The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has warned Yemen’s Houthi rebels will pay a “heavy price” after the group claimed its first ballistic missile strike on Israel and its leader warned of bigger attacks to come.

The missile – claimed by the Houthis as an advanced surface-to-surface hypersonic missile – triggered air sirens across the country at about 6.30am, and local media aired footage of people racing to shelters at Ben Gurion international airport south-east of Tel Aviv. According to reports, it hit an open area in the Ben Shemen forest, causing a fire near Kfar Daniel. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

The Israeli military is investigating whether the fire was the result of falling fragments caused by the interceptor missiles launched at the projectile, or if it successfully penetrated Israeli air defences as the Houthis have claimed.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that interceptors from Israel’s Iron Dome and Arrow air defence systems were deployed but said it had not yet determined whether any had been successful. It said an “initial inquiry indicates the missile most likely fragmented in mid-air [after] several interception attempts”, adding that “the entire incident is under review”.

Netanyahu hinted at a military response in a statement released at the start of a cabinet meeting on Sunday. “This morning, the Houthis launched a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen into our territory. They should have known by now that we charge a heavy price for any attempt to harm us,” he said.

“Those who need a reminder in this matter are invited to visit the port of Hodeidah,” he added, referring to Yemen’s Red Sea city, which Israeli warplanes bombed in July after the Houthis claimed a drone strike that killed a civilian in Tel Aviv.

The Houthi leader, Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, warned on Sunday of further attacks on Israel. “The operation our forces carried out today with an advanced Yemeni missile is part of the fifth stage of the escalation. What is to come will be greater,” he said in a speech.

Nasruddin Amer, the deputy head of the Houthi media office, described the attack as the “beginning”, claiming in a post on X that a Yemeni missile had reached Israel after “20 missiles failed to intercept”. A Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said a “new hypersonic ballistic missile” had been aimed towards an Israeli military target, which crossed 1,270 miles in 11 minutes and which the IDF failed to intercept, while another senior Houthi official, Hezam al-Asad, posted a taunting message in Hebrew on X.

Israeli media reports suggested the missile had been detected at a very late stage.“The warhead of this missile is separate from the body, and with the help of wings and jam-proof navigation systems it zigzags its way towards the target, which can make interception systems very difficult,” said a report on the Ynet newspaper website.

The Houthis, who, like Hezbollah, are aligned with Iran, have repeatedly fired drones and missiles toward Israel since the start of the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, but nearly all of them have been intercepted over the Red Sea. They have also repeatedly attacked commercial shipping in what they portray as a blockade against Israel in support of the Palestinians, although most of the targeted vessels have no connection to Israel.

If Sunday’s strike is confirmed, it would mark the first instance of a missile launched from Yemen landing on Israeli soil.

In July, an Iranian-made drone sent by Yemen’s rebels struck Tel Aviv, killing one person and wounding at least 10. At the time, the drone appeared to have crossed much of the country through the multilayered air defences that have intercepted almost all Houthi drones and rockets since the war in Gaza began.

The incident will raise concerns across Israel about the ability of the country’s anti-ballistic missiles systems to defend it from attacks that could come simultaneously from Gaza, Iran, Lebanon and Yemen.

The ballistic missile launched from Yemen was anticipated, with the Houthi foreign minister issuing an early warning the previous day.

A senior Biden administration official told CNN in June that Israel’s air defences risked being overwhelmed by multiple attacks.

On Sunday morning, the Israeli military also reported that approximately 40 projectiles had been launched from Lebanon, with the majority being intercepted or landing in uninhabited regions.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border, and Netanyahu said on Sunday that the current situation was not sustainable.

“The existing situation will not continue. We will do everything necessary to return our residents safely to their homes,” he said. “We are in a multi-arena campaign against Iran’s evil axis that strives to destroy us.”

Tensions are also high in the West Bank, where Israeli military operations have been going on for weeks and violence has reached unprecedented levels, posing a significant threat to local communities. A UN worker was fatally shot by a sniper while on the roof of his home in the northern West Bank on Saturday.

Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad, who worked as a sanitation worker with Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, became the first employee of the agency to be killed in the West Bank in more than a decade.

The incident came as mourners gathered in Turkey to lay to rest a US-Turkish activist who was killed by the Israeli military during a protest in the West Bank this month.

In a separate development on Sunday evening, an Israeli border police officer was lightly wounded in a stabbing attack at the Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City, police said.

