Ted Cruz takes control in Donald Trump’s absence

Republican presidential candidates lost no time in taking advantage of a rare opportunity to step out of front-runner Donald Trump’s shadow in the party’s last debate before the Iowa caucuses.

The policy-heavy event in Des Moines offered a glimpse of what the Republican contest might have been without the unpredictable billionaire businessman — but the candidates could not resist lampooning Mr Trump for boycotting the final debate before voting kicks off in the 2016 campaign on Monday.

Iowa residents will choose among the Republican and Democratic candidates in the first of a series of state-by-state contests to choose delegates to each party’s convention.