US President Donald Trump has used a campaign rally in Florida, where Cuban Americans are a potent voting bloc, to address his concerns about Cuba.

In a 90-minute speech in Fort Myers, Trump repeated more military action against Iran may lie ahead as he tries to address the causes of a spike in oil prices that has put Republicans on the defensive ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.

With an eye toward the senior Americans who live in Florida, Trump said he planned to spend $US250 million to hire at ‌least 5000 new nurses in ‌aged care facilities across America.

Trump talked tough about ​Cuba, part of a pattern of putting pressure on the communist government there after ousting the leader of Venezuela early this year.

Trump, who won 68 per cent of the Cuban American vote in Florida in the 2024 election, said American naval forces from Iran will stop at Cuba on the way home.

“We’ll have one of them stop about 50 yards off the coast. They’ll raise up their hands, and then we’re going ⁠to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal,” he said.

Secretary ‌of State ​Rubio, a former US senator from Florida, has been handling much of the Cuba-related policy for Trump.

“To those who seek to create ​positive change in ‌Cuba – now is the time,” Rubio said on X on Friday, urging those disappointed by Cuba’s government “to create the change you desire ​through a discrete partnership with the CIA.”

His post did not elaborate.

Trump’s rally was intended to boost the electoral prospects of Florida Republican Representative Byron Donalds, who is running for governor against Democrat David Jolly.

Donalds told Trump he was proud to support his presidential campaigns.

The congressman has carefully navigated the economic realities of Trump’s second presidency. He hasn’t blamed Trump for inflation but he’s built his general election bid around a promise to address Floridians’ economic struggles.

Even standing next to the president, he promised to make Florida “more affordable.”

Trump’s speech, the latest in a near-daily ​blitz ​of campaign rallies in largely friendly areas, rambled from ​topic to topic such as the size of his crowds and his ‌White House renovations.

This weekend, Trump’s midterm campaign blitz heads to Georgia and Michigan, home of two of the most closely watched Senate races in the US.

with AP

Visitors will land at an airport almost a century in the making as western Sydney’s biggest gamble begins.

Tentiform ceilings, expansive mountain views and tarmac already used by cargo jets will welcome passengers to Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport from Sunday.

Master-planned to handle up to 10 million passengers a year, the airport will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week with no curfew.

Sydney’s need for a second airport was recognised in the post-war years, with Badgerys Creek selected as a potential site in the 1980s before decades of disagreements delayed progress.

Twelve years ago, Tony Abbott’s Liberal government officially selected and confirmed the site, ending decades of federal and state-level indecision over where in Sydney a second major aviation hub should be established.

The announcement set the project on course, with Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport ultimately completed on budget and ahead of schedule.

For stakeholders who took a massive gamble on the ambitious project, the airport’s opening is the beginning – passengers, airlines and businesses must now deliver on its promise.

Rico Merkert, the University of Sydney’s head of international business, logistics and supply chains, says the airport could take 10 years to become profitable.

He says population growth, better transport connections and continued private investment in the surrounding region will be crucial to making the $5.3 billion public project commercially viable.

A recession, changing attitudes to immigration, competition from nearby freight hubs or a failure to attract passengers could leave taxpayers supporting the airport longer than expected.

“In the future, I don’t see any problems with that airport,” Dr Merkert says.

“But currently, it’s probably not profitable … they will require subsidies.”

For governments, more than cash flow is at stake.

Leaders are backing a Western Sydney “aerotropolis” – an airport-centred economic hub that can attract industry and investment to a region marked by distance and job shortages.

Cheaper land and new transport links are expected to help usher in an era of economic growth, while the planned city of Bradfield aims to provide a base for advanced manufacturing, technology and science innovation in the west.

Business Western Sydney leader David Borger, who served as roads, housing and western Sydney minister in the Rees and Keneally state Labor governments, says that vision is already driving a “real U-turn”.

“There’s a sense of pride that we’re getting our own airport and that’s going to drive the economy … everyone’s looking at opportunities,” he says.

Massive public infrastructure spending around the airport runs into tens of billions of dollars, including the M12 motorway and a rapid transit metro line due to open in 2027.

Reported private investment in nearby areas reached $34 billion in October.

Mr Borger says government and council involvement has boosted business confidence to invest, with the Western Sydney City Deal co-ordinating local, state and federal planning.

