National Republicans are ramping up their efforts to squeeze out more GOP-friendly congressional seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections outside of the five seats they hope to gain in Texas.

Texas and California — the two most populous U.S. states — are the leading actors in a back-and-forth push to remake the balance of power in the U.S. House, kicked off when President Donald Trump called for Texas to redraw district lines with the GOP’s fragile House majority imperiled in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections.

The fight for control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections is underway — long before a single ballot is cast next year. Texas is fighting to enact a GOP-led redistricting effort that would give Republicans five more seats in the state and help them hold their narrow majority in the U.

The Trump administration is seeking a $1 billion settlement from the University of California, Los Angeles, a White House official said Friday. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the request and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Trump administration has suspended $584 million in federal grants, the university said this week.

A meeting between Trump and Putin is tentatively scheduled for the end of next week, a senior White House official told NBC News.

Gold futures on Comex were up 0.1% at $3,456.80 an ounce Friday afternoon, retreating from a record high at $3,534.20 an ounce set after a ruling by the U.S. Customs and

The global gold market has been thrown into fresh turmoil after a US government agency indicated that bullion would not be exempt from tariffs.