The White House seeks sharp spending cuts in Trump's 2026 budget plan

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House released President Donald Trump's 2026 budget proposal Friday, hoping to slash, if not zero out, spending on many government programs. It seeks a sweeping restructuring of the nation’s domestic priorities, reflective of the president’s first 100 days in office and sudden firing of federal workers.

Trump's plan aims for steep cuts to child care, disease research, renewable energy and peacekeeping abroad, many already underway through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, all while pumping up billions for the administration's mass deportation agenda.

The budget drafters echo Trump’s promises to end “woke programs,” including preschool grants to states with diversity programs. And they reflect his vow to stop the “weaponization of government” by slashing the Internal Revenue Service, even as critics accuse him of using the levers of power to punish people and institutions he disfavors

Overall, it’s a sizable reduction in domestic accounts — some $163 billion, or 22.6% below current year spending, the White House said.

At the same time, the White House said it is relying on Congress to unleash $375 billion in new money for for the Homeland Security and Defense departments as part of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” of tax cuts and spending reductions. His goal is to repel when he calls a “foreign invasion," though migrant arrivals to the U.S. are at all-time lows.

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Drones strike ship carrying aid to Gaza, organizers say, in latest confrontation over assistance

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Drones attacked a vessel carrying aid to Gaza on Friday in international waters off Malta, the group organizing the shipment said, in the latest confrontation over efforts to send assistance to the Palestinian territory devastated by nearly 19 months of war.

A nearby tugboat responded to a distress call from the Conscience, which authorities said experienced a fire that was brought under control. The vessel was carrying 12 crew members and four civilians, the Maltese government said, adding that those aboard refused to leave the ship. The group was safe and no serious injuries were reported, it said.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition accused Israel of attacking its ship. The group did not provide evidence for that claim or to show that the fire was caused by drones, but in a video it shared an explosion could be heard. Another video showed a fire blazing.

The Israeli army did not respond to a request for comment. Israel has cut off Gaza from all imports, including food and medicine, since the beginning of March, leading to what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis in the war with Hamas, the Palestinian militant group.

Mecid Bagcivan, an activist from Turkey who was aboard the Conscience, was getting ready for bed when two explosions rocked the ship about two minutes apart, he said. At first it seemed there had been a collision. Then the crew saw fire and realized it was an attack, Bagcivan told The Associated Press.

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Wall Street extends its gains to a 9th straight day, reclaiming losses since tariff escalation

Wall Street extended its gains to a ninth straight day Friday, marking the stock market’s longest winning streak since 2004 and reclaiming the ground it lost since President Donald Trump escalated his trade war in early April.

The rally was spurred by a better-than-expected report on the U.S. job market and resurgent hope for a ratcheting down in the U.S. trade showdown with China.

The S&P 500 climbed 1.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.4%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.5%.

The gains were broad. Roughly 90% of stocks and every sector in the S&P 500 advanced. Technology stocks were among the companies doing the heaviest lifting. Microsoft rose 2.3% and Nvidia rose 2.5%. Apple, however, fell 3.7% after the iPhone maker estimated that tariffs will cost it $900 million.

Banks and other financial companies also made solid gains. JPMorgan Chase rose 2.3% and Visa closed 1.5% higher.

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Trump administration asks Supreme Court to let DOGE access Social Security systems

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.

Solicitor General John Sauer argued Friday that the judge’s restrictions disrupt DOGE’s important work and inappropriately interfere with executive-branch decisions. “Left undisturbed, this preliminary injunction will only invite further judicial incursions into internal agency decision-making,” he wrote.

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As Trump sets his sights on public broadcasting, a decades-old institution frets about the future

The nation's public broadcasting system — decades-long home to Big Bird, Ken Burns documentaries and “All Things Considered" — faces the biggest crisis in its nearly 60-year history with President Donald Trump's order to slash federal subsidies.

A court fight seems inevitable, with the heads of PBS, NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting all suggesting Friday that Trump's order is illegal.

“We will vigorously defend our right to provide essential news, information and life-saving services to the American public,” said Katherine Maher, NPR's president and CEO. “We will challenge this executive order using all means available.” Her counterpart at PBS, Paula Kerger, said Trump's order was blatantly unlawful.

The public broadcasting system dates back to the late 1960s, devised as an educational and public service-oriented alternative to commercial broadcasters available at the time. In his order, Trump said the system has become politically biased and time has passed it by.

“Today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse and innovative news options,” the president said in his order, issued just before midnight Thursday. “Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary, but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”

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Trump re-ups his threat to strip Harvard University's tax-exempt status

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday re-upped his threat to strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status, escalating a showdown with the first major college that has defied the administration's efforts to crack down on campus activism.

