Surf Life Saving Australia Chair of Lifesaving Chris Jacobson has urged families to have a plan for if things go wrong while swimming at unattended beaches. “Have you got a plan with your family for if someone is caught in that rip?” he asked Sky News Australia. “And then what you are going to do when they are in the rip? “And what tools you might have to assist you.” Mr Jacobson joined Sky News presenter Tim Gilbert to talk about water safety as Sydney’s hot weather continues after summer has ended.

Entertainment commentator Shane A. Bassett says Oppenheimer will most likely sweep the Oscars. “It’ll be Oppenheimer from start to finish,” Mr Bassett told Sky News Australia. “There’ll be a few surprises in the way that I think Poor Things and The Zone of Interest are the only two movies that might actually win against Oppenheimer. “There is 13 nominations – it (Oppenheimer) will win at least 11 I predict. “It will almost get a clean sweep.”

Mel Gibson has had a “resurgence” lately, says Entertainment commentator Shane A. Bassett. Mr Bassett joined Sky News Australia to discuss Mel Gibson’s latest film, Desperation. “His movies have been under the radar on streaming and people don’t really know about them,” he told Sky News Australia. “He’s had some good performances, including this one. “He’s back at the top of his game.”

The new scary film, Imaginary, has plenty of jump scares for horror fans, says Entertainment commentator Shane A. Bassett. “People will be on the fence with this movie, but I enjoyed it,” he told Sky News Australia. “This one is not family-friendly. “I jumped out of my seat at least three times during this film. “It has got jump scares, it is sort of wry in its delivery but there’s a creepy bear.”

Sky News host Steve Price has broken down the key points of US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Mr Price said the President talked about "record unemployment under his leadership, but illegal immigration at a leaky border". "When he brought that up, the crowd started heckling. "As a Democrat, like the Australian Labor Party, he loves giving away taxpayers’ money. “Joe Biden announced … that for the next two years, every first homebuyer in the United States will get $US400 a month for the next two years to help pay their mortgages.”

NSW One Nation Leader Tania Mihailuk says the Labor government is “stuck in the 80s” when it comes to their mindset on nuclear. Ms Mihailuk pointed out Australia has the leading deposits of uranium. “We should be capitalising on this,” she told Sky News host Danica De Giorgio. “We should be at the forefront of nuclear energy. “We’ve got the opportunity to do that.”

Sky News Digital Editor Jack Houghton has unveiled emails from the Director of the International Fact-Checking Network which prove the system is “compromised”. He said it all leads back to Angie Holan, the director of the International Fact-Checking Network, which was tasked by Meta to investigate these fact-checkers as an independent party. “After months and months of fighting with university lawyers under Freedom of Information laws, we can finally show you the emails that prove the system has been compromised," Mr Houghton said. “Angie Holan, who was heavily involved in censorship during the COVID-19 pandemic, personally wrote to the now disgraced fact-checkers at RMIT, saying she stood by them. “Ms Holan even shared our media questions with the fact-checkers so they could all get their stories straight.” Mr Houghton said Meta only works with fact-checkers who Ms Holan's organisation rubber stamps. “This means her shoddy standards and failures to properly investigate complaints is the standard for the world's entire fact checking apparatus.”

Comedian Alex Stein believes modern-day conservatism “needs to change” by being “more open and using different tactics” in order to win votes. “Modern-day conservatism needs to change … even though it is the GOP,” Mr Stein told Sky News host James Morrow. “We do want some traditionalism, but at the same time, I think that we need to have a populist movement that helps the American people because I would say more people would identify as conservative than they even realise. “Here in America, most people don’t even know who Kamala Harris is, so when you’re asking people ‘pick a side’, people don’t even really know what side to pick. “So when you’re a conservative and you’re pearl-clutching, we want to be more open and use different tactics.”

Comedian Alex Stein has slammed Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for “playing the victim” and putting her “personal agenda ahead of the American people”. Ms Ocasio-Cortez was filmed being confronted by pro-Palestine protesters outside a movie theatre for reportedly refusing to label the Israel-Hamas war “genocide”. Cortez shouted that their video would take her comments “completely out of context” before snapping at a protester. “It kind of just shows you, you notice how triggered she gets?,” Mr Stein told Sky News host James Morrow. “This is a serious subject – the Israel-Palestinian conflict – obviously, she’s not going to be able to fix it just herself. “But the fact that she just runs away from her constituents so scared instead of just trying to talk to them – she’s just a hypocrite to the nth degree. “This is typical of AOC’s playbook – she does get confronted, she plays the victim, but we need more people confronting our politicians – especially people like AOC that are arguably the most famous politicians. “She’s one that we definitely need to talk to and try to get a better understanding of how she actually put America first, instead of putting her personal agenda ahead of the American people.”

Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says he is “not sure” the Republican’s response to Joe Biden’s State of the Union was well received because of the “breathless sort of delivery”. Biden delivered his third State of the Union address on Thursday (local time). Republican Senator Katie Britt was chosen to respond to Biden’s State of the Union. “Katie Britt is a very talented woman, a very capable Senator,” Mr Mulvaney told Sky News host James Morrow. “I’m not sure this speech landed very well tonight, but, again, I’m a 56-year-old white male – maybe I wasn’t the target. “That breathless sort of delivery, I’m not sure it was as well received. “I’m not sure it provided a very effective response.”