The assailant attacked the officer with a sharp object before attempting to flee into the Old City, according to authorities. A police spokesperson said the attacker was shot and “neutralised”.

Ten months into Israel’s war on Gaza, the death toll has passed 41,000, according to health authorities there. Most of the dead are civilians and the total represents nearly 2% of Gaza’s prewar population, or one in every 50 residents. The conflict was triggered by Hamas’s attack on 7 October in which 1,200 people died and about 250 were taken hostage.

The Israeli military has said there is a “high probability” that three hostages found dead in a tunnel at the end of last year were mistakenly killed in a strike that also took the life of Hamas’s northern Gaza brigade chief, Ahmed al-Ghandour, in November.

The families of Col Nik Beizer and Sgt Ron Sherman, both 19, and the French-Israeli civilian Elia Toledano, 28, who were abducted by Hamas on 7 October, were informed in the last week by officials from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that a comprehensive inquiry revealed their loved ones had lost their lives as a result of IDF actions.

Their bodies were recovered on 14 December from a tunnel in Jabaliya but the most likely cause of death was only recently determined, the military said.

“The findings of the investigation suggest that the three, with high probability, were killed by a byproduct of an IDF airstrike,” a statement said. “This is a highly probable estimate given all the data, but it is not possible to determine with certainty the circumstances of their death.”

The families were initially told the hostages had been killed by Hamas captors and, in January, the IDF rejected Hamas’s assertions that they were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The conclusions of the investigation could add to pressure on the government to strike a deal to bring home the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

The mothers of the two soldiers had pressed, since their bodies were discovered, for a full account of how their sons had died. “We have to find out the truth about everything,” Maayan Sherman, the mother of Sherman, told the Wall Street Journal in May. “Even if the truth is: ‘We had to kill them.’”

The November airstrike was aimed at al-Ghandour, who was taking cover in a tunnel. The IDF’s inquiry at the time concluded that the military was unaware of the presence of hostages in the area during the strike.

“At the time of the strike, the IDF did not have information about the presence of hostages in the targeted compound,” the military said. “Furthermore, there was information suggesting that they were located elsewhere, and thus the area was not designated as one with suspected presence of hostages.”

The Israeli military has said there is a “high probability” that three hostages found dead in a tunnel at the end of last year were mistakenly killed in a strike that also took the life of Hamas’s northern Gaza brigade chief, Ahmed al-Ghandour, in November.

The families of Col Nik Beizer and Sgt Ron Sherman, both 19, and the French-Israeli civilian Elia Toledano, 28, who were abducted by Hamas on 7 October, were informed in the last week by officials from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that a comprehensive inquiry revealed their loved ones had lost their lives as a result of IDF actions.

Their bodies were recovered on 14 December from a tunnel in Jabaliya but the most likely cause of death was only recently determined, the military said.

“The findings of the investigation suggest that the three, with high probability, were killed by a byproduct of an IDF airstrike,” a statement said. “This is a highly probable estimate given all the data, but it is not possible to determine with certainty the circumstances of their death.”

The families were initially told the hostages had been killed by Hamas captors and, in January, the IDF rejected Hamas’s assertions that they were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The conclusions of the investigation could add to pressure on the government to strike a deal to bring home the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

The mothers of the two soldiers had pressed, since their bodies were discovered, for a full account of how their sons had died. “We have to find out the truth about everything,” Maayan Sherman, the mother of Sherman, told the Wall Street Journal in May. “Even if the truth is: ‘We had to kill them.’”

The November airstrike was aimed at al-Ghandour, who was taking cover in a tunnel. The IDF’s inquiry at the time concluded that the military was unaware of the presence of hostages in the area during the strike.

“At the time of the strike, the IDF did not have information about the presence of hostages in the targeted compound,” the military said. “Furthermore, there was information suggesting that they were located elsewhere, and thus the area was not designated as one with suspected presence of hostages.”

Myanmar’s death toll from floods rose to at least 113, the country’s military government said, following heavy rains brought on by Typhoon Yagi that has caused havoc across parts of Southeast Asia.

At least 320,000 people have been displaced and 64 were still missing, government spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said, according to a late-night bulletin on state-run MRTV.

“The government is conducting a rescue and rehabilitation mission,” he said.

Adverse weather from Typhoon Yagi, the strongest storm to hit Asia this year, has killed hundreds of people in Vietnam and Thailand, and flood waters from swollen rivers have inundated cities in both countries.

