World
Von der Leyen, Costa and Metsola took private jet to Luxembourg event
Ursula von der Leyen, António Costa and Roberta Metsola flew together on a private plane from Brussels to attend an event in Luxembourg last week, an extraordinary, high-cost decision made due to scheduling constraints between the three presidents, a spokesperson for the Commission said today.
The trio were expected to appear jointly in the city to commemorate Europe Day.
The trip took place on Friday and saw the presidents of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament visit the Robert Schuman house, accompanied by Luxembourgish Prime Minister Luc Frieden.
The rationale for flying rather than driving to Luxembourg – roughly 200 km from Brussels – was mainly prompted by the appearance of Friedrich Merz, the new Chancellor of Germany, in the Belgian capital.
Merz chose Europe Day to make his first visit to Brussels since taking office. He met separately with Costa, von der Leyen and Metsola, in that order, and held press conferences with Costa and von der Leyen, taking questions from journalists.
The bilateral meetings stretched over the entire morning, leaving the three presidents with an extremely tight itinerary to move to Luxembourg City and attend the commemorative event, pencilled for early afternoon, at the same time.
The teams in Brussels then chose to ditch the car option and resort to air charter, the costs of which were shared among the three institutions.
“Due to the scheduling constraints of the three presidents and the prime minister, the only travelling option to allow all of them to attend the commemoration of the Schuman Declaration together and on time was to take a charter flight,” Paula Pinho, the Commission’s chief spokesperson, said on Monday.
“This is the reason why, exceptionally, this was the option taken to get there.”
The offices of Costa and Metsola voiced a similar message.
The event in Luxembourg, hosted at the prime minister’s invitation to mark the 75th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, started in the early afternoon and lasted about two hours. The four leaders visited the house where Robert Schuman, the French politician who delivered the declaration on 9 May 1950, grew up.
Schuman’s proposal to create a new authority to manage the production of coal and steel from France and West Germany paved the way for the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and kick-started the project of European integration.
Luxembourg was one of the six founding members of the ECSC and served as host of the independent High Authority, the precursor of the European Commission. During Friday’s trip, the four leaders also visited the old seat of the High Authority.
Once the event was over, von der Leyen and Costa returned to Brussels using the rented plane while Metsola and her team flew commercial to Cyprus.
Although air flights are frequent for long-distance travel, using the same option for such a short-distance trip is likely to raise eyebrows, given the EU’s commitment to sustainability and the pressure from member states to control expenses.
World
Amy Poehler Says ‘SNL’ Actors ‘All Played People We Should Not Have… I Misappropriated, I Appropriated’: Everything in Comedy Has an ‘Expiration Date’
Amy Poehler recently took accountability for her problematic “Saturday Night Live” characters while talking to former cast member Will Forte on her “Good Hang” podcast. Poehler said that every comedian who has appeared on “SNL” over the years has “played people that we should not have played” and “the part about getting older and being in comedy is you have to, like, figure out, ‘Oh, it’s like everything has an expiration date.’”
“There was even on [‘SNL50’], when they had that segment which was like, ‘Here’s all the ways we got things wrong,’ and they showed way inappropriate casting for people,” Poehler added. “We all played people that we should not have played. I misappropriated, I appropriated…I didn’t know.”
Poehler was referring to the “SNL50” sketch in which Tom Hanks introduced an In Memoriam segment calling out the many problematic jokes and sketches “SNL” has aired. The montage of poorly-aged bits includes jokes about sexual harassment and such infamous moments as Adrien Brody sporting dreadlocks and a Jamaican accent.
“Even though these characters, accents and … let’s just call them ‘ethnic’ wigs were unquestionably in poor taste, you all laughed at them,” Tom Hanks said in a winking moment at the audience. “So if anyone should be canceled, shouldn’t it be you, the audience? Something to think about.”
Speaking to Forte on her podcast, Poehler added: “The best thing you can do is make repairs, learn from your mistakes, do better. It’s all you can do.”
Watch Poehler and Forte’s full “Good Hang” conversation in the video below.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
If President Trump decides not to order a strike on Iran’s main underground enrichment site at Fordow, Israel has a number of options to destroy Iran’s nuclear enrichment facility buried deep under a mountain south of Tehran.
One option includes sending elite Israeli Air Force commandos from Unit 5101, known as Shaldag, which, in Hebrew, means kingfisher, a bird known to be patient and dive deep under water to find its prey.
In September, members of this elite unit surprised the world by entering an underground missile factory used by Iran in Syria.
“There was a site that similarly looked like Fordow,” former Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin told Fox News in an exclusive interview. “Even though smaller, the Syrian facility produced advanced ballistic missiles, precise ballistic missiles using Iranian technology, as well as Iranian money.”
