Immigration reporter Jennie Taer brings us the latest as the border chaos becomes the new Republican battleground. Nikki Haley downplays her embarrassing Nevada loss. Plus, Robert F. Kennedy Jr shows off his 'tough guy' tactics. See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.

Daily Caller immigration reporter Jennie Taer says there are currently “a lot of loopholes” for illegal immigrants crossing the US border to gain access to the country. Ms Taer told Sky News host James Morrow that if someone came across and said they have a “credible fear” of returning to their country they “could still be released”. “If they come as a family unit, they will be released. “Those are big issues and people will adapt to those things. “Let’s say if they are not a family unit, maybe they’ll claim to be a fake family unit.”

Sky News host James Morrow says the border crisis, which has made itself felt in every major Democratic-run so-called “sanctuary city”, is now a national issue. A 2023 fiscal report by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) discovered the number of illegal immigrants entering the US grew year-on-year during Biden’s term. A 370-page bill has been rejected by House Republicans and is facing mounting Senate opposition. The bill would stem the record-setting pace of undocumented immigrants at the southern US border. “The chaos at the US southern border now has some competition from the chaos in Washington, DC, where the Biden White House's attempt to push through a phony try at ‘fixing the border’ has fallen over in a heap, after Republicans and a handful of democrats voted against it,” he said.

Former presidential envoy and terrorism expert Marshall Billingslea reflects on the horrific scenes he witnessed in the Israeli kibbutz after Hamas’ terrorist attack on October 7. Around 1,200 Israelis were killed during the October 7 massacre committed by Hamas. More than 240 hostages were taken by Hamas, with about half that number since released - the majority during a temporary ceasefire in November - but about 136 were understood to remain in Gaza. “They knew exactly where they were going and who they were out to kill because they had used Palestinian workers who had been provided work permits to work in the kibbutz – they used them as spies to map out the locations,” Mr Billingslea said. “They went in on a hunting expedition to commit genocide.”

Sky News host Steve Price has slammed activists using the 15th anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfire disaster to promote renewable energy, calling it a “pathetic insult” to the victims of the tragedy. A group called Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action took out a full-page ad in The Australian newspaper trying to convert sympathy for the Black Saturday victims into support for renewable energy. The ad demands that Australians “help to prevent future catastrophes by supporting Australia’s move to renewable energy”. “Shame on these people, shame on them. I arrived at the distressing scene on the Sunday after Black Saturday, the next day, working on radio to cover this disaster,” he said. “Police escorted me ... through roadblocks deep inside the deadly carnage. What I saw was heartbreaking – people who had fled the flames, that were spotting by the way some 20 kilometres ahead of the fire, a fire running at more than 100 kilometres per hour. “Those people were outrun by the inferno - cars crashed into each other in the smoke, people died in their vehicles.”

Liberal Party Defence and National Security Policy Chair Lincoln Parker says the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister are making Australia “less safe”. This comes after the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, James Marape, visited Australia and became the first Pacific leader to address the Parliament. “But he also said ... that China offers huge commercial opportunities, and we’re going to take them,” Mr Parker told Sky News host Erin Molan. “We’ve seen this story before; we saw it exactly with the Solomon Islands.” He added that he thinks Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong are a “disaster” in defence and foreign policy.

Former presidential envoy and terrorism expert Marshall Billingslea has expressed his horror at the “venom” and “vitriol” of pro-Hamas protesters across the world. Some protesters have applauded Hamas for the atrocities committed on October 7, where around 1,200 Israelis were murdered. Mr Billingslea said the “hate-filled reaction” witnessed in the past few months wasn’t seen even after 9/11. “I would say many of our democracies have a real problem on their hands if this is the kind of reaction that kind of attack provokes,” he told Sky News host Erin Molan. “Here in the United States we are quite concerned and the FBI is quite concerned about the potential for terrorist attacks here as well.”