The flooding in Myanmar began last Monday, with at least 74 people killed by Friday, based on state media reports.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a military coup in February 2021 and violence has engulfed large parts of the country.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the storm’s rains mainly affected the capital Naypyidaw, as well as the Mandalay, Magway, and Bago regions, along with eastern and southern Shan state, Mon, Kayah and Kayin states.

“Central Myanmar is currently the hardest hit, with numerous rivers and creeks flowing down from Shan hills,” the OCHA said.

Reports of more deaths and landslides have emerged, but gathering information has been challenging due to damaged infrastructure and downed phone and internet lines.

State media also reported that five dams, four pagodas, and more than 65,000 houses were destroyed by the flooding.

About a third of Myanmar’s 55 million people require humanitarian assistance but many aid agencies, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, cannot operate in many areas because of access restrictions and security risks.

Shōgun has made Emmys history as the first ever non-English language series to win for best drama.

The historical epic, based on the 1975 novel, picked up four awards during the evening, including Emmys for lead stars Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai, the first Japanese actors to win their respective awards.

Sanada said the show taught him that “when people work together, we can make miracles, we can create a better future together”.

Earlier this month, Shōgun made history at the Creative Arts Emmys, where many technical and guest acting trophies are given, winning 14 awards in one night, the most a series has ever won in a single year.

It’s the second Emmys in the same year after last year’s ceremony was postponed as a result of the dual Hollywood strikes. In January, the final season of Succession dominated the awards.

Hacks was the surprise winner of best comedy series, beating out previous winner The Bear and Abbott Elementary. Star Jean Smart took home the award for lead actress, her third win for the role. The HBO show, about two female comedians working together, also won for best writing for a comedy series.

The Bear took the majority of the comedy awards winning four Emmys including acting trophies for Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Liza Colón-Zayas who beat out Meryl Streep and Carol Burnett to win her first Emmy. “To all the Latinas that are looking at me, keep believing and vote,” she said during an emotive speech. “Vote for your rights.”

The combined wins from last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys and tonight have made the second season of The Bear the most awarded comedy season in Emmys history. Hosts Eugene and Dan Levy joked about the categorisation of the show, which has come under fire in recent months. “Now, I love the show, and I know some of you will be expecting us to make a joke about whether The Bear is really a comedy but in the true spirit of The Bear, we will not be making any jokes,” Eugene said.

Netflix breakout Baby Reindeer also won four awards including for limited or anthology series and acting awards for Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning. It also won two Emmys at last weekend’s ceremony.

“I never thought I would be able to rectify what had happened to me and get myself back on my feet again,” Gadd said during his speech for winning a writing award. “Nothing lasts forever and no matter how bad it gets, it always gets better so if you keep struggling keep going and I promise things will be okay.”

During the speech for winning limited or anthology series, he spoke about the importance of making big swings in television. “Take risks, push boundaries, explore the uncomfortable, dare to fail in order to achieve,” he said.

Last week, the $170m defamation trial brought against Netflix for the show was dated for next May. The alleged inspiration for the show’s stalker has claimed the drama series has negatively impacted her life.

In the remaining limited or anthology series categories, Lamorne Morris was also named best supporting actor for Fargo and Steven Zaillian won best directing for Ripley.

Jodie Foster was named best actress in a limited or anthology series for True Detective: Night Country, her first Emmy win. She called the making of the show a “magical experience”. She beat out Naomi Watts and Brie Larson.

The final season of The Crown took home just one award for Elizabeth Debicki, who was named best supporting actress in a drama series. It was the actor’s second nomination for playing Princess Diana and first win. “Playing this part based on this unparalleled, incredible human being has been my great privilege,” she said in her speech.

Billy Crudup was named best supporting actor in a drama series for The Morning Show while Slow Horses’ Will Smith won for writing in a drama series.

The US version of The Traitors was named best reality competition program, beating out RuPaul’s Drag Race which has won the award four times before. At last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys, Alan Cumming was also named best host.

Much-nominated shows that came away empty-handed during the ceremony included Mr and Mrs Smith, Only Murders in the Building, Fallout and Abbott Elementary.

The night also included a number of cast reunions, including for Happy Days, Saturday Night Live, celebrating its 50th year, and The West Wing. Richard Schiff joked that many of today’s actual political headlines would be deemed “a bit far-fetched if not utterly ridiculous 25 years ago”.

Co-host Dan Levy, who previously won an Emmy for his hit sitcom Schitt’s Creek, called the Emmys “broadcast TV’s biggest night for honouring movie stars on streaming services” in the opening speech.

