Texas's majority Republicans last week and backed by President Donald Trump - would create five new Republican-leaning seats in the US House of Representatives. Republicans currently have only a slender majority in the House. Two-thirds of the 150-member state legislature must be present in order to hold a vote. Fifty-one Democratic lawmakers have fled Texas, most of them to Illinois, denying Republicans the required quorum. They said they plan to stay away for two weeks until the end of a special legislative session. That session was convened by the Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is a Republican himself. He has threatened to try to remove from office any lawmakers who fail to return to Texas for a vote. The session in the Texas legislature is being held to provide disaster relief after last month's deadly floods in the state, and to ban THC, the active ingredient in cannabis - as well as approving the planned electoral redistricting. Each of the 51 absent lawmakers could face a $500 (£380) fine for every day they are away, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, has threatened to have them arrested. Paxton wrote on X that the state should "use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law". "Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately," he added. (BBC)