Former US President Donald Trump met a young boy with a rare brain disease only days after sending him a birthday letter. Trump met eight-year-old Liam backstage prior to his campaign rally in Uniondale, New York on Wednesday, gifting the boy a present. A video of Trump’s surprise meeting with Liam was posted on social media, garnering praise online. “A great man with an enormous heart,” one user wrote. Trump previously sent Liam, who suffers from a rare brain disease, a heartfelt letter before his eighth birthday.

The Labor Party’s housing bill continues to face debate in the Senate despite its commitment to assist Australians in obtaining property. Assistant Trade and Manufacturing Minister Tim Ayres slammed “bludging” senators for blocking the “practical” proposal, suggesting it will cause suffering for 40,000 Australians. “If we are going to build 1.2 million homes, we need a Labor government to do it,” Mr Ayres told Sky News Australia. “No other government in this set of circumstances made the kind of commitment in terms of funding and in terms of partnership. “These are senators who will never have to worry about buying their own homes … here in the Senate bludging, not doing their job … and the people who will suffer are the 40,000 Australians who need the government’s support to get on the property ladder.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has commented on the strong relationship between the United States and Australia. “This is a relationship between people based upon our common values, two great democracies,” Mr Albanese said during a media conference on Thursday. “The relationship has remained strong no matter who the president of the United States has been and no matter who the prime minister of Australia has been. “I have a very close personal relationship with President Biden, which is why I am very much looking forward to meeting him over the next couple of days.”

The United States government is filing a $100 million lawsuit against the owner and operator of the cargo ship that crashed and damaged a bridge in Baltimore. Justice Department officials claim Synergy and Ocean Grace were aware of issues associated with the container vessel 'Dali' before the crash. It cost the government more than $100 million to clear thousands of tonnes of debris to reopen the Port of Baltimore. Attorney General Garland wants to ensure the costs are paid by the companies that caused the crash and not the taxpayers.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says global inflation is something the Australian government is “dealing with”. “Global inflation has impacted the whole of the Western world – we saw economies like the United Kingdom, Japan and New Zealand go into recession,” Mr Albanese said during a media conference on Thursday. “We saw double-digit inflation in places like the United Kingdom. “What we are managing to do is to try and land a decrease in inflation, which we have cut in half, whilst continuing to create employment. “What we are doing is putting that downward pressure on inflation, whilst we are as well making sure that we address cost of living pressure because we understand that they are very real.”

Former Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger says Israel “knows where” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is located. Several people were killed, and 4,000 were wounded after handheld pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded. “Very clearly, the Israelis know where Nasrallah is – the leader of Hezbollah,” Mr Kroger told Sky News host Sharri Markson. “He would know that they know where he is, and they could take him out at any opportunity.”

Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek says the children who are most likely to miss out on early childcare education and care are from the “most disadvantaged families”. Labor is pushing to expand free childcare; however, the Productivity Commission has watered down hopes. “The really important thing about this report is that it actually says early childhood care is good in itself,” Ms Plibersek told Sky News Australia. “It’s good for kids, and it’s also good for productivity for Australia.”

Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek says there is nothing in the government’s environmental bill that the Greens “object to”. This week, Anthony Albanese rejected a deal with the Greens to establish an Environment Protection Authority. “What they are complaining about is that we are not implementing their election policy in our bill – that is not a reasonable barrier,” Ms Plibersek told Sky News Australia.

Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has spoken live at a rally in New York on Thursday. “We’re going to have the greatest win in history when we pull this one off,” Mr Trump said. “Legendary.”

The Washington Post National Security Reporter Missy Ryan discusses Israel’s history of conducting covert assassination attempts. Reports of exploding walkie-talkies owned by members of Hezbollah have arsine from Lebanon killing at least 20 and injuring hundreds more. These explosions follow Wednesday’s attack, which caused hundreds of pagers to detonate, killing at least another 14 and injuring thousands. “Israel has a long history of covert assassination attempts and other sort of attempts to get its advisories in other countries,” Mr Ms Ryan told Sky News Australia. “Israel has not claimed responsibility for these attacks, but it is not unusual that they wouldn’t. “The fact that it was pagers just sort of is mind-boggling because it is such a throwback technology and one that Hezbollah had adopted because of the perceived vulnerability of cell phones.”