There were also a number of mentions of Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance and his controversial comments. Only Murders in the Building nominee Selena Gomez referred to herself as a childless cat lady while presenting an award while Candice Bergen also turned an anecdote about her series Murphy Brown into a jab.

“In one classic moment, my character was attacked by vice-president Dan Quayle when Murphy became pregnant and decided to raise the baby as a single mother,” she said. “Oh, how far we’ve come. Today a Republican candidate for vice-president would never attack a woman for having kids. So as they say, my work here is done. Meow.”

John Leguizamo also spoke on stage about the lack of diversity within the television industry, calling reference to a full-page advert that he took out in the New York Times to criticise the television academy. He spoke about the changes that have taken place, praising this year’s diverse set of nominees but stressing the need for more to be done.

Best comedy series

Abbott Elementary
The Bear
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Hacks – WINNER
Only Murders in the Building
Palm Royale
Reservation Dogs
What We Do in the Shadows

Best drama series

The Crown
Fallout
The Gilded Age
The Morning Show
Mr & Mrs Smith
Shōgun – WINNER
Slow Horses
3 Body Problem

Lead actress in a drama series

Jennifer Aniston – The Morning Show
Carrie Coon – The Gilded Age
Maya Erskine – Mr & Mrs Smith
Anna Sawai – Shōgun – WINNER
Imelda Staunton – The Crown
Reese Witherspoon – The Morning Show

Lead actor in a drama series

Idris Elba – Hijack
Donald Glover – Mr & Mrs Smith
Walton Goggins – Fallout
Gary Oldman – Slow Horses
Hiroyuki Sanada – Shōgun – WINNER
Dominic West – The Crown

Best limited or anthology series

Baby Reindeer – WINNER
Fargo
Lessons in Chemistry
Ripley
True Detective: Night Country

Lead actress in a limited or anthology series

Jodie Foster – True Detective: Night Country – WINNER
Brie Larson – Lessons in Chemistry
Juno Temple – Fargo
Sofia Vergara – Griselda
Naomi Watts – Feud: Capote vs The Swans

Lead actor in a limited or anthology series

Matt Bomer – Fellow Travelers
Jon Hamm – Fargo
Tom Hollander – Feud: Capote vs The SwansRichard Gadd – Baby Reindeer – WINNER
Andrew Scott – Ripley

Directing for a drama series

Stephen Daldry – The Crown
Mimi Leder – The Morning Show
Hiro Murai – Mr & Mrs Smith
Frederick EO Toye – Shōgun – WINNER
Saul Metzstein – Slow Horses
Salli Richardson-Whitfield – Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty

Directing for a comedy series

Randall Einhorn – Abbott Elementary
Christopher Storer – The Bear – WINNER
Ramy Youssef – The Bear
Guy Ritchie – The Gentlemen
Lucia Aniello – Hacks
Mary Lou Belli – The Ms Pat Show

Writing for a limited or anthology series

Richard Gadd – Baby Reindeer – WINNER
Charlie Brooker – Black Mirror
Noah Hawley – Fargo
Ron Nyswaner – Fellow Travelers
Steven Zaillian – Ripley
Issa López – True Detective: Night Country

Writing for a drama series

Peter Morgan and Meriel Sheibani-Clare – The Crown
Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner – Fallout
Francesca Sloane and Donald Glover – Mr & Mrs Smith
Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks – Shōgun
Rachel Kondo and Caillin Puente – Shōgun
Will Smith – Slow Horses – WINNER

Supporting actor in a limited or anthology series

Jonathan Bailey – Fellow Travelers
Robert Downey Jr – The Sympathizer
Tom Goodman-Hill – Baby Reindeer
John Hawkes – True Detective: Night Country
Lamorne Morris – Fargo – WINNER
Lewis Pullman – Lessons In Chemistry
Treat Williams – Feud: Capote vs The Swans

Talk series

The Daily Show – WINNER
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Late Night With Seth Meyers
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert

Writing for a comedy series

Quinta Brunson – Abbott Elementary
Christopher Storer – The Bear
Meredith Scardino and Sam Means – Girls5eva
Lucia Aniello, Paul W Downs and Jen Statsky – Hacks – WINNER
Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider – The Other Two
Jake Bender and Zach Dunn – What We Do in the Shadows

Directing for a limited or anthology series

Weronika Tofilska – Baby Reindeer
Noah Hawley – Fargo
Gus Van Sant – Feud: Capote vs The Swans
Millicent Shelton – Lessons in Chemistry
Steven Zaillian – Ripley – WINNER
Issa López – True Detective: Night Country

