A wave of emotion swept through Cairo’s main train station Monday as hundreds of Sudanese refugees, their bags packed tight with belongings and memories, boarded trains bound for home. After months, some more than a year, spent in exile, many are returning to a homeland still marked by destruction and uncertainty.

The Egyptian government has stepped in to provide free transportation for the journey back to Khartoum, the Sudanese capital recently retaken by the Sudanese Armed Forces. For more than a year, Khartoum had been under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) following the outbreak of civil war in April 2023.

What began as a power struggle between the army and the RSF has spiraled into one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters. Over 40,000 people have died, and more than 7 million have been displaced within Sudan. Egypt alone hosts more than 1.5 million Sudanese refugees who fled across the northern border.

Khartoum, once the heart of Sudanese governance and culture, now bears the scars of relentless fighting. Landmarks such as the presidential palace and the main airport lie in ruins, while residents trickle back to neighborhoods without stable electricity or functioning public services. Still, the city is slowly stirring to life, with reopened markets and signs of resilience.

The homecoming journey is not simple. From Cairo, travelers face a 12-hour train ride south to Aswan, followed by ferries and buses across the Sudanese border, completing a grueling 2,080-kilometer (1,292-mile) return.

Inside the station, emotions ran high.

“I am happy because I am finally going back to my family and my children,” said Awatef al Hassan, a returnee from Omdurman traveling with her daughter in an AP report.

Sudanese journalist Asem al-Taieb, one of the passengers, described the moment as a mix of sorrow and relief. “Some cried with ‘overwhelming emotions’ including sadness and joy about leaving Egypt and returning home,” he said.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) was caught posting (and then deleting) what turned out to be a fake resignation letter from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. It was then promptly shared by others on the right as a bombshell. The problem, however, is the letter was clearly a phony.

Some mocked Lee for being clueless, but others pointed to obvious tells, such as typos and fake seals.

Journalist Aaron Rupar quipped, “The only conclusion I can draw is that Mike Lee is actually an idiot.”

Politico congressional reporters Jordain Carney posted on X, “Sen. Mike Lee tweeted (and appears to have deleted) what he appears to believe is a resignation letter (??) from Powell.”

Semafor political reporter David Weigel and Politico’s Ben Jacobs pointed out other errors in the fake letter.

“The typo ridden letter has now been deleted by both Benny Johnson and Senator Mike Lee,” Jacobs said.

Weigel replied, “A GOP senator not being able to spot a fake, loaded with typos… good stuff here. If you really think you’re going to scoop the Bloomberg terminal on a Powell move, get psychological help.”

Veteran and lawyer John Jackson similarly pointed out Lee’s ignorance. “Mike Lee is an idiot. He just fell for this fake letter of Jerome Powell resigning.”

Democratic Party staffer Matt Rein zeroed in on the “official” seal in the letter, showing the absurdity.

Influencer and commentator Boston Smalls, jeered on X, “For a senator. This is extremely embarrassing. I mean, Mike Lee is a complete toilet fish, but this is just another level.”

Washington Post opinions editor Benjy Sarlin posted a screen capture of the Dow Jones after one person pointed out it wasn’t smart to post about “market moving news without verifing it.”

“It’s funny that day traders, who frequently panic sell off viral rumors, were like ‘Oh that’s just Mike Lee, he does this all the time, ignore it,'” said Sarlin on X.

President Donald Trump has been attacking Powell for years for refusing to reduce interest rates.

Former President Barack Obama has responded to President Donald Trump’s allegations that he invented Russian intrusion in the 2016 election.

Trump and his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, both allege that there was no Russian hacking of the election. There were never allegations that Russians hacked voting machines; rather, the allegations were that content farms backed by Russia supported Trump’s 2016 election.

Trump alleged that Obama should be arrested and charged with “treason.”

In a response, a spokesperson for Obama released a statement noting they would normally ignore such allegations, but felt the need to step in.

“Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one,” the statement began, according to News Nation’s Kellie Meyer. “These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.”

The statement goes on to say, “Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes.”

The spokesperson also said, “these findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”

While it doesn’t mention the special counsel, an NBC report noted that Trump appointed special counsel John Durham worked for three years to investigate the Russian investigation. He also found no criminal conspiracy from the Obama administration or other intelligence officials.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said she was “not sure” if President Donald Trump or anyone in his administration communicated with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) before a vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein documents was scuttled by canceling the final day of Congress before summer break.

