China's warning over new EV tariffs, Keir Starmer to become UK's next prime minister: Australia news live

The UK's Daily Express is leading with the big casualties as the Conservatives lost a host of high-profile seats in a disastrous general election for the party.

Former PM Liz Truss has lost her seat, while Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk and Michelle Donelan are among a clutch of cabinet ministers to lose theirs.

Commons leader Penny Mordaunt also lost hers and said the Conservatives had "taken a battering because [the partyfailed to honour the trust that people had placed in it".

Labour has now passed the 400-seat mark, with 650 seats in parliament.

Anthony Albanese wants to expand Australia's relationship with the UK as he congratulates incoming prime minister Sir Keir Starmer on his landslide election win.

"Congratulations to be my friend and new UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on his resounding election victory," he said on the platform X on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, Mr Albanese told reporters he wanted to develop Australia's relationship with the UK, noting he had held talks with Sir Keir.

"Sir Keir Starmer and I have had discussions about the potential, obviously, for him to visit this part of the world as part of (the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) and I would expect that that will occur in coming months," he said.

"In Sir Keir Starmer and (deputy Labour leader) Angela Rayner and so many others who I am very familiar with in the British Labour Party, I look forward very much to working with them."

No, your eyes do not deceive you. Keir Starmer was indeed congratulated by a giant Elmo after winning his seat in the UK general election on his way to becoming the next prime minister.

And the moment has certainly been a hit online. "Only in the UK," one person declared on X.

Starmer actually faced off against Elmo in his constituency, with the Sesame Street character claiming 19 votes.

"I'd like to inform US followers who worry their political system is insane that the next prime minister of the United Kingdom had to compete with Elmo," another X post read.

The man behind the costume is Bobby Smith who set up the Give Me Back Elmo Party in 2015, campaigning for fathers' rights. In a bid for publicity, he has stood in the electorates of PM candidates several times, previously competing against Boris Johnson and Theresa May.

Labour has reached the 326 seats it needed for a majority government in the UK and Keir Starmer will be the next prime minister and the first non-Conservative leader in more than 14 years.

Once the news was confirmed, Starmer addressed the public. "Change begins now," he told a raucous audience. "It feels good, I have to be honest.

'A weight has been lifted, a burden finally removed from the shoulders of this great nation. And now we can look forward again."

It's official. The Labour party has won the UK general election after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak concedes defeat.

Sunak has called Sir Keir Starmer to congratulate him on what the prime minister says was a "difficult night" for his party.

The mother of missing Brit Jay Slater has hit back at a TikTok star who claimed he hasn't been paid for helping out in the search for the teenager.

Debbie Duncan said some of the money raised on a GoFundMe page would go to people searching for Slater, but Callum Fahim said he hadn't received any of the roughly $100,000 raised, Sky News reported.

Duncan hit back, saying she gave him money of her own to put him up in accomodation and claims Fahim turned "bitter" when he didn't receive more.

"This is about Jay and he's still missing and we've got people crying about money. It's nothing to do with money," the Slater family said, adding it appeared Fahim was looking for a "free holiday".

Slater vanished more than two weeks ago on the Spanish island of Tenerife after attending a music festival. His disappearance has gripped millions around the world with local authorities recently pulling out of the search with no trace found of the teen.

And staying with the winter weather, an unwanted record has fallen in Tasmania.

Liawenee just registered its third consecutive night below -12°C – setting a new record in the state, Weatherzone reports.

Wednesday dropped to -12.9C, Thursday -13.5C and this morning plunged to -12.6C.

Hopefully it warms up for those on The Apple Isle in the next few days.

Big stretches of the Outback are set to receive a season’s worth of rain in the coming days, increasing the risk of flooding to dirt roads, and road and rail closures.

Weatherzone is forecasting 20 to 60mm of rain across South Australia, southern and western Queensland and northern NSW over the next four days.

Cloud is already forming over Central Australia and the rain is expected to move east from Sunday.

The downpour could be an “entire season’s worth of rain”, Weatherzone predicts.

- NCA NewsWire

It's one of the biggest talking points in Australia at the moment. Whether you like it or not, the country's transition to electric vehicles is gaining pace.

And if you've been considering jumping on the bandwagon, you might be interested to know what your fellow Aussies have been buying in the past six months.

