Buildings in New York were shaken as a 4.8 magnitude earthquake hit the East Coast of the United States. Major damage has reportedly not been sustained. There are also no reports of any fatalities. US President Joe Biden recently left the White House – he later spoke about the tremor. Mr Biden commented that "things are alright" following his discussion with the governor of New Jersey.

Residents in Sydney's southwest and the Hawkesbury are being ordered to evacuate as an emergency flood warning is issued by the SES. Heavy rain has been falling across New South Wales. Chatswood, Belrose, and Penrith also all experienced significant rainfall. Major flood warnings are in place for the Hawkesbury, Nepean, and Colo rivers. More rain has been forecast to fall today.

An emergency flood evacuation warning has been issued for residents in low-lying parts of Chipping North in Sydney’s southwest. It comes as damaging winds lash Sydney. A month’s worth of rain fell on the city in just over a day. The rain caused chaos on roads, runways and rail lines. Schools were forced to close, and shopping centres had to be shut.

Verve Communications Prue MacSween has slammed major corporations who went woke and donated large sums of money to the Voice to Parliament’s Yes campaign. “They’ve got together and used their money and their political muscle or corporate muscle to try and influence political decisions,” she told Sky News host Danica De Giorgio. “That really, really is concerning and they spent shareholders money. “Thankfully I don’t have shares in any of those companies, I got rid of them. “I hate woke companies and I won’t support them.”

Sky News host Steve Price says March was a “record month of sales” for electric cars. Mr Price says electric cars are selling in “large-ish numbers”. “When you drill down into it, the percentage is pretty small,” Mr Price said. “They’re flatlining some of these sales across the United States.” Mr Price was joined by Small Business Women Australia Amanda Rose and Sky News contributor Joe Hildebrand to discuss electric vehicles.

American border security last year “watered down the vetting process” amid an influx of Chinese immigrants entering the US illegally, says The Federalist Elections Correspondent Brianna Lyman. This comes after a Chinese national who illegally entered the US was arrested for trespassing on a Californian military base and then refused to leave. Since October of last year, 22,000 Chinese nationals have illegally entered the US. “The Biden administration has obviously been overwhelmed by the border crisis,” Ms Lyman told Sky News host James Morrow. “What’s more concerning is how in the world are our military bases so unsafe that a Chinese illegal immigrant ends up on one.”

Sky News host James Morrow takes a look at US President Joe Biden’s “little word salad” during a speech about lowering the cost of healthcare. Senator Bernie Sanders accompanied the President during the address at the White House. “I’m proud of my administration taking on big pharma in the most significant ways ever,” Mr Biden said. He said he “wouldn’t have done it without Bernie”, before rambling incoherently. “I pity the poor transcriptionist there,” Mr Morrow said.

The Federalist Elections Correspondent Brianna Lyman says Republicans have no “national cohesive message” on abortion, which is “damaging” to the party. “Democrats are a lot of things, but one thing I can say is that as a party – not the voters – but as a party, their platform is united,” Ms Lyman told Sky News host James Morrow. “Republicans have not been able to replicate that when it comes to abortion – you have people who say six weeks, people who say 15, people who say 12.” She said if the Republicans are not defining their message, then the Democrats and the media are. “And that’s what they’ve been doing, so that’s why they’re able to so successfully say, Republicans are coming after your rights, they’re going to take away birth control,” she said.

Democrats want to make the upcoming US election about abortion because they know it’s a “winning issue for them,” says The Federalist Elections Correspondent Brianna Lyman. “That being said, Politico had done an analysis a few weeks ago, and they looked at five different races where abortion was a ballot referendum,” Ms Lyman told Sky News host James Morrow. “And what they found was that yes, voters decisively kept abortion in their respective states, but that turnout wasn’t because Democrats mobilised; the turnout was because Republicans actually mobilised. “So you saw a bunch of Republicans go out, they voted to keep abortion, but then they voted down the ballot for Republicans. “And so it turns out that abortion is not the winning issue to galvanise Democrats in the polls.”

Sky News host Erin Molan says the accident by the Israeli Defence Force, which resulted in the loss of life of an Australian volunteer, was a “tragic mistake”. “One that must be investigated thoroughly, and appropriate action taken,” she said. “Israel itself has acknowledged this and taken ownership.” Ms Molan said mistakes will happen as “that is the nature of war”. “Countries must be accountable for them, but when they occur - and they will - we cannot muddy the waters of which side is good and which is evil,” she said.

Perseus Mining CEO and Chairman Jeff Quartermaine joined Sky News Business Reporter Edward Boyd to discuss the challenges of operating in Africa. Perseus Mining is Australia’s third largest ASX-listed gold producer and is worth around $3 billion. Operating exclusively in Africa, in particular Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan and soon in Tanzania too. “We’ve got a very, very clear set of values here … and we apply them with no exceptions at all,” Mr Quartermaine said. “Everybody has the option of saying no, and that’s the course that we take.”

