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.

The federal budget is set to receive a whack from the bond market when the treasurer reveals a major upward revision to interest repayment costs in the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook.

Jim Chalmers acknowledged that billions of dollars would be added to forecasts for government expenditure in the December budget update, as rising bond yields compound the cost of servicing $1 trillion of Commonwealth debt.

It will also forewarn of weaker economic growth and higher inflation, Dr Chalmers said in a speech on Friday.

“We’re not immune from the consequences of two wars, both impacting almost every economy in one way or another, posing risks to global growth, pushing up global inflation, and pushing up borrowing costs,” he told the Citi A50 Economic Forum in Sydney.

As well as consternation about unsustainable global government debt levels and the Middle East conflict, competition for debt capital with AI companies has sent bond yields to 15-year highs in recent weeks.

The mid-year update will be the first time detailed estimates are produced for 2030/31, which is when much of the cheap 10-year bonds issued to finance COVID-era borrowing will expire and have to be refinanced at a higher rate.

That means billions more in annual repayments will be added to the federal balance sheet, Dr Chalmers told a Politico podcast.

“It’s one of the big pressures on the budget that we are working our way through as we get closer to handing down the mid‑year budget update towards the end of the year,” he said.

“How many billions (more) remains to be seen. The global economy’s a pretty dangerous place right now, and we see that reflected in bond yields and in other ways as well.”

Independent economist Chris Richardson reckons interest costs – already projected to be one of the fastest-growing expenditure items for state and federal governments – will be an extra $18 billion a year higher by the mid-2030s.

“Those are big bucks: $18 billion a year is the equivalent of doubling JobSeeker,” he said on X.

Interest repayments on commonwealth debt were projected to exceed $46 billion by 2029/30 in the May budget.

Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said Dr Chalmers’ excessive spending was stoking inflation and driving up interest rates.

But it isn’t clear where budget savings to reduce the deficit will come from.

Even seemingly low-hanging fruit, such as Labor’s attempts to save $3 billion by reducing the private health rebate for over-65s to the same level as the rest of the population, have been knocked back by the coalition.

While the AI boom was adding to borrowing costs around the globe, investment in data centres and the renewable energy projects needed to power them is also a shining light in Australia’s economy for now.

Budget forecasts for business investment this financial year are expected to be revised up to five per cent in the December update, from 2.5 per cent in May, Dr Chalmers told the Citi forum.

Combined with an upward revision from four per cent to 7.4 per cent in 2025/26, it represents $50 billion in additional business investment over three years, he said.

Despite the failed Firmus IPO and a slew of high-profile cancellations due to community pushback raising a few jitters among data centre investors, the outlook is still strong.

Economists at Commonwealth Bank recently revised up their projections for Australia’s potential data centre pipeline.

Dr Chalmers on Friday also announced draft regulations to make it easier for smaller lenders to compete with the big banks by increasing the cap on banks’ covered bond issuance.

Lifting the cap would give small and mid-tier banks more room to price competitively and invest in better services, which is good for competition and good for customers, Australian Banking Association chief executive Simon Birmingham said.

A major plumbing supplies company is recommending shareholders accept a $US2.8 billion ($4 billion) takeover offer from one of the world’s biggest private equity groups.

Reliance Worldwide chief executive Heath Sharp told the company’s annual general meeting in Brisbane on Friday that the company had actively solicited alternative proposals but none had emerged that was better than Brookfield Capital Partners’ $4.75-per-share takeover offer.

That offer is a 43 per cent premium to Reliance’s average share price over the past six months and came after Reliance’s board rejected three lower offers of $4.15, $4.25 and $4.50 per share in April and May.

“The board has reaffirmed its unanimous recommendation in favour of the scheme,” Mr Sharp said.

It’s expected that shareholders will vote on the takeover offer at a special scheme meeting in mid-December, and if they approve transaction would likely close in the first quarter of 2027.

Reliance was founded in 1949 in Brisbane as a small tool shop that sold innovative valve systems to improve the safety of hot water heaters.

It eventually listed on the ASX in 2016 and today has around 2800 employees across 58 global locations, specialising in push-to-connect water pipe fittings.

