World
Video: Migrants Left Stranded After Trump Cancels Asylum Claims at Border
Thousands of migrants are now in limbo at the U.S.-Mexico border after President Trump shut down the main legal channel for asylum seekers to enter the country. Many had waited months for immigration appointments, until the CBP One app was abruptly shut down on Monday.
World
A fashion designer, Italian singer and Icelandic illustrator team up on Vatican exhibition
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican’s Apostolic Library tapped Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri, Italian singer Jovanotti and Icelandic illustrator Kristjana S Williams for an exhibition exploring world tours of the late 19th Century.
The exhibition, titled “En Route,” is the sixth in a series of events intended as a dialogue between the Vatican library’s heritage, dating to the 4th century, and contemporary art.
The library enlisted Chiuri, Jovanotti and Williams to explore the stories of selected travelers, and the contemporary meaning of a recently discovered collection of 1,200 newspapers gathered from remote corners of the world by the diplomat and scholar Cesare Poma during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Chiuri focused on six Victorian-era women who defied conventions by traveling the world on their own. She worked with the Chanakya School of Craft in India to create tapestries depicting the routes they traveled.
“It was interesting to see that they immediately felt the need to change their clothes, because otherwise it was not comfortable to travel, especially by bicycle,” Chiuri told a press preview on Friday. “The first item they took off was the corset.”
Jovanotti, a singer-songwriter and globetrotter, exhibits a bicycle that he has ridden around the world, including on trips through China, Iran, Pakistan, New Zealand and most of Latin America. He also displays a disco ball that is made into a globe with silver mirrored panels representing the ocean, and gold ones for land.
“I liked the idea of bringing a disco ball to the Vatican,’’ he quipped.
The exhibition takes its name from a periodical by two French journalists, Lucien Leroy and Henri Papillaud, who published their global travels from 1895-97, in part to finance the journey. It runs from Feb. 15-Dec. 20.
World
Iran's covert nuclear agency found operating out of top space program launch sites
FIRST ON FOX: A covert agency within Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, 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, 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 and given to the NCRI, an Iranian opposition organization based out of Washington, 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 than what was previously achieved with the Qased rocket.
However, 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 on to 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.
However, 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.”
World
Protesters in Barcelona angry at evictions and high rental rates
Local residents and activists blame the influx of tourists, many of whom seek short-term rental accommodations, for contributing to soaring rent prices.
Hundreds of angry protesters gathered outside Barcelona’s historic Casa Orsola apartment building on Friday, determined to prevent the eviction of one of its long-time tenants, Josep Torrent.
The building, has come to symbolise the ongoing housing crisis in Barcelona, which has seen escalating concerns over affordable housing.
The Casa Orsola, purchased by an investment fund in 2021, has witnessed significant changes under new ownership. Since the acquisition, the new owners have ceased renewing rental contracts for existing tenants. Neighbours and local media have speculated that the building will be converted into luxury apartments intended for short-term tourist rentals—an increasingly common trend in Barcelona.
These short-term rentals are exempt from rent cap regulations, which were recently introduced by the local government to address the city’s housing shortage.
Josep Torrent, a mathematics professor who has lived in the building for 23 years, was scheduled for eviction on 31 January, following years of legal battles with the new owners. However, the eviction was postponed after negotiations with the judiciary and Catalan police, who cited concerns over the safety of carrying out the removal amid the protests. A new eviction date has been set for the early hours of Tuesday, 4 February, with protesters pledging to continue their fight to prevent it.
“These people want to scare their tenants and evict them one by one. But we have a very clear idea. The only way to stay in our homes is through collective bargaining so all rent contracts can be renewed,” Carme Arcarazo, spokesperson for Catalonia’s tenants union, said. “It’s disgraceful the way these people extort.”
One local resident Raul Acuña called for collective action. “If we all unite and keep fighting, we may be able to reverse this problem. But we must stay united. The problem starts with policies carried out by local governments. If we stay together, we can reverse the situation. If we don’t, it’s likely we will be forced to move out of the city.”
Over the last decade, the average rent in Spain has doubled, and the price per square metre in Barcelona has jumped from 7.2 euros in 2014 to 13 euros this year, according to real estate website Idealista. The crisis is exacerbated by stagnant wages, particularly for younger people, in a country plagued by high unemployment rates.
Ignasi Marti, a professor of Society, Politics, and Sustainability at Esade University, emphasised the need for market regulation to address the crisis.
“The market never self-regulates. If you leave private actors to regulate themselves, it leads to situations like the one we’re witnessing now. The market must be regulated in some way.”
A report by the Bank of Spain revealed that nearly 40% of Spanish renters dedicate an average of 40% of their income to rent and utilities, significantly higher than the EU average of 27%.
This problem is compounded by the rising number of short-term rentals catering to tourists, which drives up prices even further. Migrants to Spain, who often lack sufficient savings, are disproportionately affected by the high rents.
Spain’s public housing stock is also one of the smallest in the OECD, with less than 2% of housing available for rent through public housing programmes, far below the OECD average of 7%. Countries like France, Britain, and the Netherlands have much larger percentages of public housing, with France at 14%, Britain at 16%, and the Netherlands at 34%.
Local residents and activists blame the influx of tourists, many of whom seek short-term rental accommodations, for contributing to the soaring rent prices. Barcelona’s town hall has pledged to eliminate 10,000 so-called “tourist apartments” by 2028 as part of an effort to reduce the housing burden on locals.
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