The European Commission said that ‘reflections are ongoing’ over the downsizing of the international hubs under the department for international partnerships.

Plans to slash EU international partnerships from more than four in five hubs worldwide  revealed today by Euronews remain under negotiation, a Commission spokesperson said today.

Euronews reported that Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) presence in 100 delegations worldwide is set for reduction to 18 hubs on the basis of an internal planning document seen by this news service.

“Reflections are ongoing within the Commission and no decision has been taken [on the issue],” European Commission spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Anitta Hipper said when asked for details of the savings and staff moves that the plans entailed, declining to comment further on the document.

Hipper insisted that the EU presence on the ground in foreign offices would be maintained, and said that work is ongoing to see how effectively delegations can deliver on all EU policies, taking into account “budget realities and political priorities”.

DG INTPA is planning slashing more than four in five of its hubs worldwide – reducing from around 100 delegations to 18 hubs – according to a document seen by Euronews. 

The DG will maintain 18 hubs in Africa, Asia and Latin American/Caribbean, according to the document, in strategic areas for the institution. You can see in this map where these hub offices will be located in detail:

“It is essential to move to portfolios that are more strategic and less fragmented and an optimised resource allocation across multiple countries,” the document said.

“The current INTPA operating model is based on the de-concentration process of 25 years ago, whereby INTPA staff are distributed across ‘cooperation sections’ within 100 Delegation worldwide,” the document said, adding: “This model no longer meets the needs for increased strategic focus and operation agility.”

The legal battle between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively in the aftermath of “It Ends With Us” expanded its blast zone Thursday morning, with a new lawsuit by Baldoni including text messages between Lively and Baldoni, her co-star and director. In the texts, Lively seemingly alludes to Taylor Swift as “one of her dragons.” The superstar is a friend of Lively.

In the lawsuit, filed against Lively and her husband, actor-producer Ryan Reynolds, on Thursday morning, Baldoni alleges that the couple hijacked the film “It Ends With Us,” and sought to wreck his public reputation with false allegations of sexual harassment. Baldoni is seeking $400 million in damages. Swift is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, nor is her name mentioned in the filing beyond a reference to “Taylor” in a text message sent by Baldoni to Lively.

Swift’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In text messages between Baldoni and Lively that are included on pages 23-25 of the 179-page filing, Baldoni discusses a rooftop scene in the film that Lively had allegedly reworked in the script. Baldoni’s lawyers claim that their client “felt obliged to text Lively to say that he had liked her pages and hadn’t needed Reynolds and her megacelebrity friend to pressure him.”

The suit alleges that Lively, along with Reynolds, gradually asserted control over “It Ends With Us” during production, including the rooftop scene in which Lively and Baldoni’s characters first meet. According to the filing, Lively summoned Baldoni to her penthouse in New York, where Reynolds and a “megacelebrity friend” — who appears to be Swift — both praised Lively’s version of the scene.

“Also was working on rooftop scene today, I really love what you did. It really does hep a lot,” Baldoni wrote in the text message. “Makes it so much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor) You really are a talent across the board. Really excited nd grateful to do this together.”

In a later text from Lively, according to the complaint, the star references Reynolds and another person (whose name is redacted) as being “absolute titans as writers and storytellers outside of their primary gig.” Lively continues, “They also know I’m not always as good at making sure I’m seen and utilized for fear of threatening egos, or fear of affecting the ease of the process. They don’t give a shit about that. And because of that, everyone listens to them with immense respect and enthusiasm. So I guess I have to stop worrying about people liking me.”

The lengthy message closes with Lively comparing herself to Khaleesi, the dragon-controlling queen played by Emilia Clarke on “Game of Thrones,” and alluded to powerful forces that she has in her corner. Lively wrote: “If you ever get around to watching Game of Thrones, you’ll appreciate that I’m Khaleesi, and like her, I happen to have a few dragons. For better or worse, but usually for better. Because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So really we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. You will too, I can promise you.”

Baldoni’s complaint asserts that this was Lively’s way of exerting pressure on Baldoni.

“The message could not have been clearer,” the complaint states. “Baldoni was not just dealing with Lively. He was also facing Lively’s ‘dragons,’ two of the most influential and wealthy celebrities in the world, who were not afraid to make things very difficult for him.”

Lively filed her own lawsuit against Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath and publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel on Dec. 31, 10 days after an initial complaint against them with the California Civil Rights Department. The actor accused Baldoni and others of orchestrating a clandestine media smear campaign against her, in retaliation for her complaints about facing alleged sexual harassment on the set of the film. In response, Baldoni first sued the New York Times — which was the first outlet to report on Lively’s complaint — alleging that the paper had worked with Lively’s team, taking the text messages out of context in order to defame him. At the time, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, promised that more lawsuits would follow.