The company is developing a new line of stainless steel-based products that will launch in early 2027, replacing traditional brass products.

The company closed its brass casting manufacturing operations in Melbourne in June, affecting 85 employees, as part of this strategy.

Reliance shares were changing hands Friday at $4.47 a share, up 2.1 per cent from Thursday’s close.

The nation’s crackdown on security has not been enough to stop hate speech from running rampant, the prime minister has conceded, following a “deeply traumatic” alleged attack on one of the nation’s most respected politicians.

Anthony Albanese has faced questions about his government’s online safety reforms in the wake of Monday’s brutal incident that has rendered independent MP Helen Haines a double amputee.

She remains in a critical condition.

Her staff were in the office just metres away at the time, Dr Haines’ chief of staff Kaz Rourke said in a statement on Thursday.

“Our team is devastated by the attack on Helen Haines this week. Helen is adored by her team. She is a remarkable leader, a truly wonderful boss and someone we all care about deeply,” she said.

“Most of us were in the office when the incident occurred and some of us were involved in Helen’s immediate care, so this has been deeply traumatic for the team.”

The widespread impact of the incident has called into question security measures both online and offline.

Police will allege Dr Haines was struck repeatedly by a four-wheel drive being driven by 43-year-old Brendan Nugent outside her Wangaratta office.

The motives of Nugent, who faces multiple charges, have not been established and he will return to court in February.

A 53-year-old man on Thursday faced court after he entered the Perth electorate office of state Labor minister Hannah Beazley on Wednesday and allegedly threatened staff while armed with nunchucks.

Social media and prolific artificial intelligence use have accelerated the time it takes to radicalise someone online, the Australian Federal Police has warned.

In many instances, it now happens in mere hours, compared to years or months.

But Mr Albanese said his government had tried – and failed – to have harmful content removed from online spaces.

“I acknowledge we haven’t been able to do what we wanted to do,” Mr Albanese conceded on ABC Radio, pointing to “a range of legislation” post-Bondi shooting that had not helped to halt online extremist content in the way he had hoped.

“I think they (social media companies) need to have a responsibility to take anything down like that. That is my view.”

The federal government will try to pass its landmark digital duty of care legislation before the end of the year, but the bill has been deemed as political censorship by opponents and watered down.

Social media giant Meta has been hit with Australia’s first-ever class action over alleged harm its platforms cause to children.

It was filed in the Federal Court earlier in October and claims Facebook and Instagram are addictive by design, exposing people to harmful content.

Dozens of politicians across all levels of government have called for a crackdown, saying they must be able to make public appearances safely.

Victorian Premier Ben Carroll said additional security resources would be put in place for the November 28 state election.

The state Labor leader did not say where those extra resources would be directed, but insisted authorities were collaborating closely.

Mr Albanese described Dr Haines’ husband of 40 years, Phil, as “remarkable” in the way he delivered a statement about his wife, and encouraged others to look to him when considering how to conduct themselves.

“He spoke with such love about Helen’s great characteristics of her heart, which is enormous, and her brain, which of course is also extraordinary,” the prime minister said.

Mr Haines asked supporters to donate to Save the Children in his wife’s honour.

Donations to the Helen Haines Support tab on the organisation’s website had eclipsed $380,000 less than 24 hours after he spoke.

Her staff intend to reopen the office in coming days.

Governments and corporations have been left scrambling after thousands of websites were affected by a critical programming flaw that left them vulnerable to hackers. 

Cybersecurity experts worldwide were caught in a “rat race” to secure sites in the hours between when the weakness was found via artificial intelligence and a fix was developed. 

Two patches for the problem were released mid-morning on Thursday, with governments and large corporations jumping into action. 

Many sites were taken offline while the work was completed. 

Usually, a vulnerability issue was patched before news of the problem was released, University of Canberra cybersecurity expert Abu Barkat Ullah said. 

“Otherwise, there is a race between the organisation securing its system and attackers trying to exploit it,” Dr Barkat Ullah said.

“Time remediation remains a challenge for small and medium businesses that may lack dedicated IT teams.” 