Although the House was scheduled to hold votes on Thursday, Johnson moved to cut the week short as many members indicated that they would push to force the Trump administration to release files on the convicted sex offender.

“Karoline, did the White House support Speaker Johnson canceling the votes today over the Epstein, the vote over the Epstein file being released?” one reporter asked Leavitt during a Tuesday gaggle.

“I’m not sure if anyone here spoke to the Speaker about that,” the press secretary replied. “As you know, we’re always in pretty good communication with the speaker of the House.”

“But the President himself has said that if the Department of Justice has credible evidence, they should release it,” she added.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced new and increased fees for several immigration applications, including asylum and employment authorisation, under the H.R. 1 Reconciliation Bill.

The changes take effect from July 22, 2025.

According to a Federal Register notice issued on July 18, 2025, all immigration forms postmarked on or after July 22 must include the updated fees.

Submissions that do not comply with the new fee structure will be rejected from August 21, USCIS said.

Key changes include the introduction of a $100 fee for Form I-589, used to apply for asylum and withholding of removal. In addition, applicants with pending asylum cases will be required to pay a $100 Annual Asylum Fee (AAF) each calendar year while their application remains undecided.

USCIS also announced revised fees for Form I-765, which is used to apply for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). Initial EAD applications will now cost $550, while renewals or extensions will be charged $275. A separate $275 fee applies to EADs filed after approval of re-parole via Form I-131.

A new $250 fee now applies to applicants filing Form I-360 under the Special Immigrant Juvenile category. Meanwhile, the fee for registering for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) using Form I-821 has increased tenfold, from $50 to $500.

The USCIS clarified that the new H.R. 1-related fees are separate from existing USCIS fees and are not eligible for fee waivers.

“These additional fees are required by statute and cannot be waived, regardless of an applicant’s eligibility for a USCIS fee waiver,” the agency said.

For asylum applications filed after October 1, 2024, USCIS said applicants will be required to pay the AAF beginning on the one-year anniversary of their filing date and annually thereafter, for as long as the application remains pending.

The new rule also affects the validity periods of work permits. Under the updated policy, EADs issued to parolees will not exceed one year or the duration of parole, whichever is shorter. TPS beneficiaries will also receive work permits valid for a maximum of one year or the length of their TPS designation.

Additional fee adjustments for other forms—including Form I-131 (Application for Travel Document) and Form I-102 (Application for Replacement/Initial Nonimmigrant Arrival-Departure Document)—will be announced later, USCIS said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has accused former U.S president, Barack Obama, of “treason” citing a controversial report that alleges Obama-era officials manipulated intelligence on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The claim stems from a new report forwarded by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to the Justice Department. The report accuses Obama’s administration of orchestrating a “treasonous conspiracy” by allegedly fabricating intelligence to suggest Russia interfered in the election to benefit Trump.

According to Gabbard, the supposed fabrication laid the groundwork for what she described as a “years-long coup” attempt against Trump. However, this narrative contradicts the conclusions of multiple official investigations — including four criminal, counterintelligence, and watchdog probes conducted between 2019 and 2023 — which unanimously confirmed that Russia did interfere in the 2016 election in support of Trump.

It’s there, he’s guilty. This was treason,” Trump said on Tuesday,. “They tried to steal the election, they tried to obfuscate the election. They did things that nobody’s ever imagined, even in other countries.”

When asked during a press briefing with visiting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos who should be prosecuted, Trump responded:

“Based on what I read — and I read pretty much what you read — it would be President Obama. He started it.”

Trump, who recently drew criticism for sharing an AI-generated video depicting Obama being arrested, also named other former officials as part of the alleged conspiracy. These included Joe Biden, then Vice President; James Comey, former FBI Director; James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence; and John Brennan, former CIA Director.

He claimed Obama was the “leader of the gang” and guilty of “treason.”

Despite Trump’s repeated claims that the investigations into Russian interference were politically motivated and amounted to a “hoax,” bipartisan findings have said otherwise. Notably, a 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report — led by then-acting Chairman Marco Rubio, now Trump’s Secretary of State concluded that Trump’s 2016 campaign actively sought to exploit leaks of Democratic documents obtained by Russian military hackers.

The committee wrote:

“It is our conclusion… that the Russian intelligence services’ assault on the integrity of the 2016 U.S. electoral process, and Trump and his associates’ participation in and enabling of this Russian activity, represents one of the single most grave counter

Trump raged at a CNN reporter who was asking him for comment about a bombshell report on his ties to deceased financier and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, and hung up without answering, CNN reported.

