Washington

Super PAC to Spend $10M in Texas

President Donald Trump’s super political action committee has begun spending money in the 2026 midterm general elections, answering the call from many Republicans who have been eager for the financial support.

MAGA Inc., the super PAC allied with the president, on Saturday disclosed a $10 million digital and television ad buy to boost Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate nominee in Texas, and attack his Democratic opponent, James Talarico. The spending puts an end to a standoff between MAGA Inc. and several other GOP groups over who would help finance ads for Paxton.

The filing Saturday is the first general election spending by the super PAC, which has amassed an extraordinary cash reserve of more than $400 million.

During a news conference Friday, Trump said MAGA Inc. would probably spend $400 million to $500 million in the midterms.

On Saturday, MAGA Inc. released an ad calling Paxton, the Texas attorney general, the better candidate on the issue of taxes.

Washington

FDA: Blueberries triggering e.coli

The total number of people sickened by E. coli linked to recalled frozen blueberries has increased to 17, the Food and Drug Administration said in an update.

The illnesses were reported from May 11 to Aug. 2 in Florida and Georgia. So far, there have been six hospitalizations, and no deaths have been reported, the agency said.

In July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA announced that they were investigating an E. coli outbreak linked to frozen blueberries after a voluntary recall by Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur SA, of San Carlos, Chile.

On Wednesday, Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur SA, expanded its July recall to include one lot of Great Value brand frozen organic mixed berry products sold at Walmart stores.

The latest recalled products were sold in 10-ounce packages with a lot code of 6040 01-6 and a best-by date of Feb. 9, 2028, the FDA said.

The affected product has been sold in 19 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

New York

More Are Identifying as Dems

The share of Americans who associate themselves with the Democratic Party has grown significantly over the past year, according to data from Gallup. The shift, which signals the party’s largest advantage since 2008, is the latest sign of backlash against Republicans and the president ahead of the midterm elections.

The latest data shows Democrats with a 10-percentage-point advantage over Republicans when voters are asked which party they identify with and when independent voters are asked which party they lean toward.

The findings come as President Donald Trump’s approval rating has been below 40% for months, and as polls have found that Democrats are competitive across key Senate races in states that went heavily for Trump in past years. But shifts in party identification do not necessarily translate directly into votes, because independents, including those who lean toward a party, tend to be less politically engaged and less likely to vote.

Republicans and Democrats have seesawed between which party more Americans leaned toward over the last several years. As recently as 2024, Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party held a slight edge over Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents.

ZAGREB, Croatia

Thousands protest over waste

Tens of thousands of people rallied on Saturday in Croatia, furious that authorities for months haven’t cleared a huge amount of illegally dumped hazardous waste that has triggered fears of major environmental damage in the European Union country.

The illegal waste scandal in the central town of Gospic has fueled criticism of conservative Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and his government, which has faced mounting public anger.

The issue first surfaced lst February when Croatian police and Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, arrested 13 people suspected of illegally importing and disposing of hazardous waste.

More than a year later, Gospic residents fear that about 40,000 U.S. tons of waste that is still at an abandoned industrial site — mostly buried underground — was endangering their health. It includes remains of electronic equipment, plastics, construction materials and medical waste.

Kinshasa, Congo

wedding fire kills at least 22

A fire at a wedding party in Congo ‘s capital Kinshasa left at least 22 people dead, the regional mayor said Saturday. Several others were injured.

The fire started Friday night and continued into early Saturday in a building in Lingwala in northern Kinshasa. The building’s narrow hallways were constricted by people trying to escape the fire.

The mayor of Lingwala, Norbert Mushinga, told the Congolese Press Agency that the provisional death toll was 22. He said the toll could rise further.

The exact cause of the fire was unconfirmed.

TURMUS AYA, West Bank

Huckabee: Attackers ‘Terrorists’

The U.S. ambassador to Israel denounced Saturday a rising tide of Israeli extremist attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, describing the assailants as “terrorists” at a rare meeting with Palestinian Americans in the territory.

The comments by the ambassador, Mike Huckabee, came amid escalating Jewish settler attacks on Palestinians. Last month, settlers besieged the home of a U.S. citizen near Qusra in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, drawing international condemnation.

Huckabee held a town hall with the mostly Palestinian American residents of Turmus Aya who described life under Israeli military rule, as well as a climate of fear and intimidation created by Israeli settler attacks.

The ambassador said he was “deeply grieved” by their stories, according to a transcript provided by the embassy. He added that he would exert “pressure in order to get some resolution to things you’ve brought up today,” without elaborating.

— Press Democrat news services