Paul Fletcher, who served as infrastructure minister under former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, says the project’s broader economic ambition was built-in from the outset.

Mr Fletcher oversaw months of negotiations that culminated in Sydney Airport’s owners declining a right of first refusal – established under the Howard government’s sell-off –  to build and operate the new airport in 2017.

It cleared the way for the federal government to establish Western Sydney Airport Corporation.

As the airport became a reality, Mr Fletcher says governments began looking beyond the terminal and runways to wider economic opportunities.

“Once (the airport) was moving, we then really turned our attention to what are we going to do to leverage this big investment in an airport so it has a much broader set of policy outcomes?” he tells AAP.

Broader planning was pushed particularly hard between 2016 and 2020, as construction began at Badgerys Creek and governments worked on transport links, housing and the Western Sydney City Deal.

Shaped by Western Sydney mayors alongside the NSW and federal governments, the deal was one of the most significant parts of that wider effort, Mr Fletcher says.

“I think we’re going to see the consequences – and the individual components, the airport, the metro, Bradfield – play out over decades,” he says.

Penrith City Council Mayor Todd Carney, who leads a growth-focused western suburbs alliance, says government needs to boost underlying infrastructure that has lagged the airport development.

“It’s not the sexy thing but it’s the things that are really important to make sure we can build jobs of the future and we can build homes,” he tells AAP.

“I think there’s things happening now but unfortunately, a lot of that stuff should have been done a number of years ago.

“This has been decades of … western Sydney sitting behind when it comes to the infrastructure rollout, so now it’s time to get on board.”

Mr Fletcher understands the scepticism of residents who have witnessed past promises fail to materialise.

During the renewed push to build the airport, one local summed up frustrations: “Oh yeah, mate, I went to a sod turning in 1990.”

But Mr Fletcher backs the project’s long-term promise.

“I am very pleased with where it’s got to … I also think it’ll build momentum as more and more people get to know about it,” he says.

He will not judge success in the immediate term, describing the grand plan as a “10, 20, 30, 50, 100-year project”.

Dr Merket believes the airport has a surer future in public hands if it can navigate the next decade.

Better use of airport land for offices, logistics centres and other businesses could generate revenue beyond passenger and freight charges, he says, while encouraging an airport-based community would build a stronger local market.

“If you look at the growth projections within the next 10 years, the Sydney basin is large enough for two airports,” he says.

“In the future, I don’t see any problems.”

Mr Borger expects further rail connections to major metropolitan stations will also be needed to open up the region to more workers and commuters.

The airport has been designed to expand, with a second runway factored into the plans and the terminal built to grow in stages as passenger numbers rise.

Whether the surrounding economy can grow at the same pace is the much longer test.

Mr Fletcher, a former Liberal MP for the federal electorate of Bradfield, understands those east of Sydney’s city centre – roughly 70 minutes from Badgerys Creek – might not understand the hype.

“We’re not building it for you,” he recalls telling a naysayer.

“We’re building it for two and a half million people who live closer to Western Sydney Airport than to Kingsford Smith.”

An independent MP’s staff say they have been overwhelmed by the kindness of Australians as they prepare to reopen her electorate office near where she was allegedly attacked.

Helen Haines remains in a critical condition, having had both legs amputated after being struck by a car in Wangaratta, in Victoria’s northeast, on Monday. 

Brendan Nugent, 43, is accused of deliberately driving into the 65-year-old federal member for Indi outside her electorate office on Murphy Street. 

On Friday, her team expressed gratitude for the kindness shown in the local community and across the world. 

“What happened on Monday has deeply affected Helen’s family and all of her staff,” they wrote in a post to Instagram, alongside an image of floral tributes to Dr Haines. 

“Many of us witnessed the incident and some were among the first to come to her aid.”

Her staff hope to reopen electorate offices in Wangaratta and Wodonga on Thursday, adding however that healing would take time. 

“As Helen takes the time she needs to recover, we will take time to look after ourselves and one another, too,” the post reads. 

Save the Children Australia has raised more than $730,000 since Dr Haines’ husband Phil directed people to donate in her honour.

The incident has sent shockwaves across the country, prompting a debate over whether MPs are sufficiently protected from risks to their safety. 

In the days since, the nation’s police forces, Home Affairs department and state leaders have rushed to crack down on security and offer briefings. It comes against a broader backdrop of threats to politicians. 