He's underscoring that pledge even as federal law prohibits senior members of the executive branch from asking the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or an investigation. The White House has said any IRS actions will be conducted independently of the president.

“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status,” Trump wrote on his social media site Friday morning from Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the weekend. “It’s what they deserve!”

The president has questioned the fate of Harvard's tax-exempt status — which a majority of U.S. colleges and universities have — ever since the school refused to comply with the administration's demands for broad government and leadership changes, revisions to its admissions policy, and audits of how diversity is viewed on the campus. That prompted the administration to block more than $2 billion in federal grants to the Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution.

Harvard stressed Friday that there is “no legal basis” to revoke its tax-exempt status.

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7 people are dead after a truck and tour van collided near Yellowstone, police say

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A pickup truck and a tour van with foreigner visitors — including two people from Italy — collided on a highway leading to Yellowstone National Park, leaving seven people dead and eight others injured, Idaho State Police said.

The crash happened just before 7:15 p.m. Thursday on U.S. Highway 20 near Henry’s Lake State Park in eastern Idaho, police said in a news release. The state park is roughly 16 miles (26 kilometers) west of Yellowstone National Park.

Police have not said what exactly caused the wreck, but the Dodge Ram truck was traveling west while the Mercedes van was traveling east toward Yellowstone when it happened. Video from the scene showed clear weather conditions at the time.

Both vehicles caught fire, police said. The driver of the pickup and six people inside the Mercedes passenger van died. The truck driver was identified Friday as Isaih Moreno, 25, of Humble, Texas. Identifying the others will take some time, according to police.

Fremont County coroner, Brenda Dye, told The New York Times that she was waiting for DNA test results to identify the six others because the bodies were unrecognizable. She said all six were from outside the U.S. Two were from Italy and it wasn't immediately known where the others were from, she said.

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Weinstein accuser insists in tearful outburst: 'He did that to me'

NEW YORK (AP) — One of Harvey Weinstein 's accusers broke down in tears and cursed on the witness stand Friday as a defense lawyer questioned her account of the former Hollywood mogul forcing oral sex on her nearly two decades ago.

“He was the one who raped me, not the other way around,” Miriam Haley told jurors.

“That is for the jury to decide,” Weinstein lawyer Jennifer Bonjean responded.

“No, it’s not for the jury to decide. It’s my experience. And he did that to me,” Haley said, using expletives as tears began streaming down her face.

Judge Curtis Farber halted questioning and sent jurors on a break. Haley, her eyes red and face glistening, did not look at Weinstein as she left the witness stand.

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Tennessee police release video of Kilmar Abrego Garcia traffic stop in 2022

NASHVILLE (AP) — Authorities in Tennessee have released video of a 2022 traffic stop involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland construction worker who became the face of U.S. immigration policy after his erroneous deportation to El Salvador.

The body-camera footage shows a calm and friendly exchange between officers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol and Abrego Garcia. He was pulled over for speeding in a vehicle with eight passengers and said they'd been working in Missouri.

Officers then discussed among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking because nine people were traveling without luggage. One of the officers said: “He's hauling these people for money.” Another said he had $1,400 in an envelope.

Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime, while the officers allowed him to drive on with only a warning about an expired driver's license, according to a report about the stop released last month by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The report said he was traveling from Texas to Maryland, via Missouri, to bring in people to perform construction work.

The Trump administration has been publicizing Abrego Garcia’s interactions with police over the years, despite a lack of corresponding criminal charges, while it faces a federal court order and calls from some in Congress to return him to the U.S.

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Snakes have bitten this man hundreds of times. His blood could help make a better treatment

NEW YORK (AP) — Tim Friede has been bitten by snakes hundreds of times — often on purpose. Now scientists are studying his blood in hopes of creating a better treatment for snake bites.

Friede has long had a fascination with reptiles and other venomous creatures. He used to milk scorpions' and spiders' venom as a hobby and kept dozens of snakes at his Wisconsin home.

Hoping to protect himself from snake bites — and out of what he calls “simple curiosity” — he began injecting himself with small doses of snake venom and then slowly increased the amount to try to build up tolerance. He would then let snakes bite him.

“At first, it was very scary," Friede said. “But the more you do it, the better you get at it, the more calm you become with it.”

While no doctor or emergency medical technician — or anyone, really — would ever suggest this is a remotely good idea, experts say his method tracks how the body works. When the immune system is exposed to the toxins in snake venom, it develops antibodies that can neutralize the poison. If it's a small amount of venom the body can react before it's overwhelmed. And if it's venom the body has seen before, it can react more quickly and handle larger exposures.

News from © The Associated Press, 2025