The head of cybersecurity firm Aristotle Metadata, Sam Spencer, said it would be difficult for the federal government to bolster all its systems. 

“The government is currently scrambling again to try and identify impacted systems that are at threat from one of the largest cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the last decade,” he told AAP, urging departments to keep clear catalogues of their data.  

The Australian Signals Directorate, the intelligence body that handles cybersecurity threats, said its website had been among domestic government sites affected by an issue with software that powers much of the internet.

“We are aware of an outage that may be affecting government websites,” the agency said in a statement.

Government websites in Europe and Asia went offline and US departments also moved to protect networks after a disclosure of two critical vulnerabilities in a widely used programming language called PHP.

PHP is a programming language used to run websites and powers millions of sites that depend on popular application such as WordPress. 

When a visitor loads a page, a ​server running PHP assembles the content and sends it to the browser.

The Australian Signals Directorate said the agency was not aware of active exploitation of the vulnerabilities.

“Organisations and individuals using PHP within their environments should monitor and review PHP official guidance, and apply security patches as they become available.”

The directorate’s full statement was inaccessible for several hours before coming back online.

The websites of several government departments and agencies had been affected, a spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said. 

“Some websites are temporarily unavailable as work is undertaken to mitigate risks arising from this vulnerability,” the spokesperson said.

“Organisations and individuals using PHP within their environments should follow advice from the Australian Signals Directorate.” 

The flaw in PHP was discovered using an artificial intelligence tool.

Developers of the PHP programming ‌language have released urgent new fixes to vulnerabilities that had quietly been lurking in their software for years.

With reports that hackers were exploiting the flaws to break into websites, government agencies in the Netherlands and Finland were among those that took sites offline as a precaution.

Dutch prime minister Rob Jette said he was closely monitoring the situation and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged website owners to use a new fix.

Australia needs to pay close attention to moves by Canada, Argentina and Chile as it competes for investment dollars, the leader of the nation’s largest listed company says.

BHP chairman Ross McEwan told the mining giant’s annual general meeting the company was a global allocator of capital, which he said always flowed to projects, companies and countries that could deliver the best returns.

“Make no mistake, Australia must compete for capital if it wants to win – nationally, and in every state,” he told the meeting in Sydney on Thursday.

Other nations are moving quickly, such as Canada, which recently announced a “productivity mega dedication” allowing businesses to immediately deduct the full cost of eligible capital investments.

Canada also makes mine development costs fully deductible the year they are incurred.

“That matters. It lowers the tax burden on new investment. It improves returns. And it gives companies greater confidence to commit capital,” Mr McEwan said.

“That in turn creates jobs, incomes, and taxes for the nation.”

Argentina and Chile, two other countries in which BHP was investing, had made similar moves, and Australia should pay close attention, the former NAB chief executive said.

He said BHP contributed $US50 billion ($A71 billion) to the world economy in 2025/26, including $US12 billion ($A17 billion) in taxes, royalties and other payments to governments.

The New Zealander began his address by noting the recent deaths of two workers, one at BHP’s Peak Downs coking coal mine in Queensland and another at its Escondida copper mine in Chile.

“We are asking hard questions of ourselves and of the business. We owe that to the people affected, and to every person who comes to work across our operations each day,” he said.

BHP chief executive Brandon Craig was on site at both mines within two days of the accidents and in each case BHP appointed a liaison worker to work with the contractor’s family, Mr McEwan said.

In answer to a shareholder’s question, Mr Craig defended BHP’s continued use and purchase of diesel haul trucks rather than electrifying its fleet.

“If we could have electric trucks running efficiently and safely, we would love to have them there right today,” he said, noting BHP spent about $1 billion on diesel.

“They are just not available.”

BHP is testing a 220-tonne electric haul truck built by Caterpillar at its Jimblebar iron ore mine in the Pilbara, but it needed to be recharged for 30 minutes for every three hours it operated, Mr Craig said.

BHP runs its massive diesel trucks almost 24 hours a day.

“People are saying that these (electric) trucks work. Unfortunately, they don’t, otherwise we would have them,” he said.

BHP shares on Thursday afternoon were changing hands for $57.24, down 2.2 per cent from Wednesday’s close.