AS IT HAPPENED: ‘Bye bye Kharg’: Trump goes on the meme offensive

President Donald Trump on Sunday appeared to suggest that New Mexico should be called ‘New America,’ posting a photo of the state with the new name days after he signed an executive order to change Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”

The image posted on Truth Social, which was reshared by the White House on X, shows the outline of the state with the word “Mexico” crossed out in red and replaced with “America.”

There was no explanation shared alongside the image. The White House has not announced an effort to rename New Mexico. CNN has reached out for more details.

Donald Trump, who is already slated to speak on the first night of this week's Republican National Committee’s inaugural mid-term convention in Dallas, will also close out the event’s second night, according to NewsNation.

Trump is scheduled to provide Wednesday night’s keynote address and then give closing remarks the following evening. Vice President Vance will deliver the second night’s keynote speech.

The event will also feature speeches from Attorney General Todd Blanche, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

An armed assailant lunged at the Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, Amy Acton, during a campaign stop, injuring several people, campaign officials said.

The suspect knocked volunteers to the ground at a fair and was arrested with “multiple weapons,” Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman Chris Anderson said in a statement.

Acton was not injured, but her campaign said multiple people were hurt.

The attempted attack is the latest political violence to roil the United States.

Acton is facing Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in the Ohio gubernatorial race.

His campaign called the incident on Sunday (Monday AEST) unacceptable.

“Candidates should be able to meet with voters without having to worry about threats or violence. What happened today is completely unacceptable and has no place in politics, and we hope that no one was hurt,” a spokesperson said.

Shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz has slowed to its lowest level since May, with an average of 10 commodity ships transiting the waterway per day over the past 10 days, according to a Reuters report.

Citing shipping data from Kpler, it said the 10-day moving average was 10 on Sunday, down from more than 15 on last Friday and nearly 13 from last Saturday. Just two vessels passed through the strait on Saturday while six went through on Sunday, mostly using the Iranian route.

With the United States enjoying a Labor Day long weekend, Donald Trump is spending it devising the next place for renaming.

The president has already changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario.

But now he’s pointing the finger at a US state for rebranding.

On Sunday (Monday AEST) Trump posted a map on Truth Social of New Mexico in the US southwest, but the word Mexico was crossed out and replaced with America.

It was accompanied by text claiming his suggestion has popular support.

“Many people suggested changing the name of New Mexico, one of the great vote cheating states of all time, to NEW AMERICA. So much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State. Wow, I Love It!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

The harsh treatment meted out to 19-year-old twin sisters who protested against the Iranian regime has been revealed in a new report.

Taraneh Rahimi has been sentenced to death, while her sister Romina Rahimi was handed a 25-year prison term.

The sisters were still in high school when masked men took them from their home in the middle of the night, reports The Guardian.

It was later established the men were sent by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp.

The sisters’ family searched for four months to find where they were being held.

Their mother finally learnt they were detained at a prison in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, a hotbed of anti-regime protests in January.

But when she was permitted to see them in May. according to reports, she could not recognise her daughters because they had bruises across their bodies and their faces were badly swollen.

Their cousin, Masoud Nourmohammadi, who lives in the United States, said they had broken elbows, knuckles and feet. He also said their hair had been pulled out.

Lawyers for the sister reportedly told the court that the young women’s statements had been obtained through torture.

Human rights groups estimate Iran has executed more than 500 people this year since the war began in February.

Support for Donald Trump from the president's staunchest backers is dropping, according to a new poll.

The survey from NBC News released on Sunday (Monday AEST) marks the first time in the broadcaster's polling that fewer than 50 per cent of Republicans say they “strongly” approve of Trump’s job performance.

Conducted from August 20 to September 1, the survey showed 41 per cent of Republicans and 62 per cent of respondents who identify as MAGA, say they strongly approve of Trump’s leadership.

Similar polling held in April found that 52 per cent of Republicans and 71 per cent of MAGA supporters said they strongly approved of Trump’s handling of the presidency.

But Trump's support among his base appears to be far from crumbling, with 80 per cent of Republicans and 93 per cent of MAGA supporters saying they approve of Trump’s job performance, if not strongly.

Trump’s overall approval rating with Americans sits at 36 per cent, the survey showed.

The top Iranian official who headed peace talks with the US earlier this year is warning the regime will launch speedier and harder hitting responses to American attacks.

The speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, made the threat overnight following tit-for-tat strikes on oil tankers last weekend.

“The Americans must have understood that the era of proportionate responses has come to an end,” said Ghalibaf in a speech carried by state media, adding that “any aggression against Iran’s interests and security will receive a faster, more intense and more painful response”.

Donald Trump has posted a social image plugging his plan to create a US Space Force Academy.

The image, apparently inspired by Star Wars, shows the president sitting at the command console of a spaceship bombarding an unknown planet.

Trump is seeking to create a “United States Space Academy” designed to offer the same type of tuition-free, four-year degree as US military academies.

The school would train the “next generation of astronauts, scientists, engineers, operators, entrepreneurs, civil servants, and warfighters,” according to an August 28 executive order to establish the academy, signed by the president.