A rare display in the US state of Nevada has seen schools of people flock to the desert. Wildflowers have begun to bloom in the Nevada end of the Death Valley National Park. “The desert is really coming alive,” Death Valley National Park ranger Nichole Andler said. “You’re going to see a lot of yellow. “It just really stands out, especially on the dark rocks of this landscape.”

Torrential rain currently hitting the east coast of Australia has resulted in flood warnings being put in place for parts of Queensland and New South Wales. The Bureau of Meteorology has said the drier El Nino conditions have almost finished with the climate pattern now changing to neutral ENSO conditions. Rabobank Research ANZ General Manager Stefan Vogel joined Sky News Australia to discuss what the change in weather means for the nation’s farmers. “It’s overall positive news,” Mr Vogel told Sky News Business Reporter Edward Boyd. “That was already the good news when we had rains in November, we had rains in January, and now we’ve got more rain coming. “So I think good conditions in bringing back the confidence for them that there’s enough grass on the ground to feed the livestock throughout the season.”

Former US president and Republican candidate Donald Trump vowed to enact the "largest deportation in American history" of illegal migrants during a rally on Tuesday. Speaking at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, he vowed to combat what he called an "invasion" of dangerous individuals. Trump warned that the worst from every country would come to the United States unless he's elected to put a stop to it. "They're sending prisoners, murderers, drug dealers, mental patients, terrorists. The worst of every country is coming into our country now," he said. "We're going to end up with the largest deportation in American history, we have no choice ... because that's not sustainable by any country.”

Meta is being accused of encouraging and reinforcing youth crime in the Northern Territory. NT Chief Minister Eva Lawler is demanding an urgent meeting with the tech titan to discuss ways it can reduce criminality and harm among youths. She has written, young people are not coming into the CBD since the introduction of a youth curfew because there is no place to commit crime and share it on social media. Ms Lawler says her government is considering a 'post and boast' legislation. The rules could be similar to the legislation New South Wales has recently enforced.

White Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will not say if Jill Biden is defending Anthony Bernal from several sexual harassment allegations on Thursday. Bernal, regarded as one of the most powerful White House officials, is accused of verbal sexual harassment. According to the New York Post, three separate sources alleged Bernal speculated over the sizes of his coworkers genitals. After a reporter from the Post pressed Jean-Pierre about the allegations, she quickly jumped to Bernal’s defence, even calling him a friend. “I have known Anthony for some time now. I’ve known him for more than a decade. I’ve worked closely with him. And I consider him a friend, but also a colleague that I respect,” she said. White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients dismissed the allegations against Bernal, and did so without investigating them, labelling them “unfounded”. As reported by the New York Post, sources have said Bernal’s title as Jill’s senior advisor potentially puts his influence higher than Zients’. The initial claims against Bernal by former staffers were made last month, with him and the White House denying the allegations.

Bad weather in Taiwan has delayed a helicopter rescue for people trapped after Wednesday’s earthquake. The 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit 10km off Taiwan’s coast, near Hualien on Wednesday. This is the strongest tremor to hit the island in at least 25 years. Hundreds of residents are waiting for relief supplies. Authorities are searching for 18 missing people, as two Australians are believed to be among them. Several aftershocks struck the capital of Taipei, while most of the damage has been recorded in the eastern city of Hualien.

Grattan Institute Deputy Energy Director Alison Reeve says the nuclear energy debate is a “bit of a distraction” when there are “immediate problems” to worry about. Ms Reeve joined Sky News Australia to discuss the future of energy in the country. “The federal opposition has said they want to take the ban off nuclear power – they could do that,” she said. “The thing is that there’s a hell of a lot of things that would need to happen before you end up with being able to actually build a nuclear power station. “In the meantime, we’ve got an awful lot of other stuff that we need to concentrate on building.”

Plenty of Australia’s coal-fired power plants “have a long time to live,” says Centre for Independent Studies’ Aidan Morrison. Mr Morrison joined Sky News Australia to discuss the future of energy in the country. “It’s been commonly said that our coal power stations are sort of old and falling apart,” he said. “I think it’s overexaggerated. “Plenty of coal plants actually have a long time to live and if they were to live to their sort of natural and expected lives, some of those would still be going in the late 2040s up to around 2050.”

Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf has been inundated with more hate crime complaints than JK Rowling after the country’s new laws passed. “The new hate speech laws over in Scotland where you can get locked up for seven years for calling someone a boomer or having a go at someone about being transgender,” Sky News host Caleb Bond said. He said police received nearly 4,000 complaints within 24 hours. “Well, it turns out the majority of those complaints are for, wait for it – the First Minister of Scotland. “How delicious to see this.”