Scripted variety series

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – WINNER
Saturday Night Live

Supporting actress in a limited or anthology series

Dakota Fanning – Ripley
Lily Gladstone – Under The Bridge
Jessica Gunning – Baby Reindeer – WINNER
Aja Naomi King – Lessons In Chemistry
Diane Lane – Feud: Capote vs The Swans
Nava Mau – Baby Reindeer
Kali Reis – True Detective: Night Country

Outstanding reality competition program

The Amazing Race
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Top Chef
The Traitors – WINNER
The Voice

Lead actress in a comedy series

Quinta Brunson – Abbott Elementary
Ayo Edebiri – The Bear
Selena Gomez – Only Murders in the Building
Maya Rudolph – Loot
Jean Smart – Hacks – WINNER
Kristen Wiig – Palm Royale

Supporting actress in a drama series

Christine Baranski – The Gilded Age
Nicole Beharie – The Morning Show
Elizabeth Debicki – The Crown – WINNER
Greta Lee – The Morning Show
Lesley Manville – The Crown
Karen Pittman – The Morning Show
Holland Taylor – The Morning Show

Supporting actress in a comedy series

Carol Burnett – Palm Royale
Liza Colón-Zayas – The Bear – WINNER
Hannah Einbinder – Hacks
Janelle James – Abbott Elementary
Sheryl Lee Ralph – Abbott Elementary
Meryl Streep – Only Murders in the Building

Lead actor in a comedy series

Matt Berry – What We Do in the Shadows
Larry David – Curb Your Enthusiasm
Steve Martin – Only Murders in the Building
Martin Short – Only Murders in the Building
Jeremy Allen White – The Bear – WINNER
D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai – Reservation Dogs

Supporting actor in a drama series

Tadanobu Asano – Shōgun
Jon Hamm – The Morning Show
Mark Duplass – The Morning Show
Billy Crudup – The Morning Show – WINNER
Takehiro Hira – Shōgun
Jack Lowden – Slow Horses
Jonathan Pryce – The Crown

Supporting actor in a comedy series

Lionel Boyce – The Bear
Paul W Downs – Hacks
Ebon Moss-Bachrach – The Bear – WINNER
Paul Rudd – Only Murders in the Building
Tyler James Williams – Abbott Elementary
Bowen Yang – Saturday Night Live

• One person has died and at least 41 people were wounded on Sunday afternoon when a Russian guided bomb struck a multi-storey residential building in Kharkiv, mayor Ihor Terekhov said, adding that the bomb hit the 10th floor of the building, with the fire spreading across four storeys. Prosecutors in Kharkiv said on Telegram the body of a 94-year-old woman had been recovered from the ninth floor of the building. Twelve other buildings were also damaged, Terekhov said.

• President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday night that rescue operations were under way at the 12-storey building, with people trapped under the rubble. He said three children were among 35 people injured. “In this single strike on Kharkiv, four air bombs were dropped. One hit the building in the city, and the other three struck villages in the region,” he said. Russia did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the attack but has previously denied intentionally targeting civilians despite having killed thousands of them since it invaded Ukraine in 2022.

• Zelenskiy on Sunday again appealed for a shift in the west’s policy on the use of long-range weapons, saying Russia was carrying out at least 100 airstrikes comparable to the one that hit Kharkiv every day. “The only way to counter this terror is through a systemic solution – long-range capabilities to destroy Russian military aviation at its bases. This is an obvious, logical solution. We have already explained to all our partners why Ukraine truly needs sufficient long-range capabilities,” he said on X.

• Moscow and Kyiv exchanged drone and missile attacks over the weekend. The Ukrainian air force said on Sunday it shot down 10 of the 14 drones and one of the three missiles Russia launched overnight. Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said it downed 29 Ukrainian drones overnight into Sunday over western and south-western regions, with no damage caused by the falling debris. It also said another Ukrainian drone was shot down on Sunday morning over the western Ryazan region.