CNN’s KFILE obtained footage of Trump and Epstein palling around that had not been previously known, including Epstein attending Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples in 1993, and the two of them laughing and palling around at the runway of a Victoria’s Secret fashion show in 1999.

But Trump was unwilling to discuss any of this.

“In a brief call with CNN on Tuesday, President Trump, asked about the wedding photos, responded, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ before repeatedly calling CNN ‘fake news’ and hanging up,” reported Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck.

Furthermore, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, renowned for his colorful attacks on the press, said, “These are nothing more than out-of-context frame grabs of innocuous videos and pictures of widely attended events to disgustingly infer something nefarious. The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep. This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media.”

This is only the latest in a series of revelations about just how close Trump and Epstein’s friendship was. A Wall Street Journal report last week, which triggered a libel lawsuit from Trump, detailed how he allegedly sent Epstein a lewd birthday letter in 2003 containing a drawing of a naked woman and the words, “May every day be another wonderful secret.”

It also comes as the Trump administration fights growing bipartisan anger, including from die-hard members of the MAGA base, over a perceived lack of willingness to release files on the Epstein case, despite Attorney General Pam Bondi having promised full transparency and the production of a supposed “client list” of rich and powerful co-conspirators.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) called President Donald Trump out for his latest allegations that President Barack Obama committed treason.

Trump was speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday with the president of the Philippines when he suddenly went off on a tangent about the “Russia hoax,” which he said was invented by Obama as an excuse to spy on him.

“It’s the most unbelievable thing I think I’ve ever read. So you ought to take a look at that and stop talking about nonsense,” Trump told reporters, urging them to stop talking about the Jeffrey Epstein documents.

Obama’s office issued a rare rebuke of the comments, calling them a “distraction.”

Himes told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace that if Trump is serious, where are the prosecutions?

“Four weeks from now or five weeks from now or six weeks from now, we all need to ask the question. And I will certainly ask the question, which is, okay, the president, the former president, is a traitor. Where is the Department of Justice indictment?” Himes asked. “Where is the prosecution of Barack Obama? But it will be Epstein all over again. Because four or five weeks from now, there will, of course, be no prosecution of Barack Obama because there’s not a court in the land that would do anything other than laugh, the DOJ and the prosecutors out of the room.”

He also pointed out that these allegations have another purpose and that is to gin up rage from Trump’s base.

“I’ve been trying to tell the truth about this ever since Tulsi put out this staggeringly disprovable and instantly disprovable lie,” Himes said about the report published by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. “When you start using the kind of language — the language of treason and of somebody being a traitor, you know, some tiny percentage of the population is just crazy enough to decide that they need to do something about it.”

He said it’s what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, when a MAGA mob broke into the U.S. Capitol to stop the counting of electoral college votes and “hang Mike Pence.”

Decades after the 1968 assassination of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the U.S. federal government has released over 230,000 pages of previously undisclosed documents related to the case, a move initiated by President Donald Trump.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) announced the digital publication of the files on Monday, marking the first time they’ve been made available in one centralized online collection. While some documents were already accessible through Freedom of Information Act requests, this broader release offers a more comprehensive, minimally redacted view of the federal investigation.

According to ODNI, the newly digitized trove includes FBI memos tracking the case’s progress, records of investigative leads, and files involving James Earl Ray’s former cellmate, who claimed Ray discussed an assassination plot. Also included are CIA documents on the international search for Ray, who fled the U.S. after the killing but was eventually apprehended, pleaded guilty, and sentenced to 99 years in prison. Ray later recanted his confession and sought a retrial until his death in 1998.

“The American people have waited nearly sixty years to see the full scope of the federal government’s investigation into Dr. King’s assassination,” said Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in a CBS report.

In preparation for the release, ODNI stated that members of the King family were given early access to the files two weeks ago. Yet, not all family members were on board with the timeline or the manner of the disclosure.

“For us, the assassination of our father is a deeply personal family loss that we have endured over the last 56 years. We hope to be provided the opportunity to review the files as a family prior to its public release,” King’s relatives had said beforehand.

In a follow-up statement issued by the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, King’s children, Bernice King and Martin Luther King III, acknowledged public interest but called for compassion.

They wrote: “We understand the records have long been a subject of interest,” but urged people to engage with them “with empathy, restraint, and respect for our family’s continued grief.”

They also took aim at the historical surveillance of King by federal agencies, particularly the FBI’s intrusive operations in the 1960s, which a later Justice Department report labeled as “very probably” illegal.