Disputes over the now infamous Philadelphi security corridor are once again plaguing efforts to secure a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, an Israeli spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News Digital on Thursday. 

Hopes of cease-fire and hostage exchange deal first confirmed by the U.S. and Qatar on Wednesday appeared to be quelled by the time Americans were waking up on Thursday morning.

“The terrorist organization Hamas repeatedly raises new demands at the last minute, even though everything has already been agreed upon with the mediators, including the U.S.,” spokesman for the prime minister Omer Dostri said, echoing comments made by Netanyahu in which he accused Hamas of “creating a last-minute crisis” and “backing out” of terms negotiated by the mediators. 

KIRBY ‘CONFIDENT’ AMERICANS IN GAZA WILL BE FREED SUNDAY AMID REPORTS OF ISRAEL, HAMAS DEAL HOLDUP

When pressed by Fox News Digital for specifics on what issues have once again apparently stalled the deal set to be implemented on Sunday, Dostri pointed to renewed disagreements over the security corridor that runs between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

“[Hamas is calling for] changing the deployment of Israeli military forces in the Philadelphia corridor,” Dostri said without expanding on what deployment disagreements have occurred.  

The passage of land has repeatedly proved to be a sticking point in negotiations and may have contributed to the collapse of a July deal in which American-Israeli Hersh Golberg-Polin was slated to be freed, but which never came to fruition. Golberg-Polin and five other hostages were then killed one month later in a tunnel in Gaza. 

Jerusalem has claimed this corridor is vital for its national security interests as Hamas could use it to re-group by relying on smuggling efforts and connections with Jihadi groups in Egypt’s North Sinai region.

Israeli combat engineers search for Hamas tunnels in the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.  (TPS-IL)

In response to Fox News Digital, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said, “We’re aware of these issues and we are working through them with the Israeli government, as well as other partners in the region. We are confident these implementing details can be hammered out and that the deal will move forward this weekend.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed this sentiment and told reporters in a press briefing that the deal will be “implemented on Sunday.”

IDF soldiers are battling terrorists in the vital Netzarim Corridor in Gaza. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)

A part of the deal believed to have been agreed to this week said that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would remain in the Gaza Strip until the last hostage was freed. But Israel also agreed to begin withdrawing its forces to a security zone surrounding the communities on the Gaza border, reported the Times of Israel.

ISRAEL-HAMAS CEASE-FIRE DEAL HANGS IN BALANCE AS KEY VOTE IS DELAYED

It is unclear what specifics regarding the Philadelphi corridor were agreed under the deal, though a senior diplomatic official told The Times of Israel that Israeli soldiers were intended to remain in the security corridor through the entirety of the first phase of the cease-fire. 

But Ruby Chen, father of Itay Chen – an IDF soldier who is believed to have been killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and whose body was taken into Gaza by Hamas – believes it is the security demands by the far-right in Israel that could once again pose a threat to the hostage deal. 

Chen pointed to right-wing government members like National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who have repeatedly rejected any deal that does not include continued IDF presence in the Gaza Strip. 

File showing Hamas terrorists during a military parade in the Bani Suheila district on July 20, 2017, in Gaza City, Gaza.  (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

“The coalition members of Bibi, are giving him a very hard time. And you know, he might be looking to get out of it,” Chen said. “It’s easy to blame the other side.”

Another issue that has allegedly popped up, according to Netanyahu’s spokesman, is Hamas’ demands over the release of certain terrorist members currently held by Israel, though Fox News Digital was unable to confirm exactly what new demands have been levied. 

In exchange for the hostages still held in Gaza, Israel has agreed to release dozens of Palestinian prisoners in the initial phase of the deal set to last 42 days. During that period, 33 hostages who fall under “humanitarian categories” including any possible children, women, the elderly and the sick will be freed first.

The second phase, which will be negotiated on the 16th day of the cease-fire, will then involve the release of soldiers held by Hamas, both living and dead. Some reports have suggested that Israel could release more than 1,000 prisoners by the time the exchanges are through. 

Family members of Americans who were taken hostage by Hamas during the terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, including (R-L) Ronen Neutra, Ruby Chen, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Liz Naftali, Adi Alexander, Orna Neutra, and Yael Alexander talk to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House on December 13, 2023, in Washington, DC. The families were invited to a private meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.  ( Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Chen has arduously pushed for the release of all the hostages, including the deceased, and argued that the plan to release soldiers and the deceased in a separate stage was no longer good enough.

“[That] was maybe needed seven months ago, when the framework was put in place,” Chen said. “Since then, everybody is humanitarian – including the deceased. 

“The only thing that you can predict about the Middle East is that it is unpredictable,” Chen added. “The Middle East is always a match-light away from blowing up.”