Meghan Markle is on the hunt for a “new spin doctor”, according to Sky News host Erin Molan. “Gosh, they’d want to be bloody good,” Ms Molan said. “The Duchess is reportedly seeking a new PR guru to brush up her image in preparation for a relaunch into the UK. “Good luck.” Media commentator Melissa Hoyer joined Sky News Australia to discuss the Duchess of Sussex.

Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says Joe Biden has “been resting the whole time” before his State of the Union address, but he “can’t do that every single day”. Biden delivered his third State of the Union address on Thursday (local time). “You are not going to get more controlled than this,” Mr Mulvaney told Sky News host James Morrow. “They probably cleared his schedule for the last 48 hours; in fact, the White House put out his schedule the last couple of days, and he had a very, very limited set of activities. “He’s been resting the whole time. You can’t do that every single day.”

Sky News contributor Kosha Gada says Joe Biden was “stylistically high energy” in his State of the Union address. The US President delivered his third State of the Union address on Thursday evening (local time). “But it’s interesting that’s what everybody was focused on – will he make able to make it through the one hour,” Ms Gada told Sky News host Steve Price. “There were some portions maybe where there’s a little bit of mumbling or incoherence. “But overall, he did well.”

Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says the Republicans will be able to say Joe Biden’s State of the Union performance “proves he’s too old for the job” because his “speech was slurred”. Biden delivered his third State of the Union address on Thursday (local time). “Both sides will be able to say that they won tonight,” Mr Mulvaney told Sky News host James Morrow. “The Republicans will be quick to point out, throughout the speech, Biden’s speech was slurred, he had difficulty communicating and following along the text. “If you were following the text and listening to the speech, sometimes Biden was nowhere near where he was supposed to be. “The Republicans will say it proves he’s too old for the job and not up to it, and the Democrats will say that it certainly proves he’s absolutely ready.”

Psychologist and author Jordan B Peterson faced US Congress on Thursday to warn them of a potential “superstate”. The “superstate” Peterson references sees a collusion between government and corporations that are allegedly “eliminating the private sphere.” Thursday’s hearing was held by a special panel of House members who focus on government “weaponisation”. Peterson and five other witnesses appeared in front of the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government. The six witnesses, including Peterson, testified on separate cases where banks refused to conduct business with Christian charities and conservative-leaning organisations, according to The Daily Signal. Subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan asked Peterson during the hearing if the banks were “just going to stop with conservatives”. “The danger posed by this increasing ability of governments and large corporations to collude threatens everyone’s freedom equally,” Peterson said. “It could well be at the moment and I think this is the point Republicans here are trying to make is that the people in the sights of that collusion tend to have more conservative leanings, but that will shift in a moment whenever the political tides shift.”

Tributes are being paid to the son of former Labor Minister Joel Fitzgibbon after the 33-year-old died from injuries suffered in a routine military training drill. Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon was a member of the Australian Defence Force. He was taking part in a training drill last night at the Richmond Air Base in north-west Sydney when his parachute failed to properly deploy. He was taken to Westmead Hospital with critical head injuries and passed away. Defence says parachute training has been suspended for the time being.

Sky News host James Morrow has called out Joe Biden’s attempts to “demonise” Donald Trump supporters during the US President’s State of the Union address. Joe Biden delivered his third State of the Union address on Thursday (local time). During his address, President Biden hit out at the former president, saying, “You can’t love your country only when you win”. Mr Morrow claimed the comments targeting Mr Trump are “hypocritical”. “Creating this whole existential threat to democracy is not really going to land with people who are doing it tough in the American economy and are not feeling the love of Bidenomics that Joe Biden said is making things so much better for everybody out there,” he said.

Sky News Washington Correspondent Annelise Nielsen says the Biden administration is “feeling more pressure” on the “huge issue” of illegal immigration at the southern border. According to US Customs and Border Protection, over 2.56 million people illegally crossed the border in the 12 months to the end of January. Biden delivered his third State of the Union address on Thursday (local time). “He certainly brought the energy, and a few stumbles in an hour speech not to be unexpected,” Ms Nielsen said. “I think this will come up again as this huge issue that’s been very much in the Republican strength about the issues at the southern border. “You can see that the Biden administration is feeling more pressure on this. “We’ve had Joe Biden go to the southern border, but I don’t think that was covered off well in that speech at all.”

US President Joe Biden says Israel has a “fundamental responsibility” to protect innocent civilians in Gaza. The President defended Israel for its ground assault in Gaza after Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack. He said most of the 30,000 Palestinians killed were not Hamas soldiers. “I have been working nonstop to establish an immediate ceasefire that will last for six weeks to get all the prisoners released, all the hostages released,” President Biden said. He also announced plans to build a pier in Gaza to help deliver humanitarian aid.

The search leader for the doomed Titan submersible has declared it is just a matter of time before MH370 is discovered as he compares it to the discovery of the Titanic. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was carrying 227 passengers, including six Australians, and 12 crew members when it vanished shortly after it departed Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014. Ten years on, the disappearance of MH370 remains to this day the greatest aviation mystery of all time. In a Sky News Australia documentary MH370: Ten Years On, experts weighed in on how the disappearance of the aircraft compared to the famous discovery of the Titanic. “I think it is more challenging than finding the Titanic because Titanic, there was a fairly known location,” Pelagic Research Services CEO Ed Cassano told Sky News Australia. The wreckage of the Titanic was found by a joint French-American expedition 73 years after the ship sunk. “They were able to find Titanic as technology advanced so it’s just a matter of time,” Mr Cassano added.