re watching the situation very carefully.”

The president said the U.S. would respond forcefully if the regime resorts to mass violence. 

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“We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts. And that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts,” he said.

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Protests in Iran intensify for the 12th day. (The National Council of Resistance of Iran)

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department and White House for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey, Brie Stimson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Four killed, 20 injured in overnight Russian strikes across Ukraine

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Four killed, 20 injured in overnight Russian strikes across Ukraine

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Russia fired more than 150 drones overnight into Sunday targeting close to two dozen locations across Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring 20 more.

Ukraine’s Air Forces say they intercepted 125 drones aerially but confirmed that at least 25 strike drones struck their targets.

They added that Moscow’s latest barrage mainly targeted Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk, all of which were targeted in Saturday’s overnight strikes as well.

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Local officials in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia say the strikes targeted residential areas and energy infrastructure. More than 385,000 homes were affected by electric, gas or water outages, at a critical time as temperatures plunged to 10 degrees below Celsius.

Regional lawmakers say service was restored to most of the affected households and areas by Sunday morning, but added that emergency work was still being carried out to restore power to the remaining homes.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of timing their attacks with the cold peaks of winter as to maximise civilian suffering.

“They struck targets that have no military purpose whatsoever – energy infrastructure, residential buildings. They deliberately waited for freezing weather to make things worse for our people. This is deliberate, cynical Russian terror specifically against civilians,” wrote Zelenskyy in a post on X.

He also noted that this week had seen heightened Russian assault on Ukrainian cities, announcing that his country’s defence forces recorded thousands of attacks using a variety of different weapons.

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“Over the course of this week, Russia launched almost 1,100 attack drones against Ukraine, more than 890 guided aerial bombs, and over 50 missiles of various types – ballistic, cruise, and even the Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile.”

The Ukrainian leader thanked all units responsible for protecting the country and responding to attacks, and praised their tireless efforts and resilience.

He also called on allies to ensure his embattled country maintains “stable support”, in defence and diplomatic fields as coordinated dialogue efforts continue in search of peace.

Meanwhile, Russia says that one person was killed in Ukrainian strikes on the western city of Voronezh. Officials say a young woman succumbed to her wounds at an intensive care unit of a local hospital after debris from a drone fell on her house during Saturday’s attacks.

They added that at least three others were injured in the attacks which targeted more than 10 residential apartment buildings, private homes and a high school.

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The city of Voronezh lies just 250 kilometres from the Ukrainian border and is home to approximately one million people. The attacks, which Kyiv have yet to confirm, came after the Kremlin’s major offensive on Ukraine in the early hours of Saturday.

Additional sources • AP

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