Army says military parade will be held on Trump’s birthday

The Army on Friday confirmed there will be a military parade on President Donald Trump’s birthday in June, as part of the celebration around the service’s 250th birthday.

Plans for the parade call for about 6,600 soldiers to march from Arlington, Va., to the National Mall.

Trump has long wanted a military parade, and discussions with the Pentagon about having one in conjunction with the birthday festival began less than two months ago.

The Army’s 250th birthday happens to coincide with Trump’s 79th birthday, on June 14.

Trump wants DOGE to access Social Security systems

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to clear the way for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to access Social Security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans.

The emergency appeal is the first in a string of applications to the high court involving DOGE’s swift-moving work across the federal government.

It comes after a judge in Maryland restricted the team’s access to Social Security under federal privacy laws. The agency holds personal records on nearly everyone in the country, including school records, bank details, salary information and medical and mental health records for disability recipients, according to court documents.

The government says the team needs access to target waste in the federal government. Musk, now preparing to step back from his work with DOGE, has been focused on Social Security as an alleged hotbed of fraud. The billionaire entrepreneur has described it as a “Ponzi scheme” and insisted that reducing waste in the program is an important way to cut government spending.

U.S. reaches deal to settle lawsuit over Babbitt’s shooting

The Trump administration has reached a preliminary agreement to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the family of Ashli Babbitt over her shooting by an officer during the U.S. Capitol riot, attorneys said on Friday.

Lawyers for Babbitt’s estate and the Justice Department told a judge in Washington’s federal court that they have reached a settlement in principle, but the details are still being worked out. The final agreement has not been signed.

The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.

Babbitt’s estate filed the $30 million lawsuit last year over her fatal shooting when she attempted to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Capitol Police officer who shot her was cleared of wrongdoing, by the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia, which concluded that he acted in self-defense and in the defense of members of Congress. The Capitol Police also cleared the officer.

Trump administration settles with Maine over funding freeze

President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday agreed to halt all efforts to freeze funds intended for a Maine child nutrition program after initially suspending those dollars because of a disagreement between the state and Trump over transgender athletes.

In response, the state will drop its lawsuit that had been filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey announced.

The settlement closes a dispute first sparked by the federal government’s decision to freeze federal funds to Maine for certain administrative and technological functions in the state’s schools.

Israeli military strikes near presidential palace

Israel’s air force struck near Syria’s presidential palace early Friday after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by members of a minority sect in southern Syria.

The strike came after days of clashes between pro-Syrian government gunmen and fighters who belong to the Druze minority sect near the capital, Damascus. The clashes left dozens of people dead or wounded.

Late Friday, intense Israeli airstrikes were reported in different parts of Damascus and its suburbs as well as southern and central Syria, Syrian media outlets said. Associated Press journalists in Damascus said the airstrikes lasted for more than one hour until after midnight.

Alternative for Germany is listed as a ‘right-wing extremist’

The German domestic intelligence service said Friday it has classified the Alternative for Germany party, which placed second in national elections in February, as a “right-wing extremist” organization — making it subject to greater and broader surveillance of its activities.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution described the party, known as AfD, as a threat to the country’s democratic order, saying it “disregards human dignity” — in particular by what it called “ongoing agitation” against refugees and migrants.

Germany’s move to classify the AfD as a right-wing extremist group means its officials can now use informants and other tools such as audio and video recordings to monitor its activities nationwide.

Party leaders Alice Weidel — who met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance after the February elections — and Tino Chrupalla condemned the move as “a severe blow to German democracy,” given that the party has grown into one of the country’s most popular political forces.

Reform UK takes aim at other parties with election gains

The hard-right party Reform UK led by Nigel Farage snatched a seat in Parliament from the governing Labour Party and won hundreds of local council seats from the opposition Conservatives in elections that Farage hailed Friday as a turning point toward ending the two parties’ political dominance.

Reform’s Sarah Pochin was declared winner of the seat of Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by six votes after a recount, defeating Labour candidate Karen Shore by the narrowest of margins. It was a significant defeat for Labour, which easily won the district in last year’s national election.

— Denver Post wire services