“While we support transparency and historical accountability, we object to any attacks on our father’s legacy or attempts to weaponize it to spread falsehoods,” the family noted. “Those who promote the fruit of the FBI’s surveillance will unknowingly align themselves with an ongoing campaign to degrade our father and the Civil Rights Movement.”

In contrast, King’s niece Alveda King voiced support for the disclosure, stating in the ODNI’s release: “It’s a historic step towards the truth that the American people deserve.”

The release follows Trump’s broader directive to declassify documents tied to three major political assassinations of the 1960s: President John F. Kennedy in 1963, Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, and Dr. King. JFK-related files were made public in March, while RFK records began rolling out in April.

Each of these high-profile killings has remained a source of widespread speculation and conspiracy theories, with persistent doubts about whether the individuals officially held responsible truly acted alone, or at all.

In 1999, a Tennessee civil court jury in a wrongful death lawsuit concluded that King’s assassination involved Loyd Jowers and unnamed co-conspirators, “including government agencies.” Meanwhile, prior government investigations have differed in conclusions: a 1977 and a 2000 Justice Department review both upheld Ray’s role as the lone gunman. In contrast, the House Select Committee on Assassinations in the 1970s asserted King’s murder likely resulted from a conspiracy, though it found no evidence of direct government involvement.

CNN’s Kfile has obtained “never-before-seen” photos and video of President Donald Trump and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein that shed new light on the relationship between the two men.

In one of the photos, Epstein is seen attending Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples, which was described as “the wedding of the century” by the media at the time.

Epstein is seen walking into the reception with his date, and also photobombing another photo with famous radio host Howard Stern.

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Another photo shows Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, with Epstein at the Harley Davidson Cafe in 1993.

CNN anchor Erin Burnett noted the photos had “never been seen” prior.

Maria Farmer, an artist and one of the earliest accusers of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, has accused former President Donald Trump of lying about his alleged presence at Epstein’s Manhattan office in the 1990s.

In an emotional interview on CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront on Monday, July 21, Farmer recounted a disturbing encounter she says took place in 1995 when she was 25 years old. At the time, Epstein had recruited her for art-related work and summoned her to his office one evening.

Dressed in exercise shorts after running to the meeting, Farmer says she was left waiting when she noticed a “tall, imposing” man in the room—Donald Trump.

“He walked up a few feet from me and just stood over me in a very imposing way,” she recalled. “He looked at me like he was in on some secret or something. It was really weird, like smirking. And I felt threatened.”

Farmer said she reacted with an “ugly” face, prompting Trump to back off just as Epstein emerged from his office.

According to Farmer, Epstein turned to Trump and said, “Oh no, she’s not here for you. Follow me.”
“What made it feel even more uncomfortable,” Farmer said, “was the implication — was someone else in the other room?”

As Trump walked away, she claims she heard him mutter under his breath, “Oh, I thought she was 16.”

“Rude is an understatement,” Farmer said. “It doesn’t matter what age I was — it was inappropriate, demeaning, and threatening.”

Trump has long denied having any involvement in Epstein’s crimes or being part of any “Epstein files.” Speaking to NBC News last month, he said, “That’s called ‘old news.’ That’s been talked about for years. Even Epstein’s lawyer said I had nothing to do with it — it’s old news.”

The White House has backed Trump’s denials. Communications Director Steven Cheung told CNN, “The President was never in Epstein’s office. In fact, the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep.”

Farmer swiftly fired back. “He’s lying,” she said. “They’re being disrespectful to the fact that I’ve given up my entire life for this case, just to have it investigated. I’m really sorry for him — that he’s caught — but he’s lying. I don’t appreciate it.”

She maintained that the encounter took place around 9 p.m. and said it was “absolutely inappropriate” for Trump to be there.

“They were best friends at the time,” Farmer added. “Epstein joked to me that after his divorce, he ‘inherited Trump’ and Ghislaine [Maxwell] inherited Ivana. It was known among the staff and everyone that they were close.”

Farmer and her sister Annie were among the first victims to report Epstein’s abuse to authorities. In 1996, she told both the NYPD and the FBI that Epstein and Maxwell had sexually assaulted her. She also reported that her younger sister Annie, then just 15, had also been abused.

On May 29, 2025, Farmer filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, alleging that federal agencies failed to protect her and other victims. She claims she urged the FBI to investigate Trump’s ties to Epstein in both 1996 and again in 2006 — but no action was taken.

“The government has not held any of the people I’ve reported accountable,” she told CNN.