Afternoon Update: Labour wins UK election in landslide; Usman Khawaja accuses Dutton of ‘fuelling Islamophobia’; and bird flu in Canberra

Afternoon. All eyes are on the UK election, where the Labour party leader, Keir Starmer, said the “sunlight of hope” is bathing Britain again after his party won a landslide victory, bringing a crushing end to 14 years of Conservative rule. Starmer is expected to become prime minister after Rishi Sunak conceded but held onto his seat in Richmond & Northallerton.

The victory resulted in a Scottish National party wipeout in Scotland, with the party possibly left with as few as 10 MPs, down from 48. Labour will also be happy to win back Rochdale from George Galloway by the slimmest of margins – 1,400 votes – only four months after Galloway won a byelection. But Keir Starmer’s party lost in Islington North to former leader Jeremy Corbyn, who ran as an independent after being expelled from Labour.

In Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin is on course to become the predominant party, with the Democratic Unionists set to lose at least two of its eight seats.

The collapse of the Tory vote saw a bump in the Liberal Democrats, with the party gaining a record number of MPs – 61 seats per the exit poll. Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform party also scooped up 13 seats after outperforming the Tories in the north-east. For analysis, read Hugh Muir’s piece on a “dispiriting election” that “is less a changing of the executive, more a punishment beating – and one that is well deserved”.

Top news

• David Pocock calls out Payman ‘smear’ as ‘grubby politics’ | The independent senator David Pocock has called out the politicking around Senator Fatima Payman’s citizenship after she quit the Labor party. “Raising questions about her eligibility under section 44 by people from the same party who took responsibility for ensuring the eligibility of her candidacy and now are too cowardly to put their name to the allegations is such grubby politics. I hope people will see this backgrounding and smear campaign for what it is,” he said.

• Usman Khawaja accuses Dutton of ‘fuelling Islamophobia’ | The Australian cricket player has accused the opposition leader of “fuelling Islamophobia” from the very top after Dutton’s remarks that a hung parliament “will include the Greens, it’ll include green teals, it’ll include Muslim candidates from Western Sydney, it will be a disaster”.

• Second case of bird flu in ACT | A Canberra back yard has become the latest site hit by a strain of bird flu. Read this explainer on why the avian influenza outbreak has left egg shoppers and farmers shell-shocked.

• Tory Maguire defends Nine CEO’s trip to Greece | The managing director of publishing at Nine Entertainment, Tory Maguire, has defended chief executive Mike Sneesby’s decision to fly out to Greece after announcing 200 job cuts at the media company last week, leaving reporters seething. “I think it’s a big call to expect someone to not attend a family wedding,” she said.

• Orbán, Modi to visit Moscow | Vladimir Putin will have a busy few days with Viktor Orbán flying into Moscow today local time and Narendra Modi landing on Monday. Orbán’s visit comes days after Hungary’s prime minister made his first visit to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country. Orbán, widely seen as the EU’s most pro-Russian leader, has sought to portray himself as a “pro-peace” politician. Modi’s visit will be the first trip to Moscow by the Indian PM since Russia’s invasion.

• Ukrainian retreat | Ukraine’s army has retreated from a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a strategically important town in the eastern Donetsk region that has been reduced to rubble under a months-long Russian assault.

• Boat capsizes off Mauritania | Nearly 90 migrants bound for Europe died and dozens more are missing after their boat capsized off the coast of Mauritania earlier this week.

• New Gaza ceasefire proposal | The White House has described the latest Hamas ceasefire proposal for Gaza as a “breakthrough” establishing a framework for a possible hostage deal, but warned that difficult negotiations remained over the implementation of the agreement.

In pictures

‘Fraught with danger’: wild honey gathering in Nepal

For generations the Gurung community in Taap, about 175km west of the capital, Kathmandu, and other villages in the districts of Lamjung and Kaski, have scoured the steep Himalayan cliffs for honey. The villagers say the proceeds, split among them, are drying up as the number of hives has declined over the past decade, although some also earn a living from growing crops of rice, corn, millet and wheat. Click here to view the gallery.

What they said …

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“I’m ready to finish playing because I can’t play to the level that I would want to any more.” - Andy Murray

After a 19-year career that has included three grand slam triumphs, Andy plans to retire from professional tennis at the end of this northern summer.

In numbers

East coast gas shortfalls could emerge as soon as 2027, a year earlier than was forecast six months ago – and in some states in 2026 – unless new sources of supply are made available, the ACCC has warned in a report. (As a reminder, Australians pay more each year in Hecs/Help debt than gas companies do in tax.)

Before bed read

“My daughter’s partner has left her and their seven-year-old. Since then she has wanted to be at our house every day as she cannot be alone. My husband and I are finding this exhausting, with no time to ourselves. We are in our late 60s. Help!” writes a reader.

The response from our advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith: “She’s had a shock that gets to the core of her identity: spouse or life partner, co-parent, co-planner of a particular future. It’ll take time to learn the other identities: divorcee, single parent, planner of a whole different future.

“It would make sense if right now she wanted to go back to the identity she’s had the longest and knows the best: the identity of being your child.” Read the full column.

Daily word game

Today’s starter word is: ATES. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.

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