Trump allies are planning a world record-smashing fireworks show to mark America's 250th birthday on July 4, Axios D.C.'s Cuneyt Dil reports in a scoop.

🎇 What we're hearing: The Washington, D.C., spectacle will run nearly twice as long as last year's show on the National Mall.

• Freedom 250, a White House-backed initiative leading the event, is tapping Pennsylvania-based Pyrotecnico to run the show.
• Its resume includes the Super Bowl and other major events.

🧨 Jodi Dague, Pyrotecnico's director of marketing, tells Axios: "We are shooting to break the record."

• That would take more than 810,904 fireworks, topping a 2016 show in the Philippines.

🇺🇸 The National Mall will be hosting the Great American State Fair that day, with speeches, flyovers and performances.

• Freedom 250 spokesperson Rachel Reisner tells Axios: "This will culminate in a breathtaking fireworks finale that will shatter world records and stand as the most spectacular firework display the world has ever seen."

💰 Freedom 250, which is funded through a public-private partnership, didn't immediately respond to questions about costs or whether taxpayer funds will be used for the show.

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Anthropic is limiting what paying users can do with Claude Code, giving OpenAI an opening to lure users to ChatGPT's rival AI coding tool, Axios' Ina Fried reports.

• The fight shows that "all-you-can-eat" AI subscriptions may not survive the agentic programming era.

🤖 Driving the news: Anthropic is resurrecting support for outside AI agents on paid Claude plans.

• But it's putting that usage behind a new meter.
• Subscribers will get a monthly credit that they can use with third-party agents, like OpenClaw.

🤬 Those changes aren't sitting well with Claude users, some of whom now say they're switching to OpenAI's Codex tool.

What's next: Every AI company is facing the same constraints — there's only so much computing power to go around.

• They'll all have to abandon unlimited use eventually.

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1. 🇨🇳 In an evening toast, President Trump said his visit to China has been "a great honor." He also said that Chinese leader Xi Jinping will visit the White House in September. Meanwhile, Xi warned Trump that they may clash over Taiwan if the issue is handled improperly. Go deeper.
2. 🏛️ Senators unanimously approved a resolution to withhold their pay during government shutdowns, an attempt to make federal closures financially painful for lawmakers. Go deeper.
3. 🚔 U.S. Border Patrol chief Mike Banks is stepping down, CBS News reports. He's the latest in a string of Trump administration immigration officials to leave their posts. Go deeper.
4. 🚙 Honda posted its first-ever full-year loss ($2.7 billion), caused in part by sluggish electric vehicle adoption. Go deeper.
5. ⚽️ The World Cup final will feature a star-studded halftime show headlined by Madonna, Shakira and BTS, FIFA announced. Go deeper.

Feast your eyes on the largest denomination the U.S. ever printed: The $100,000 bill.

• The bill is part of a new exhibit coming soon to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Axios' Mike D'Onofrio reports.

🪙 The display features about 400 items from the bank's collection, including coins from the California gold rush.

• 💰 Visitors can even take home a free bag filled with real shredded money.

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