AMERICA’S IRAN DILEMMA: HOW TO STRIKE FORDOW WITHOUT LOSING SIGHT OF CHINA THREAT
“There was a site that similarly looked like Fordow,” former Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin told Fox News in an exclusive interview. (Amos Yadlin)
Israel attacked the site from the air a few times but was not able to destroy the site.
Unit 5101 (Shaldag) used the cover of darkness and diversionary airstrikes to enter the secret site, plant explosives and destroy the complex. Like Iran’s Fordow mountain complex south of Tehran, it was 300 feet underground.
HOW BUNKER BUSTER BOMBS WORK AND HOW THEY COULD DESTROY IRAN’S FORDOW NUCLEAR SITE
“The Air Force took care of all the guards around the perimeter, and Shaldag got in, and the place is gone, destroyed,” Yadlin said with a slight smile.
It’s not the first time Israel has had to plan to take out a secret nuclear complex against the odds and alone. In 1981, Israel flew a daring mission to bomb Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak.
Yadlin was one of eight young Israeli F-16 pilots who carried out the secret attack.
In 1981, Israel flew a daring mission to bomb Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak. Yadlin was one of eight young Israeli F-16 pilots who carried out the secret attack. (Amos Yadlin)
“We didn’t have air refueling at that time. We didn’t have GPS. It was dumb bombs, smart pilot, but a very difficult operational mission when Iraq was in a war (with Iran). So, the state of alert was very, very high,” Yadlin recalled. He and the other pilots believed it might be a suicide mission, and they might not have enough fuel to return home.
More recently, retired Maj. Gen. Yadlin served as the head of Israel’s Military Intelligence in 2007, when Israel blew up a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor that the world did not know about. The White House at the time did not want to assist in the strike. Yadlin has seen history change after Israel has acted alone carrying out daring missions like the exploding pagers that killed most of the top commanders of Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah.
WHY US MUST DESTROY IRAN’S FORDOW NUCLEAR FACILITY NOW
In 2008, when it was determined that Israeli F-16s could not reach Iran’s nuclear sites, Yadlin ordered Mossad to come up with another way to take out Iran’s uranium enrichment at Natanz. Two years later, Israeli and American cyber warriors introduced Stuxnet, a malicious computer worm that caused thousands of Natanz centrifuges to spin out of control, setting back Iran’s nuclear enrichment.
More recently, retired Maj. Gen. Yadlin served as the head of Israel’s Military Intelligence in 2007, when Israel blew up a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor that the world did not know about. (Amos Yadlin)
The decision to strike Fordow, the crown jewel and heart of Iran’s nuclear program, is different, and Israel prefers the U.S. to use its B-2 stealth bombers and 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.
“Anybody who wants the war to be over soon, to be finished quickly, have to find a way to deal with Fordow,” Yadlin said. “Those who think that attacking Fordow will escalate the war, in my judgment, it can de-escalate and terminate the war.”
And it could serve as a deterrent to China and Russia, who will see the power and capability of the U.S. military’s unique capability.
Another option would be to cut power to Fordow. Without power, the centrifuges enriching the uranium could become permanently disabled.
When asked if Israel could take out Fordow without American B-2 bombers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox’s Bret Baier in an exclusive interview last Sunday, “We have quite a few startups too and quite a few rabbits up our sleeve. And I don’t think that I should get into that.”
How did MAGA become Trump’s biggest opponent of a US strike on Iran? The Republican base is split over Trump’s rhetoric about getting involved in another foreign war. Conservative stalwarts like Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon are pushing back. Could a US strike on Iran be a blow against Trump at home?
New Hampshire city in ‘Jumanji’ marks 30th anniversary with animal costume race
Cody Glass is set to become an unrestricted free agent
New Mexico law protects transgender care for minors as court ruling sparks distress
Pilot in deadly crash tried to dodge turtle on North Carolina runway, NTSB finds
Thousands without power after storm rolls through North Dakota
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
Judge Boasberg orders Rubio to refer Trump officials' Signal messages to DOJ to ensure preservation
MAGA is split over Israel and Iran. Which way will Trump go?
Federal judge declines to order Trump officials to recover deleted Signal messages
'I don't see any other way': Republicans push for gun tax cut in Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'
Why do Europeans still believe a nuclear deal with Iran is possible?
-
Culture1 week agoA Murdered Journalist’s Unfinished Book About the Amazon Gets Completed and Published
-
Education1 week agoWhat Happens to Harvard if Trump Successfully Bars Its International Students?
-
Arizona2 days agoSuspect in Arizona Rangers' death killed by Missouri troopers
-
News1 week agoTrumps to Attend ‘Les Misérables’ at Kennedy Center
-
World1 week agoSudan’s paramilitary RSF say they seized key zone bordering Egypt, Libya
-
Technology1 week agoGoogle is shutting down Android Instant Apps over ‘low’ usage
-
News1 week agoElon Musk says some of his social media posts about Trump 'went too far'
-
Technology1 week agoMeta’s new AI video tool can put you in a desert (or at least try to)