Below are the top 10 highest-selling EVs this year and as you can see, Chinese manufacturer BYD continues to make its mark in the market.

1. Tesla Model Y - 12516

2. Telsa Model 3 - 10600

3. BYD Seal - 4092

4. BYD Atto 3 - 3726

5. MG 4 - 2771

6. BYD Dolphin - 1248

7. BMW iX1 - 1237

8. BMW i4 - 1177

9. Kia EV6 - 1060

10. Volvo EX30 - 1001

Read more about the list over at Yahoo Finance.

While Australia's two bird flu outbreaks have centred around farms, the latest site avian influenza has been detected is someone's backyard.

ACT authorities on Friday confirmed a group of chickens kept at a home had tested positive to the virus, the territory's second site to be affected.

The home is in a quarantine area set up after an egg facility in Canberra's north detected the virus last week.

Along with the two sites in the ACT, eight farms in Victoria and two in NSW have been forced to close to stop the bird flu spreading.

More the one million chickens and ducks have been culled due to the outbreaks.

- With AAP

With early results backing exit polls, it appears Sir Keir Starmer is set to be swept to power by a landslide Labour victory in the UK election — delivering a scathing verdict on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party.

Labour is forecast to have a 170-seat majority in the Commons, with the Conservatives reduced to their lowest number of MPs on record.

So who is the Labour leader who appears to have brought the Tories’ 14-year run to an end?

Sir Kier Starmer, who has spent the bulk of his career working as a human-rights lawyer, often describes himself as being from a “working class background”.

The 61-year-old was raised by his toolmaker dad and nurse mum in Oxted, Surrey, and now shares two children with his wife NHS occupational therapist Victoria Alexander.

In 2015, he became the MP for Holborn and St Pancras in north London before eventually winning Labour’s top spot in 2020. In his victory speech, he promised to lead the party "into a new era with confidence and hope".

In the lead-up to this week’s general election, Sir Starmer pledged to cut NHS waiting lists, build new homes and introduce benefits for first-time buyers, and to recruit thousands of teachers by ending tax breaks for private schools.

A Victorian man has scooped the $12 million Powerball jackpot after recently changing one of his numbers.

“I have my numbers memorised off by heart, and I had recently added in a new number because of someone’s birthday," the man who lives near Geelong told lottery officials.

“I can’t remember the last time I’ve watched a lottery draw on TV, but for some odd reason, I decided to watch it last night. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when my numbers started to come up."

While the focus of millions following the UK election has been Labour's predicted landslide victory, one woman in England's northeast has won the day, according to plenty online.

Reading the results for the seat of Blyth and Ashington, her big hat and plume, likened to something Austin Powers would wear, quickly gained the attention of the internet.

"What a queen," one delighted X user declared.

Take a look for yourself below.

Labour is set to take power in the UK for the first time in 14 years and the newspapers certainly haven't held back.

One of the most brutal front pages printed for Friday comes from tabloid The Daily Star, who took aim at what they say is a lack of achievements under several Conservative prime ministers.

Landslide was a recurring word on other front pages while the Daily Express said the predicted election results are a "crushing blow" to the Tories.

China says fresh European Union tariffs slapped on Chinese electric vehicles will "harm mutually beneficial cooperation".

The EU has raised its tariffs which could now see manufacturers hit with a tariff as high as 37.6 per cent on top of a 10 per cent duty on all Chinese EVs.

Chinese state media took a bullish approach to the news, with the Global Times saying the tariffs are "unlikely to diminish the attractiveness of China's auto market and its receptiveness to foreign investment."

It argued China has an "irreplaceable position" in the global auto sector.

The EU has accused China of unfairly subsiding EV costs to allow for them to be sold for much lower prices than European vehicles. Beijing has denied the claims.

With no auto industry to protect Australia imposes no tariffs on Chinese EVs, making it a favourable market for major manufacturers like BYD.

Sir Keir Starmer is on course to be the UK’s next prime minister after an exit poll put Labour on course for an historic election victory, ending 14 years of Conservative party rule.

According to an exit poll just released, Labour is projected to win a mammoth 410 seats, putting it on course for a 170 majority in what is being described as a "landslide" victory. Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party is projected to win just 131 seats and faces the stark prospect of election wipeout across swathes of the country.