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Serbia rocked by anti-corruption protests after construction tragedy

Fox World News - Jan 31, 2025 5:13 PM EST

Mass protests have rocked Serbia for months as protesters demand justice and accountability after the deaths of 15 people in the collapse of a railway station.

Tens of thousands of college students have been marching for nearly three months demanding those responsible for the calamity be held accountable and prosecuted accordingly. The canopy at the railway station collapsed Nov. 1 after renovations led by two Chinese companies. 

A general strike was called last week, with many calling off work as people blocked major streets in Belgrade and occupied university campuses in solidarity with the young protesters. 

"I’ve worked in the Balkans for 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this," Tanya Domi, professor at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute, told Fox News Digital.

KOSOVO ACCUSES SERBIA OF 'TERRORIST ATTACK' RESEMBLING RUSSIAN ACTIONS IN UKRAINE

With protests showing no signs of dissipating, Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic announced his resignation, and the mayor of Novi Sad, the city where the tragedy occurred, also stepped down.

"The protests already took down two scalps, and I think more are to come," Domi said.

The prime minister’s resignation made him the highest regime official to step down, but it hasn’t quelled the uprising. Mass protests continued to break out in Belgrade and across the country.

"The resignation of the prime minister is simply not enough," Helena Ivanov, senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Institute, told Fox News Digital. 

Ivanov said the student-led protesters have clearly defined objectives, including full transparency about the process that led to the collapse and holding those responsible accountable for the loss of life.

The government has thus far been unclear and tried to evade scrutiny by downplaying the government’s culpability. At first, the government tried to ignore the protests, then began to use force and accused the protests of being infiltrated by foreign agitators. Some observers complain the Vucic government’s failure to act and provide clear answers to the public is endemic of Serbia’s core institutional corruption.

ZELENSKYY WARNS RUSSIA WANTS TO CAUSE 'EXPLOSION' IN THE BALKANS

"For protesters, the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse cannot be treated as an incident and isolated event, but rather a symptom of more widespread negligence and systemic corruption that precipitated into this tragedy," Sinisa Vukovic, director of the global policy program at Johns Hopkins University, told Fox News Digital.

The unprecedented resignation of the prime minister leaves the government in flux. The country will either see a new prime minister and government formed within 30 days or face snap elections. However, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic addressed the nation and said he will decide in the next 10 days whether Serbia faces a snap election.

"This is a legitimate challenge to Vucic’s rule and the biggest challenge the president and his party have faced in the 13 years of their rule," Ivanov added. 

Serbia’s Foreign Minister, Marko Djuric, told Fox News Digital Serbia's commitment to stability, reform and continued growth remains unchanged. The foreign minister said, "We are listening, we are learning and we are determined to ensure that Serbia moves forward on its path of economic and democratic development."

The protests are the most difficult to deal with from the perspective of the government and the president, Ivanov noted. The students have distanced themselves from the opposition party, which does not have broad support from the public and is generally considered weak and ineffective. 

SERBIA, CAUGHT BETWEEN EUROPE AND RUSSIA, COULD MOVE ONE STEP CLOSER TO NORMALIZING RELATIONS WITH KOSOVO

Students across the country are saying this is their fight, not the unpopular political opposition, leading to a greater show of force among the population. 

"After 13 years of one individual dominating Serbian politics and 13 years of very important governmental institutions failing to do their job, the key message of these protests is that we expect these institutions to do their job well," Ivanov said.

Security forces began suppressing the protests, which further exacerbated tensions and motivated more people to join the protests.

Ivana Stradner, research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital the Trump administration should not fall for Serbian President Vucic’s usual tricks of trying to balance between the U.S. and its adversaries. 

"Vucic has allowed China’s weapons and investments to thrive in Serbia. Serbia’s close ties to Iran and Russia are also undermining America’s interests. His domestic propaganda portrays the U.S. as an enemy. With friends like Vucic, Washington does not need enemies," Stradner warned.

Categories: World News

Iran's covert nuclear agency found operating out of top space program launch sites

Fox World News - Jan 31, 2025 11:43 AM EST

FIRST ON FOX: A covert agency within Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) tasked with the development of Iran’s nuclear program has been found to be operating out of top sites used by Iran’s space program.