Federal Communications Minister Anika Wells shut her office after an incident on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been advised we need to close the office temporarily while security improvements are made,” Ms Wells said in a statement on Friday.

“Our staff deserve to feel safe at work and this kind of behaviour is unacceptable.”

Queensland Police charged a 47-year-old Nundah woman with public nuisance over the incident.

A man was also charged in Western Australia this week for allegedly making threats and wielding nunchucks in the electorate office of state Labor MP Hannah Beazley.

Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen urged members of the public to leave politicians alone, regardless of which party they belonged to.

“Every Australian in politics is doing a job … No one deserves violence,” he told News24. 

In NSW, some parliamentarians who attended a state police-run briefing said they were left with broader concerns about their safety and felt examples given were politicised.

They were told to monitor their surroundings closely and alert NSW Police to their movements.

An app for a beacon to alert police of safety concerns was also encouraged.

A series of images of public protests – including a March for Australia rally, a pro-Palestine march against the Sydney Harbour Bridge and an image of children at a climate protest – were reportedly shown as examples of situations where MPs could be unsafe.

Victorian politicians also received a security briefing. A second briefing for those unable to attend will occur on Friday night.

Victorian Greens Leader Ellen Sandell called on Premier Ben Carroll to put together a memorandum of understanding between all political parties before the state election next month.

“We should all be setting the example and a higher standard when it comes to political discourse and campaigning,” she said in a statement.

Federal parliamentarians have also been briefed on keeping themselves and their staff safe.

Lifeline 13 11 14

beyondblue 1300 22 4636

Rebel Wilson has been found to have been the puppetmaster behind smear websites attacking her co-producer as she won a second bitter legal battle over her troubled debut film. 

The Pitch Perfect star directed, co-produced and starred in The Deb, a musical comedy that became the battleground for multiple legal battles in Australia and the US. 

Filmed on a $22 million budget, The Deb made just $335,000 at the local box office and is yet to screen outside Oceania.

Wilson’s co-producers allege that shortfall could be traced to her false and derogatory statements about them online. 

The Bridesmaids star claimed on Instagram that producers Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron, and Vince Holden tried to block The Deb’s release, embezzled money, and behaved inappropriately towards the film’s star.

On Friday, Justice Elisabeth Peden found the claims were her hyperbolic opinion and had not been proven by the producers to be false. 

In her NSW Supreme Court decision, she ruled Wilson had maliciously published false allegations when she posted that the producers had “stolen money from the film” and caused smear websites about Ms Ghost to be created. 

Justice Peden found crisis PR firm The Agency Group had acted as Wilson’s agents in creating the websites, which alleged Ms Ghost was an “Indian Ghislaine Maxwell” who procured young women for sex.

Wilson has consistently denied any role in the creation of the websites, but the judge found that was “contrary to the true position”. 

“Ms Wilson wanted to draw negative attention to Ms Ghost and wanted to do so seemingly anonymously,” Justice Peden ruled. 

But she determined the trio hadn’t proven they suffered actual damage as a result of the false representations. 

Similarly she found there was no established loss emanating from Wilson’s breach of contracts, including by releasing a clip of a song from The Deb. 

The producers had sought nominal damages and so the judge awarded a mere $10. 

Wilson had denied her co-producers’ allegations and countersued for unpaid fees, claiming the producers’ involvement in the film was marked by a troubling pattern of egregious behaviours, including theft and bullying.

Justice Peden ordered she be paid $359,000 in unpaid fees plus interest – which amounts to more than the box office takings for the flop film. 

Wilson took to Instagram to welcome the victory with a photo of herself in a graduation gown holding a degree from the University of NSW. 

“This girl never knew how much she was going to need that law degree!!” she wrote.

“I spoke up because I believed there were serious concerns that needed to be raised on my film The Deb.

“Defending myself has come at an enormous personal, emotional, and financial cost. But I’m proud I stood my ground – for myself and for others I was trying to protect.”

Wilson said she struggled to remain positive throughout the proceedings and thanked her family and followers for their support. 

It’s the second victory for Wilson after she was cleared of defaming her debut film’s star, Charlotte MacInnes, earlier this year following a fiery Federal Court hearing. 

MacInnes claimed Wilson defamed her in four social media posts that implied she was a liar and a sellout who walked back a sexual harassment complaint to further her career.