Liberal MP Julian Leeser says Australia has been “wonderful" to Jewish people as he expresses concern over rising anti-Semitism. Mr Leeser told Sky News host Erin Molan that Australia is one of the few countries on Earth that has “never had any formal discrimination against Jewish Australians”. “This is a great country, it’s a free country," he said. “But it’s a country where law-abiding people should be free to be themselves, to worship the God that they believe in and to feel a sense of safety. “I think that has been ripped out from under the Jewish community.”

US President Joe Biden looked like a “deer in headlights” as he addressed the nation following a damning report highlighting his bad memory, says Republican strategist Colin Reed. Mr Reed said he hadn’t “seen anything like that in a long time”. “I don’t think he had much of a choice but to go out there and put himself in front of the cameras because of just how damaging the report was today,” he told Sky News Australia. “But I’m not sure that anything he said today was going to quell any of the questions people have about his age or acuity. “He was struggling to ascertain who was asking what question and how to answer it. “And if you give voters a choice between strong and weak, they’re going to take strong every time.”

US President Joe Biden has been relentlessly grilled by White House reporters over his age and mental acuity during a surprise last-minute press conference late Thursday night, local time. A long-awaited report cleared President Joe Biden of any wrongdoing in his mishandling of classified documents on February 8, but dropped a political bombshell by painting the Democrat as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory". Mr Biden rejected concerns about his failing memory during the address. "My memory is fine," the President said. Mr Biden stated he is the "most qualified person in this country to be President of the United States".

A defiant Joe Biden has declared that his memory is “fine” in a fiery prime-time press conference. The US President was clearly furious over a special prosecutor's report into his handling of classified documents which suggested that he had memory problems. President Biden’s temper became evident as he faced a barrage of media questions about his mental state. “I’m well-meaning, and I’m an elderly man, and I know what the hell I’m doing,” he said. “I don’t need his recommendation ... my memory is fine.”

During a charity event at Salisbury Cathedral, Camilla delivered a positive announcement following King Charles III began his cancer treatment. “He is doing extremely well under the circumstances. He is very touched by all of the letters and messages the public has been sending from everywhere. That’s very cheering,” she said. Camilla arrived at her first royal commitment following the King’s cancer diagnosis smiling and thanked people for their ongoing support. The charity attended by Her Majesty is raising money for local charities Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust, Wiltshire Air Ambulance, and Community First Youth Action Wiltshire. Other members of the Royal Family have also continued with their royal duties since the announcement of the King's cancer diagnosis.

Police are investigating yet another Melbourne tobacco shop fire, Border Force officials seize over 5 million cigarettes and over 200,000 vapes in Sydney, QLD Premier Steven Miles urges the RBA to cut rates immediately, Australia's top Indigenous health organisation says the NT's alcohol bans are proving successful, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro surrenders his passport amid an ongoing investigation, and a volcano erupts in Iceland. See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.

Former Queensland premier Peter Beattie believes the plan to rebuild the Gabba is “derailing public support” for the Olympics and says Queensland should dump the redevelopment plan. There are growing calls to scrap the controversial plan to rebuild the Gabba, with IOC Vice-President John Coates making a stunning intervention yesterday, urging the Queensland government to dump the $2.7 billion Gabba redevelopment plan. “I think most people in Queensland are sick of the politics on this – it’s a lot of politics, local Green politics, the Lord Mayor wanting to get elected at the election at the end of the year,” Mr Beattie told Sky News Australia. “John Coates cut through all of that nonsense and basically said the Gabba is the wrong decision, and I agree with him. “Suncorp would be absolutely ideal for the opening and closing ceremonies … and it uses local facilities that already exist. “It’s frankly, I think, derailing public support for the Olympics, and if we can follow John Coates’ advice on this and cut to the heart of this … then you can actually diffuse it.”

A senior member of an Iranian-backed militia has been killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad. The strikes are in response to the deaths of three American servicemen on a base in Jordan last month. The US Pentagon says the commander from Kataib Hezbollah was responsible for directly planning and participating in the attacks. “[United States] forces conducted a unilateral strike in Iraq in response to the attacks on US service members, killing a Kataib Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on US forces in the region,” a statement from the US military read. The commander has not been named.