Iran has hidden elements of its nuclear development program under the guise of commercial enterprises, and it has been suspected of using its space program to develop technologies that could be applied to its nuclear weapons program. 

Fox News Digital has learned that according to information obtained by sources embedded in the Iranian regime, evidence collected over several months shows that Iran’s chief nuclear development agency, the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPDN), has been operating out two locations previously recognized as space development and launch sites.

IRAN HIDING MISSILE, DRONE PROGRAMS UNDER GUISE OF COMMERCIAL FRONT TO EVADE SANCTIONS

"These reports, compiled from dozens of sources and thoroughly validated, indicate that in recent months, SPND has intensified its efforts to construct nuclear warheads at both the Shahrud and Semnan sites," the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in a report exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital.

The information was obtained by individuals affiliated with the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) and given to the NCRI, an Iranian opposition organization based out of D.C. and Paris. The NCRI's deputy director of its Washington D.C. office, Alireza Jafarzadeh, was the first to disclose to the world information about Iran’s covert nuclear program in 2002.

One of the sites, the Shahroud Space Center, which has been suspected of being used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to develop intermediate-range ballistic missiles, is also now reported to have "large-scale" SPND personnel operating out of it – a move Jafarzadeh described as a "significant red flag."

The Shahroud Space Center caught global attention in 2022 when Iran announced it had developed the Ghaem-100 rocket – which could be used to send low-orbit satellites into space, but also as a ballistic missile with a range of nearly 1,400 miles, greater that what was previously achieved with the Qased rocket.

But according to sources familiar with activity at the Shahroud Space Center "SPND's experts are working on a nuclear warhead for the Ghaem100 solid-fuel missile with a range of more than 3,000 kilometers [more than 1,800 miles] and a mobile launch pad."

IRAN EXPANDS WEAPONIZATION CAPABILITIES CRITICAL FOR EMPLOYING NUCLEAR BOMB

The site is under high security and personnel are apparently prohibited from driving onto the complex. Instead, they are required to park at a checkpoint at the entrance to the site, before being transported inside the complex by the IRGC. 

"The Ghaem-100 missile, with a mobile launchpad that enhances its military capability, was produced by the IRGC Aerospace Force and copied from North Korean missiles," the NCRI report said. "The production of the Ghaem missile was designed from the very beginning to carry a nuclear warhead. The IRGC Brigadier General Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, the father of the IRGC's missile program, personally pursued the project."

It is unclear what level of nuclear payload the Ghaem-100 missile would be capable of carrying at the range of 1,800 miles, though this is still shy of the roughly 3,400 miles needed to be classified as an intercontinental missile

The second site, located in the northern city of Semnan, the Imam Khomeini Spaceport – Iran’s first spaceport – made international headlines just last month when Tehran launched its heaviest-ever rocket into space carrying a payload of roughly 660 pounds, relying on a liquid propellant.

According to the NCRI report, Iran is using this technology to develop liquid-fuel propellants – like the Simorgh rocket with a range of more than 1,800 miles (used for launching heavier satellites into space – but with the capability of carrying nuclear warheads.

IRAN LAUNCHES ROCKET WITH HEAVIEST-EVER PAYLOAD INTO SPACE AMID HEIGHTENED CONCERN OVER NUCLEAR PROGRAM

Liquid fuel enables a missile to have greater propulsive thrust, power and control. Though it is heavier than solid fuel and requires more complex technologies. 

"Creating a Space Command of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force has served to camouflage the development of nuclear warheads under the guise of launching satellites while additionally giving the regime independent communications necessary for guiding the nuclear warheads," Jafarzadeh told Fox News Digital. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency earlier this month warned that Iran has developed some 440 pounds of near-weapons grade uranium that has been enriched to the 60% purity threshold – shy of the 90% purity levels needed to develop a nuclear bomb. 

Though only some 92 pounds of weapons-grade uranium is reportedly required to create one nuclear bomb, meaning Iran, if it further enriched its uranium, could possess enough material to develop five nuclear bombs.

But Jafarzadeh warned that the international community needs to be paying attention to Iran’s activities beyond enriching uranium. 

"It is naïve to only focus on calculating the amount or purity of enriched uranium without concentrating on the construction of the nuclear bomb or its delivery system," he said. "All are integral components of giving Iran’s mullahs an atomic bomb."

Categories: World News

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