But the court found the young actor confided in Wilson – and later recanted – that she felt uncomfortable when Ms Ghost asked to have a shower and a bath together.

That defamation decision is under appeal.

Justice Peden came to the same conclusion in her decision on Friday, that MacInnes had made the complaint about the “objectively peculiar” situation and later changed her story.

Shares in a leading buy now, pay later company have plunged after the company disclosed it had been the victim of a co-ordinated fraud attack in the United States.

Zip Co said on Friday it had “identified and contained” the fraud event, which involved co-ordinated individuals establishing new accounts using legitimate credentials to execute unpaid transactions.

The attack resulted in $US7.2 million ($10.1 million) in cash operating expenses, the Sydney-based company said.

The event also disrupted transaction volumes and customer growth due to mitigation measures taken to contain the incident.

Zip has notified the authorities and lodged a claim with its insurer.

Zip Co’s president for its US operations, Joe Heck, resigned earlier this month, in a move the company announced on October 16.

He was replaced on an interim basis by US chief technology and operations Rory Herriman, effective immediately.

Zip Co shares closed Friday at $1.46, down 29.5 per cent from Thursday and down 63.6 per cent year-to-date.

Zip said it had returned to growth in the US in September and had 4.7 million customers there as of September 30, up 1.7 per cent from the end of June.

But its revenue from the US grew 11.1 per cent to $259.7 million, with Australian revenue up 1.7 per cent to $111.5 million.

Net bad debts in the US grew to 1.93 per cent of total transaction volume, from 1.51 per cent.

In Australia, net bad debts dropped to 3.51 per cent, from 3.83 per cent.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Julian Mulcahy said the results were a beat on most metrics, but the loss rates were higher and the fraud event would impact profit.

Zip Group chief executive and managing director Cynthia Scott said the results showed customers were choosing to use Zip more often, and the company was well-positioned for the holiday season.

Australia’s share market has snapped a three-week winning streak after surging oil prices and tremors in the artificial intelligence narrative hammered resource stocks.

The S&P/ASX200 rose two points on Friday, up 0.02 per cent, to 8795.2, but was down 0.13 per cent for the week, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 11.3 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 8905.8 in the final session.

Raw materials stocks have dragged the bourse lower, the segment dropping almost eight per cent since Monday and down almost 20 per cent from late August’s all-time highs. 

A rebound in the heavyweight financials sector helped limit damage at the index level, as dip-buyers sought shelter in recently neglected bank stocks.

The Australian dollar is buying 70.05 US cents, down from 70.12 US cents on Thursday at 5pm.

Labor is yet to convince stakeholders that forcing a percentage of gas production into domestic reserves won’t cripple the market and drive investors away.

The gas reservation bill, which faced a committee hearing in Canberra on Friday, would require liquefied natural gas exporters to set aside up to 20 per cent of production for the domestic market before it can be sold overseas.

The reservation would create a modest oversupply in the east coast gas market, which Resources Minister Madeleine King has said would bring down prices.

Greens senator Steph Hodgins-May, a vocal supporter of a gas export tax and a member of the committee, said she wasn’t convinced the policy would succeed in reducing future costs.

“This proposed gas reservation is Labor’s giant and complex distraction from making gas exporters actually pay what they owe in tax,” Senator Hodgins-May said.

“But now we learn it is going to make it easier to open up new gas fields and infrastructure. 

“This is the worst of both worlds.”

Gas industry lobby group Australian Energy Producers went into the inquiry warning the reservation would drive the domestic industry into the ground and ultimately increase prices.

Chief executive Samantha McCulloch reiterated she did not support measures which forced producers to sell to the domestic market, let alone for it to facilitate a 10 per cent oversupply.

“When that gas is not demanded by the market, it should be free to be exported,” Ms McCulloch said.

“This would align with the approach of the Western Australian scheme and would help to avoid some of those outcomes on domestic-focused producers, but also on the broader investment environment.”

The West Australian stakeholders sitting next to Ms McCulloch wanted no part of the new reservation scheme, having worked with a state system for the past 20 years.

“We don’t begrudge the government acting on the east coast … but Western Australia doesn’t have those problems,” Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA chief Aaron Morey told the inquiry.

“Our gas reservation policy has delivered a balanced market with lower and more stable prices. 

“In our view, the national scheme doesn’t get that balance right, but even if it did, we’d want WA fully exempt.”