• Ukrainian troops are suffering high losses because western arms are arriving too slowly to equip the armed forces properly, Zelenskiy told CNN in an interview aired on Sunday. Russia has been gaining ground in parts of eastern Ukraine including around Pokrovsk. Capture of the transport hub could enable Moscow to open new lines of attack. Zelenskiy said the situation in the east was “very tough”, adding that half of Ukraine’s brigades there were not equipped.
  “So you lose a lot of people. You lose people because they are not in armed vehicles … they don’t have artillery, they don’t have artillery rounds,” said Zelenskiy, speaking in English. CNN said the interview had been conducted on Friday. Zelenskiy said weapons aid packages promised by the United States and European nations were arriving very slowly. “We need 14 brigades to be ready. Until now … from these packages we didn’t equip even four,” he said. The only thing Russian president Vladimir Putin fears is the reaction of his people if the cost of the war makes them suffer, Zelenskiy said. “Make Ukraine strong, and you will see that he will sit and negotiate”.

• White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Saturday said Washington was working on a “substantial” new aid package for Ukraine.
  Zelenskiy is due to meet President Joe Biden this month and will present a plan to seek an end to the war. The main elements are security and diplomatic support, as well as military and economic aid, he said.

Robert and Anne Geeves have been found not guilty of the murder of Amber Haigh, who disappeared more than two decades ago.

Robert Samuel Geeves, 64 – the father of Haigh’s child – and his wife Anne Margaret Geeves, also 64, spent more than two years in prison awaiting the trial, which ran for nine weeks in the NSW supreme court.

Haigh, who had an intellectual disability, was 19 when she vanished from the New South Wales Riverina in June 2002. She left behind her five-month-old son whom, the court heard, she adored and “never let out of her sight”.

The couple were charged in 2022 with her murder, police alleging they killed Haigh so they could take custody of her baby.

The Geeveses consistently denied ever harming Haigh or having anything to do with her disappearance. They have maintained they last saw Haigh on the evening of 5 June 2002, when they drove her from their home in Kingsvale to Campbelltown railway station, where she intended to catch a train to visit her dying father. They told police Haigh willingly left her young son in their care. Haigh never arrived at the nearby Mt Druitt hospital to see her father.

On Monday, after a judge-alone trial, Justice Julia Lonergan found the couple not guilty of murder.

She told the court: “Mr and Mrs Geeves are not guilty and ought be released from the dock.”

The verdict was met with anger from some: one member of the public gallery stormed out of court and yelled. Family members of Amber Haigh were seen in tears outside the court, consoling each other with hugs.

In her summary judgment delivered to the supreme court, Lonergan said Haigh’s short life was marked by disruption and disadvantage. She was, the judge said, “physically attacked and abused” by people she trusted, and made to feel unsafe by her own family.

“How terrible that must have felt … there was little evidence that Amber was ever shown the love and support she deserved.”

Lonergan said Haigh was a vulnerable young woman who was naive about relationships and susceptible to exploitation.

“Amber went back and forth between places and people, looking for love and solace, She never found it. She was still looking for it when she disappeared.”

The judge said the prosecution sought to prove two “indispensable facts”: that the Geeveses had a shared motive to kill Haigh in order to assume control of her baby; and that the Geeveses did not drive Haigh to Campbelltown railway station on the evening of 5 June 2002, the day they say they last saw her.

“I am not persuaded that either indispensable fact is proved.”

Eight people have drowned in Austria, Poland and Romania and four others are missing in the Czech Republic as Storm Boris continues to lash central and eastern Europe, bringing torrential rain and floods that have forced the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes.

Swathes of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia have been battered by high winds and unusually fierce rains since Thursday.

Austria’s vice-chancellor, Werner Kogler, said on Sunday that a firefighter had died tackling flooding in Lower Austria, as authorities declared the province, which surrounds the capital, Vienna, a disaster area.

Some areas of the Tirol were blanketed by up to a metre (3ft) of snow – an exceptional situation for mid-September, which saw temperatures of up to 30C (86F) last week.

Rail services were suspended in the country’s east early on Sunday and several metro lines were shut down in Vienna, where the Wien River was threatening to overflow its banks, according to the APA news agency.

Emergency services made nearly 5,000 interventions overnight in Lower Austria where flooding had trapped many residents in their homes. Firefighters have intervened about 150 times in Vienna since Friday to clear roads blocked by storm debris and pump water from cellars, local media reported.

Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said one person in the Kłodzko region had drowned. Tusk was travelling through the south-west of the country, which has been hit hardest by the floods. About 1,600 people have been evacuated in Kłodzko, and Polish authorities have called in the army to support firefighters on the scene.

“The situation is very dramatic,” Tusk said on Sunday after a meeting in Kłodzko, which was partly under water as the local river rose to 6.7 metres on Sunday morning – well above the alarm level of 2.4 metres – before receding slightly. That surpassed a record set during heavy flooding in 1997, which partly damaged the town and claimed 56 lives.

