On July 20, 2025, Chinese Premier Li Qiang presided over a groundbreaking ceremony marking the beginning of construction on the Motuo Hydropower Station—poised to become the largest hydropower dam in the world—along the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet. The project, located in a remote region of the Tibetan Plateau, is estimated to cost 1.2 trillion […]
Just two days before Tomorrowland, Belgium’s renowned electronic dance music festival, was set to begin on July 16, 2025, the event’s iconic Orbyz Mainstage was devastated by a massive fire, destroying roughly 75% of its structure Instagram. Built of materials such as styrofoam, plywood, and polyurethane, the stage burned rapidly during a fireworks-test session, prompting […]
A recent AP News report highlights a sharp increase in ICE arrests at immigration court facilities across the U.S. Since May 2025, thousands of migrants—including asylum seekers, legal permanent residents, and those with minor immigration infractions—have been detained either just before or immediately after appearing for scheduled court proceedings AP News This intensified enforcement is […]
On July 18, 2025, reports including by The New York Times revealed that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is undertaking a sweeping restructuring under Administrator Lee Zeldin with strong backing from President Trump’s executive authority. The overhaul includes eliminating the EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) and reducing the agency’s workforce by approximately 23%, […]
As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed July 4, 2025, the Trump administration has introduced a mandatory $250 Visa Integrity Fee on nearly all new non-immigrant U.S. visa applications. This includes categories such as tourist (B‑1/B‑2), student (F/M), work (H‑1B), and exchange (J‑1) visas, but excludes diplomatic visas (A/G) and travelers under […]
On July 15, 2025, the Trump administration finalized an arrangement granting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) access to personal data from approximately 79 million Medicaid recipients. Under an agreement between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE will be able to access sensitive demographic and identifying […]
On July 17, 2025, CNN revealed that CBS plans to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert after its current season, ending the iconic David Letterman–Colbert franchise in May 2026 The New Republic. Stephen Colbert, still leading late-night ratings, received the news on July 16 and shared it with a visibly stunned studio audience People.com. […]
On July 17, 2025, LBC reported that newly released FBI surveillance footage from around Jeffrey Epstein’s prison cell appears to have nearly three minutes missing, intensifying longstanding questions over the circumstances of his 2019 death The Independent. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI previously described the approximately 11 hours of video as “full raw” footage […]
On July 15, 2025, Reuters reported that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the withdrawal of 2,000 National Guard troops from Los Angeles, halving the federal military presence in response to widespread protests triggered by immigration raids Reuters . The troops were initially deployed in June by President Trump—despite opposing views from California Governor Gavin […]
On July 14, 2025, The Guardian reported that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi abruptly dismissed Joseph Tirrell, the Department of Justice’s top ethics adviser, without offering any public explanation The Guardian+10The Guardian+10Facebook+10. Tirrell, appointed in 2023, led a 30-person team responsible for overseeing ethics compliance, including financial disclosures and conflict-of-interest matters for senior DOJ officials […]