Developments in Western Australia should receive an explicit carve-out for at least 40 years and be left to existing regulations unless something drastic happens in the market, Mr Morey said.

Labor agreed to water down its original pledge of a fixed 20 per cent baseline reservation to a cap instead.

This means producers would be allowed to set aside less gas at the discretion of the minister and on the back of advice from the Australian Energy Market Operator and the Australian Energy Regulator.

But the 20 per cent cap goes far beyond the “modest oversupply” spoken of by the minister, according to Tony Woods from the Grattan Institute.

“Something closer to two to five per cent of the total domestic demand … would be appropriate,” Mr Woods said.

“It would deliver most likely what the government is looking for in terms of producing modest pressure on prices, and … far less likely to have the sort of impact that many have been concerned about.”

Mr Woods also downplayed the impact of the proposed legislation on future investment, instead pointing to decreasing demand as Australia moves away from fossil fuels.

Households should have access to competitive gas prices during this transition, Annika Reynolds from the Australian Conservation Foundation said.

“A reservation scheme that becomes a fig leaf for the drilling and fracking of major new gas basins like Beetaloo or Narrabri, would be a terrible, terrible outcome,” they told the inquiry.

A cost explosion of about $20 billion hasn’t dampened the government’s tunnel vision for building Australia’s largest renewable energy project.

Snowy 2.0, which will add to the Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme, may now cost up to $25 billion, having been priced at $2 billion when proposed in 2017, according to a reassessment.

The new figure includes a $2.8 billion buffer on the project’s target cost of $22.2 billion.

Its original completion date of 2021, already well out the window, has been pushed back another year to late 2029.

The project would provide net benefits to Australians, despite the “very disappointing cost blowouts”, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said.

Proposed under former coalition prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, the scheme is expected to play a key role in Australia’s clean energy transition by helping store excess power generated by wind and solar.

“I’m here as as a shareholder minister saying ‘yes, this is unwelcome news’, and obviously we wish the project was being delivered more cheaply,” Mr Bowen told News24 on Friday.

“But it’s a geological and engineering fact that it is just impossible to deliver it any more cheaply than it’s being delivered.”

Mr Bowen and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher blamed geological challenges for soaring costs, exacerbated by design flaws they say were inherited.

“The original decisions were made very immaturely,” Mr Bowen said.

“Hardly any geotechnical work had been done, not enough soil testing had been done … the project designers working in a very complicated field have learnt a lot.”

Those geological challenges led to one of the project’s tunnel-boring machines, nicknamed Florence, getting bogged in softer-than-expected rock for most of 2023.

It became wedged in harder-than-expected rock the following year.

But tunnelling work is 65 per cent complete, according to the latest update, having only gone 19 per cent of the way in 2023 when the project was overhauled.

The “reset” involved renegotiating the agreement between the government-owned Snowy Hydro corporation and Italian contractor WeBuild. 

Canberra put itself on the hook for more potential cost blowouts, increasing the price tag from $6.1 billion to $12 billion, but baked incentives in for the builder to deliver the project cheaper.

Snowy 2.0 chief executive Dennis Barnes, who was parachuted in at the time of the reset, was also dismayed at the cost increases, but said progress was promising. 

“In 2023, we were achieving in the order of 0.2 per cent of progress a month and we’re now achieving 1 per cent of progress a month,” he told ABC Radio on Friday.

“That’s a big difference.”

Opposition energy spokesperson Dan Tehan demanded Mr Bowen resign over the higher costs and delays, with coalition members criticising the “cost-plus” contract model entered into after the 2023 reset.

The energy minister swiped away the call to quit his role.

“That’s the sort of personal attack I’ve come to expect from Dan Tehan. He’s wrong about the contract,” Mr Bowen said.

He accused Opposition Leader Angus Taylor, who was energy minister under the previous coalition government, of concealing Snowy 2.0’s true costs and complications before Labor came to power.

“The former chief executive, who has said on the record that he’d warned Angus Taylor the costs were blowing out before the 2022 election – Angus Taylor chose to hide it,” he said.

Nationals member Darren Chester labelled the Snowy 2.0’s latest update “alarming” and slammed Labor for continuing to redirect blame. 

“At what point does a statute of limitations on blaming previous governments come into effect?” he told ABC Radio on Friday.