On Saturday, Polish authorities shut the Gołkowice border crossing with the Czech Republic after a river flooded its banks, as well as closing several roads and halting trains on the line linking the towns of Prudnik and Nysa.

In the nearby village of Głuchołazy, Zofia Owsiaka watched with fear as the fast-flowing waters of the swollen Biała river surged past. “Water is the most powerful force of nature. Everyone is scared,” said Owsiaka, 65.

In Budapest, officials raised forecasts for the Danube to rise in the second half of this week to above 8.5m, nearing a record 8.91m seen in 2013, as rain continued in Hungary, Slovakia and Austria.

“According to forecasts, one of the biggest floods of the past years is approaching Budapest but we are prepared to tackle it,” said Budapest’s mayor, Gergely Karácsony.

Meanwhile, police in the Czech Republic said four people were missing on Sunday. Three had been in a car that was swept into a river in the north-eastern town of Lipová-lázne, while another man was missing after being swept away by floods in the south-east.

A dam in the south of the country burst its banks, flooding towns and villages downstream. “What you see here is worse than in 1997 and I don’t know what will happen because my house is under water and I don’t know if I will even return to it,” said Pavel Bily, a resident of Lipová-lázne.

In a message on X, Czech police urged people to heed evacuation warnings, adding: “Police and firefighters know what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. The situation is changing quickly and we can’t be everywhere immediately. Within a few moments, the only way out could be by helicopter.”

Six people have died in floods in south-east Romania over the past two days. In the worst-affected region, Galati in the south-east, 5,000 homes were damaged.

Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, said: “We are again facing the effects of climate change, which are increasingly present on the European continent, with dramatic consequences.”

Hundreds of people have been rescued across 19 parts of the country, emergency services said, releasing a video of flooded homes in a village by the Danube river.

“This is a catastrophe of epic proportions,” said Emil Dragomir, the mayor of Slobozia Conachi, a village in Galati where 700 homes had reportedly been flooded.

Slovakia has declared a state of emergency in the capital, Bratislava. Heavy rains are expected to continue until at least Monday in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Eight people have drowned in Austria, Poland and Romania and four others are missing in the Czech Republic as Storm Boris continues to lash central and eastern Europe, bringing torrential rain and floods that have forced the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes.

Swathes of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia have been battered by high winds and unusually fierce rains since Thursday.

Austria’s vice-chancellor, Werner Kogler, said on Sunday that a firefighter had died tackling flooding in Lower Austria, as authorities declared the province, which surrounds the capital, Vienna, a disaster area.

Some areas of the Tirol were blanketed by up to a metre (3ft) of snow – an exceptional situation for mid-September, which saw temperatures of up to 30C (86F) last week.

Rail services were suspended in the country’s east early on Sunday and several metro lines were shut down in Vienna, where the Wien River was threatening to overflow its banks, according to the APA news agency.

Emergency services made nearly 5,000 interventions overnight in Lower Austria where flooding had trapped many residents in their homes. Firefighters have intervened about 150 times in Vienna since Friday to clear roads blocked by storm debris and pump water from cellars, local media reported.

Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said one person in the Kłodzko region had drowned. Tusk was travelling through the south-west of the country, which has been hit hardest by the floods. About 1,600 people have been evacuated in Kłodzko, and Polish authorities have called in the army to support firefighters on the scene.

“The situation is very dramatic,” Tusk said on Sunday after a meeting in Kłodzko, which was partly under water as the local river rose to 6.7 metres on Sunday morning – well above the alarm level of 2.4 metres – before receding slightly. That surpassed a record set during heavy flooding in 1997, which partly damaged the town and claimed 56 lives.

On Saturday, Polish authorities shut the Gołkowice border crossing with the Czech Republic after a river flooded its banks, as well as closing several roads and halting trains on the line linking the towns of Prudnik and Nysa.

In the nearby village of Głuchołazy, Zofia Owsiaka watched with fear as the fast-flowing waters of the swollen Biała river surged past. “Water is the most powerful force of nature. Everyone is scared,” said Owsiaka, 65.

In Budapest, officials raised forecasts for the Danube to rise in the second half of this week to above 8.5m, nearing a record 8.91m seen in 2013, as rain continued in Hungary, Slovakia and Austria.

“According to forecasts, one of the biggest floods of the past years is approaching Budapest but we are prepared to tackle it,” said Budapest’s mayor, Gergely Karácsony.

