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State of the Union: The Council President who stunned Brussels

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State of the Union: The Council President who stunned Brussels

This week, EU Council President Charles Michel announced that he would resign to run for a seat in the European Parliament.

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When Ukrainians listen to European leaders talk about their support for the war effort, they have all the reason to be irritated by the lack of action – if “irritated” is the right word when you’re in a bloody war of attrition with Russia.

A €50 billion EU aid package to help Ukraine pay its bills over the next few years is being held up by Hungary while a goal to provide the country with one million ammunition rounds by March is unlikely to be reached and by a wide margin. 

This week, German chancellor Olaf Scholz rang the alarm bells.

With €17 billion, his country is the second biggest donor of military aid to Ukraine after the United States and if Europe wants to prevent a Russian victory, his colleagues better step up to the plate, he said.

“As important as our German contribution is, it alone will not be enough to guarantee Ukraine’s security in the long term, I therefore call on our allies in the European Union to step up their efforts in support of Ukraine. In any case, the arms deliveries for Ukraine planned by the majority of EU member states to date are too small.”

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Who was Scholz talking about? He didn’t name any names, but France, Italy and Spain only gave a combined €1.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine, according to data by the Kiel Institute. 

The man in charge of coordinating EU policy, facilitating decision-making and providing European solidarity is Charles Michel. As president of the European Council representing the national governments, his job is to set the agenda, find compromise and unblock stalemates. 

This week, the former Belgian prime minister announced that he would run for a seat in the European Parliament which, if successful, would see him leave his current role several months early. The Brussels bubble was stunned but Michel himself sees it as an almost natural decision.

“Not being a candidate would have been a form of evasion. Being a candidate means taking responsibility. For four years, at the heart of the European Council, I took part in fundamental decisions for 450 million European citizens. So, it’s normal to be accountable, to explain decisions and what we want for the future.”

Many people were confused. 

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“In this particular case, this matters because it triggers a whole chain reaction which we have seen that has created a lot of agitation in Brussels and elsewhere in European capitals, because the departure from the post of the president of the Council leaves that position open theoretically for about six months,” Doru Frantescu, CEO and founder of the research platform EUMatrix, said to Euronews’ State of the Union. 

“That’s a very difficult plan, very complicated at the time right after the European elections. It is when the European leaders need to agree on the composition of the next European Commission, the next two posts, but also the next legislative agenda, the priorities. 

“And in this particular case, the departure of Charles Michel would also create a sort of power vacuum and legal vacuum because in the absence of another person that will take up the presidency of the Council by default, the chair would go to the prime minister of the rotating presidency, in this case, Mr. Viktor Orbán of Hungary, which, as we know, has had a difficult relation with Brussels over time. And this is what concerns some of the EU politicians which are trying to find a solution for this not to happen,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, a former president of the EU parliament, suggested this week to merge the positions of council president and commission president to make EU decision-making more efficient.

But for Frantescu, “it would require a change of the treaties that cannot be done just like that, by the decision of the political leaders.”

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With the far-right expected to surge in the June EU election, could Michel’s move be designed to limit the damage for liberals?

“I think the liberals certainly do need some sort of element to make their campaign more positive towards the European elections because now they are suffering in the polls. Projections now show that if elections were to be held this week, they would lose some seats there, which is also the case of the other political parties at the centre,” Frantescu said. 

“The way it looks now, the electorate is moving towards the right. Nationalists are projected to gain a substantial amount of seats, which would indeed change the pattern of the formation of a majority in the next Parliament, especially on some specific policies,” he also said.

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Secret Service Agent Assigned to Jill Biden Shoots Self in Leg

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Secret Service Agent Assigned to Jill Biden Shoots Self in Leg

A U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to former First Lady Jill Biden accidentally shot himself in the leg early on Friday near Philadelphia International Airport, according to a source familiar with the incident.

In a statement that did not mention Biden, the Secret Service said the incident occurred just after 8:30 a.m. EST and the agent suffered a non-life-threatening injury.

“There was no impact to the protectee’s movement and they were not present at the time of the incident,” the statement said.

The agent “accidentally discharged his firearm” while traveling in an unmarked SUV near the airport, Philadelphia Police Department Cpl. Jasmine Colón-Reilly said in a statement.

Emergency medical personnel responded to the scene and the agent was transported to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in stable condition, Colón-Reilly said.

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“The Secret Service’s Office of Professional Responsibility will be reviewing the facts and circumstances of this incident,” the Secret Service said.

The Secret Service is responsible for providing security to current and former presidents, vice presidents and their families and foreign leaders and is also an investigative agency.

(Reporting by Christian Martinez in Los Angeles; editing by Scott Malone and Chris Reese)

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Body found in search for missing American Airlines flight attendant in Colombia: mayor

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Body found in search for missing American Airlines flight attendant in Colombia: mayor

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A mayor in Colombia announced that a corpse had been discovered and was likely that of an American citizen who had gone missing. 

Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina, a 32-year-old American Airlines flight attendant from Texas, had gone missing while in the foreign country, according to reports.

“Since last Sunday, we have been searching for Eric Gutiérrez, a U.S. citizen who is missing,” Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez noted in a Friday post on X, according to a translation from Spanish.

AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT ATTENDANT VANISHES DURING COLOMBIA LAYOVER: ‘HIS FAMILY IS DESPERATE’

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Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez speaks during a press conference on Dec. 19, 2025. (JAIME SALDARRIAGA / AFP via Getty Images)

“Unfortunately, a lifeless body has just been found between the municipality of Jericó and Puente Iglesias,” he noted.

“There is a very high probability that it is this person,” the mayor explained.

COLOMBIAN MILITARY PLANE CRASH KILLS AT LEAST 66, HEAD OF ARMED FORCES SAYS

Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina (CDColExt/X)

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“We are heartbroken by the tragic passing of our colleague,” American Airlines noted in a statement provided to Fox News Digital on Saturday.

‘AMERICAS COUNTER CARTEL COALITION’: INSIDE THE US STRATEGY TO COMBAT NARCO TERROR, CONFRONT CHINA, OTHER FOES

An American Airlines Airbus A321 departs from Harry Reid International Airport on March 11, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.  (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

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“Our thoughts and support are with his family, loved ones and colleagues during this difficult time, and we are doing all we can to assist Colombian law enforcement in its investigation,” the company added.

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Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report

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Hundreds of thousands march through London in stand against the far right

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Hundreds of thousands march through London in stand against the far right

London, United Kingdom – Hundreds of thousands of people have marched through central London in what organisers are calling the largest ever demonstration against the far right in British history.

The Together Alliance march, backed by about 500 groups including trade unions, antiracism campaigners and Muslim representative bodies, brought together a diverse crowd of all ages from across the country on Saturday, converging on Whitehall near the Houses of Parliament.

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Organisers said that half a million people took part.

Kevin Courtney, chairman of the Together Alliance, told crowds the march “gives us all confidence to carry on.”

London’s Metropolitan Police put the figure considerably lower, at approximately 50,000, though officers acknowledged it was difficult to reach an accurate figure given how spread out the crowds were.

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The protest was met with a far smaller group of counterprotesters waving Israeli flags and Iran’s pre-1979 monarchical flag.

Aadam Muuse, a trade union activist, told Al Jazeera that racism and Islamophobia had moved from the fringes into mainstream politics, and was “being pushed by parliamentarians”.

He said the march was “much needed to push back against [Reform leader Nigel] Farage and his ilk,” adding that the populist party “must be defeated at the ballot box”.

Demonstrators march against ‘far-right extremism” from Park Lane to Trafalgar Square, organised by the Together Alliance, a coalition of unions and civil society groups, in London [Hannah McKay/Reuters]

Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic, reporting from the march, said demonstrators were pushing back against what they saw as “the politics of hate and division” in the United Kingdom.

One demonstrator, activist and writer Hamja Ahsan, told Al Jazeera he was motivated to attend after a rally organised by the far-right agitator-activist Tommy Robinson that drew 150,000 people and was marred by violence that injured several police officers. Robinson is reportedly planning another rally in May.

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“We need to show them that we’re the majority,” Ahsan said. “At a street level, the far right won’t take over our streets.”

He said the atmosphere on Saturday was akin to the Notting Hill Carnival, as the march united people from all backgrounds, “from pensioners to children”.

Museum worker Charlotte Elliston told Al Jazeera that she also feels unsettled by the far right’s creeping rise.

“You think this would never happen here, and then all of a sudden this might happen,” she said. “You see that it is getting scary.”

A man holds a placard, as demonstrators march against far-right extremism from Park Lane to Trafalgar Square, organised by the Together Alliance, a coalition of unions and civil society groups, in London, Britain, March 28, 2026. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A man holds a placard, as demonstrators march against far-right extremism from Park Lane to Trafalgar Square, organised by the Together Alliance, a coalition of unions and civil society groups, in London [Hannah McKay/Reuters]

Several left-wing politicians joined the demonstration.

Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn posted on X that the “problems we face are not caused by migrants or refugees”, arguing they were rooted instead in “an economic system rigged in favour of corporations and billionaires”.

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MP Zarah Sultana said on X, “There’s one minority we should be angry at: the billionaires funding division while working class people can’t make ends meet.”

Green Party leader Zack Polanski, Dianne Abbott and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham were also among the crowds.

‘Historic demonstration’

The rights group Amnesty UK hailed the “historic demonstration”, saying marchers were “calling for a different vision of society – one which places dignity, compassion and human rights at its heart”.

A separate march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which assembled at Exhibition Road near Hyde Park, converged with the main demonstration during the afternoon.

Eighteen people were arrested outside New Scotland Yard on Saturday after staging a protest in support of Palestine Action, the protest group which remains proscribed under the Terrorism Act despite a High Court ruling in February that the government’s decision to ban it was unlawful.

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Protesters holding placards gather ahead of speeches after a march against the far right, organised by the Together Alliance, in central London on March 28, 2026. (Photo by Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)
Protesters holding placards gather ahead of speeches after a march against the far right, organised by the Together Alliance, in central London [Henry Nicholls/AFP]

The march comes amid rising racism as Farage’s Reform party surges in the polls.

Hope Not Hate, an antiracism campaign group, warned earlier in March that the British far right is now “bigger, bolder and more extreme than ever before”.

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