“Continually blaming the previous government when you’ve been in power for four-and-a-half years is getting a little bit ridiculous.”

Dangerous plumes of methane have been detected at one of the world’s largest oil and gas projects in Australia.

The persistent cloud was spotted above Chevron’s Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant off WA’s Pilbara coast by satellite on August 29.

Methane plumes have been recorded above the site multiple times over the past year, according to non-profit environmental monitors Carbon Mapper.

It triggered an alert from the United Nations, which issues notifications to operators and governments on the world’s most urgent methane emissions in a bid to stop them. 

The agency recorded an average emission rate of about 7.8 tonnes of methane an hour.

That is the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions of an average petrol-powered car driven 895,000 kilometres, according to a US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) online tool.

Chevron said it was communicating with the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) and had sought more information about its data.

“We understand the importance of methane management as well as the community’s expectations on this issue, and our Australian facilities are designed, operated and maintained to manage methane emissions,” a spokesman said.

The company said satellite monitoring captures a single moment in time and the results have a wide range of uncertainty. 

“We use them alongside aerial surveys, operating data and on-site checks to enhance how we understand and manage methane emissions,” the spokesman said.

The WA government is examining the data.

“The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation is aware of these reports and is investigating them to understand what compliance or regulatory measures may be required,” a spokesman said.

The Conservation Council WA called on Chevron and the WA government to come clean about the “massive methane leak”.

“It’s unacceptable for Chevron, which is profiteering to the tune of billions of dollars from war in the Middle East, to be carelessly spewing out methane pollution from its WA facilities,” executive director Matthew Roberts said.

“Methane gas is an extra potent fossil fuel, and Chevron’s leak is adding fuel to the climate crisis.”

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and responsible for more than 25 per cent of global warming, according to the UNEP.

Chevron’s Gorgon and nearby Wheatstone LNG facilities supply about 6.5 per cent of the world’s LNG and more than 40 per cent of WA’s domestic gas.

Gorgon is located on Barrow Island, a Class A Nature Reserve about 60 km off the WA coast and west of Karratha.

US President Donald Trump is stepping up campaign efforts in a state Republicans usually expect to win but look set for a tight race ahead of midterm elections next month.

Trump’s midwestern stop in Iowa is part of a push through states where polling points to some tight races.

Trump held a rally in Sioux City as Republicans defend ‌a Senate seat, three House districts and the governor’s office, giving Democrats an opening after years of Republican gains.

“Pretend I’m on the ballot, because if you get out, we’re going to win big,” Trump told the crowd gathered in an airport hangar.

He has spoken repeatedly with confidence about his connection with voters, though his approval rating has fallen and some Republicans Trump is trying to help have broken with him over the Iran war, as higher fuel and grocery prices deepen voters’ economic worries.

Republican representative Ashley Hinson, who also addressed the Sioux City rally, has called for an “immediate end” to the war, saying Iowans should not bear higher fuel or ‌grocery prices because of it. She ‌is in a close Senate ⁠race against Democratic state Representative Josh Turek.

“If we lose this seat here in Iowa, the Democrats will control the US Senate. Mark my ​words,” she said.

Republican Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn, facing difficult reelection races, joined Democrats last month in voting to limit Trump’s war powers in Iran.

“The only thing is the fuel prices that are hurting him more than anything,” said rally attendee Ron Sitzmann, 73, a semi-retired parts and service director for an automotive company in Iowa, adding that he thought prices would drop once the conflict ended.

“I just wish it would happen sooner than later because it’s kind of dragging on,” said Sitzmann, who remains a strong Trump supporter.

Trump was in Iowa to back his party’s candidates but used the platform to attack Democrats from other ⁠states, including Somali American Minnesota politician Ilhan Omar, suggesting that she should quit Congress in the wake of a raid ‌by federal agents on her ​home.

Omar says the government is being weaponised to target her as a political enemy of Trump’s, who has been ramping up anti-Somali and anti-Muslim rhetoric in recent weeks.

In the Iowa races, Democrat Rob Sand ​leads Republican Zach Lahn in ‌recent polling for governor, while Democrats are targeting an open House seat in the state’s second congressional district.

Republican losses would be a setback for Trump in a US state where his popularity helped the ​party build a commanding advantage.

The Senate and House races could help decide control of Congress, shaping his ability to advance his agenda during his final two years.