Former US president Donald Trump has responded to a special counsel’s report which states Joe Biden will not be charged over his handling of classified documents. The report said the President came across to investigators as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”. Donald Trump put out a statement saying: “This has now proven to be a two-tiered system of justice and unconstitutional selective prosecution! “The Biden case is 100 times different and more severe than mine. “I did nothing wrong, and I cooperated far more. What Biden did is outrageously criminal – He has 50 years of documents, 50 times more than I had, and ‘WILFULLY RETAINED’ them.”

Consumer Affairs Victoria has issued a public warning, advising customers to be cautious when shopping with popular homewares and gifts retailer Ishka. There have been 38 serious allegations made to the market regulator in recent months, including failure to supply goods and refunds and to respond to consumer complaints. Sky News contacted Consumer Affairs Victoria to see what had been done about it a week ago, and now the regulator has issued a public warning about Ishka. “Consumer Affairs Victoria Director Nicole Rich has issued a public warning about retailer Ishka, following a significant number of consumer complaints to the regulator in recent months,” it said. “Given the number of complaints and the serious nature of the issues raised, Rich believes the warning is in the public interest and is urging consumers to be cautious when dealing with Ishka.”

Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Birmingham has criticised Defence Minister Richard Marles for saying his department still has a "way to go" before it achieves excellence as “deeply concerning” but says it's a “problem of their own making”. Tensions between Mr Marles and the Department of Defence were revealed yesterday during Question Time after the Opposition called for him to lift his game. “This is deeply concerning, and it is a serious problem that the Albanese government needs to address rapidly – but it is also a problem of their own making,” Mr Birmingham told Sky News Australia. “The Albanese government has put Defence into a quagmire of endless reviews, it has cut into the Defence budget, it has shown an inability to make critical investment decisions, and it has shown next to no confidence in defence personnel to deploy them and do the types of jobs they signed up for. “Little wonder we’re in a situation where decisions are piling up on Richard Marles’ desk, not being actioned. “It’s little wonder that defence chiefs are at wit's end with the Minister who is not making decisions, not getting outcomes through the Cabinet and budget process, and is just leaving all the hard capability decisions to pile up with a budget going backwards and defence personnel numbers going backwards as well – they’re walking out the door on him.”

US President Joe Biden has been described in a Special Counsel report as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and that he couldn’t “remember when he was vice president”. The report into the President’s handling of classified documents has revealed he will not be charged over the matter. “That fact he won’t face charges is, in and of itself, an issue with his mental health, essentially what this investigation has found is that Joe Biden did wilfully retain documents,” said Sky News Washington Correspondent Annelise Nielsen. “The issue with going forward is that they would have an issue prosecuting him in court theoretically and upholding that evidence because his memory is so bad. “So this is an absolutely damning report – this is from not a political foe, this is an independent look into this case, this issue with classified documents. “This has said that the main issue in all of this is Joe Biden’s memory.”

ASPI Senior Analyst Malcolm Davis says the expected announcement of the MQ-28A Ghost Bat is “very significant” because it will allow the Australian military to “undertake more dangerous missions”. Labor is expected to announce an investment into the unmanned combat aircraft, which would see the launch of more advanced surveillance and communication functions. They are the first military aircraft to be designed, developed and manufactured in Australia in more than half a century. “It’s known as a cooperative combat aircraft,” Mr Davis told Sky News Australia. “In other words, it’s an unmanned aircraft … it’s designed to work with aircraft such as the F-35, the Super Hornet and the P-8 Poseidon to basically support those crewed aircraft, undertake more dangerous missions ahead of the formation. “You have what’s known as crewed autonomous teaming … where crewed and autonomous platforms work together as a team, and the Ghost Bat provides that sort of fast long-range strike and surveillance capability that will be part of that process. “This is very significant because if you look at where combat aircraft are going, increasingly it’s this crewed autonomous teaming approach.”