CommSec’s Tom Piotrowski says US markets “surged” after the Federal Reserve’s “supersized rate cut”. The US Federal Reserve has cut interest rates for the first time in four years. The move has been seen by some economists to cool the country’s economy and lower inflation. “It’s been a session of contrast following the Fed’s supersized rate cut – they cut rates by a half of one per cent,” Mr Piotrowski told Sky News Australia. “There was a reasonable chance that they would do that; there was around a 60 per cent probability. “For much of the session, we didn’t see any activity in a meaningful way. “Afterwards, markets surged.” Presented by CommSec.

Papua New Guinea will enter the NRL competition in a $600 million expansion to rugby league. According to the Daily Telegraph, the federal government has reached an in-principle agreement with the ARL Commission. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is backing a ten-year funding plan for PNG to become the NRL's 19th team. PNG will be added in 2028 - 12 months after the Western Bears.

CNN reporter Matt Egan has commented on the US Federal Reserve’s “big moment” of cutting interest rates for the first time “since Covid”. The US Federal Reserve has cut interest rates for the first time in four years. The move has been seen by some economists to cool the country’s economy and lower inflation. “This is a big moment no doubt – first interest rate cut since Covid,” Mr Egan told Sky News Australia. “There’s a lot of suspense, a lot of debate, about what the Fed was going to do.”

CNN reporter Matt Egan believes the US Federal Reserve is “not worried about inflation” after they cut rates by half a per cent. The US Federal Reserve has cut interest rates for the first time in four years. The move has been seen by some economists to cool the country’s economy and lower inflation. “They are not worried about inflation,” Mr Egan told Sky News Australia. “They didn’t declare victory – they stopped short of that – but, obviously, if they were worried about inflation, they wouldn’t be cutting interest rates by this much.”

The US Secret Service is under scrutiny following the second assassination attempt of former US president Donald Trump. The shooting attack has revealed several issues within the organisation tasked with protecting high-profile political figures. The Biden administration asked Congress to boost Secret Service funding in August after Mr Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Former Labor Senator Stephen Conroy says the Aston electorate will be a “very tough seat to hold” for Labor. Mr Conroy told Sky News host Paul Murray that the Victorian Liberals were at an “absolute low point” during the by-election. “We took the seat in an incredible, historic win.”

Critical Dynamics Director of Law Enforcement Training Keith Hanson has slammed the Democrats and the left’s anti-Trump rhetoric in the wake of a second assassination attempt on the former president. “The truth of the matter is, is that this is vile, this is reprehensible, it is evil,” he told Sky News host Rita Panahi. “And yes ... I do believe that the Democrats and the progressive left in the United States is directly responsible for the uptick in violence.”

Sky News host Liz Storer has discussed the “biggest shake-up in 57 years” as some HSC exams are set to move online. “The masters of HSC have decided that we will no longer be writing English exams. Yes, it's been done for decades, but for some reason, this has to be thrown out the window now and kids can complete their exams online,” Ms Storer said. “Whenever they come up with something new like this, all I really hear is kids aren't coping. The schools are tired of looking like failures due to poor results, so we've decided to mix things up a little.”

Sky News host Caleb Bond has weighed in on the push for free childcare for low-income households. A major inquiry has urged the federal government to consider a $5.4 billion annual increase in childcare spending to meet the Productivity Commission's recommendations. “Well, whoop-de-do. So just like every other time we've increased childcare subsidies because child care is becoming so expensive, what will then happen is that the child care centres will jack their fees up again so that the government has to fork out even more money,” Mr Bond said.

Liberal Senator Dave Sharma discusses the “demonstration of capability” amid the explosion of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members. “Netanyahu and his defence minister … have been saying … that Israel’s northern population needs to be able to return, schools need to be able to reopen, families need to be able to go back to their homes,” Mr Sharma told Sky News host Sharri Markson. “I think what this operation says to Hezbollah is we have the capability to do significantly more harm to you, we need to reach some sort of accommodation to deescalate tensions.”