Meanwhile, police in the Czech Republic said four people were missing on Sunday. Three had been in a car that was swept into a river in the north-eastern town of Lipová-lázne, while another man was missing after being swept away by floods in the south-east.

A dam in the south of the country burst its banks, flooding towns and villages downstream. “What you see here is worse than in 1997 and I don’t know what will happen because my house is under water and I don’t know if I will even return to it,” said Pavel Bily, a resident of Lipová-lázne.

In a message on X, Czech police urged people to heed evacuation warnings, adding: “Police and firefighters know what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. The situation is changing quickly and we can’t be everywhere immediately. Within a few moments, the only way out could be by helicopter.”

Six people have died in floods in south-east Romania over the past two days. In the worst-affected region, Galati in the south-east, 5,000 homes were damaged.

Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, said: “We are again facing the effects of climate change, which are increasingly present on the European continent, with dramatic consequences.”

Hundreds of people have been rescued across 19 parts of the country, emergency services said, releasing a video of flooded homes in a village by the Danube river.

“This is a catastrophe of epic proportions,” said Emil Dragomir, the mayor of Slobozia Conachi, a village in Galati where 700 homes had reportedly been flooded.

Slovakia has declared a state of emergency in the capital, Bratislava. Heavy rains are expected to continue until at least Monday in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Robert F Kennedy Jr has said that he is being investigated by federal authorities for collecting the head from a decapitated whale carcass.

During a campaign event on Saturday for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, in Glendale, Arizona, the former independent presidential candidate said: “I received a letter from the National Marine Fisheries Institute saying that they were investigating me for collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago.”

He added: “This is all about the weaponization of our government against political opponents.”

Kennedy, who endorsed the former president after dropping out of November’s election, fell under scrutiny in recent weeks after the resurfacing of a 2012 interview that his daughter Kick gave to Town & Country in which she addressed the whale in question.

Recounting how the creature washed up on a beach near Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, she said: “[He] ran down to the beach with a chainsaw, cut off the whale’s head and then bungee-corded it to the roof of the family minivan for the five-hour haul back to Mount Kisco, New York.

“Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet. We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day to day stuff for us.”

Reports of the decapitation caught the attention of the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, which called on federal authorities to investigate Kennedy. In a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the environmental group said Kennedy “violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and possibly the Endangered Species Act, by illegally cutting the head off of a dead whale in or around 1994 in Hyannis Point, Massachusetts, and bringing it to his New York house”.

The letter went on to say: “We hope that the Noaa Office of Law Enforcement, at a minimum, is able to ensure that Mr Kennedy surrenders any and all illegally obtained wildlife that he continues to possess, including the whale skull he took from the Massachusetts beach in 1994. Given Mr Kennedy’s reckless disregard for the two most important marine conservation laws in the United States, we ask that Noaa consider all appropriate civil and criminal penalties as well.”

Kennedy in August faced a separate backlash after an unrelated animal admission. In that case, he acknowledged on a video that he was behind the dumping of a dead bear cub in New York City’s Central Park over a decade ago.

Recalling the episode, Kennedy said that he picked up the carcass and put it in his van with plans to skin it and eat it later. However, he ran out of time to take the bear home and instead decided to stage a scene to make it look like a cyclist had hit the animal.

“We thought it would be amusing for whoever found it,” Kennedy said.

A number of prominent columnists have resigned in protest from the Jewish Chronicle after allegations it printed articles about the Gaza conflict that were based on “wild fabrications”.

The weekly title, the world’s oldest Jewish newspaper, is facing calls for an investigation after it deleted nine articles by Elon Perry because of doubts over their accuracy and concerns he had misrepresented his CV.

The sensationalist articles by the former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier allegedly included fabricated claims about Israeli intelligence.

In a brief statement on Friday announcing the deletion of the articles, the paper said it was not satisfied by some of Perry’s claims.

“The Jewish Chronicle has concluded a thorough investigation into freelance journalist Elon Perry, which commenced after allegations were made about aspects of his record. While we understand he did serve in the Israel Defense Forces, we were not satisfied with some of his claims,” it said.

“We have therefore removed his stories from our website and ended any association with Mr Perry.

“The Jewish Chronicle maintains the highest journalistic standards in a highly contested information landscape and we deeply regret the chain of events that led to this point. We apologise to our loyal readers and have reviewed our internal processes so that this will not be repeated.”

On Sunday, four of the paper’s best-known columnists, David Baddiel, Jonathan Freedland, David Aaronovitch and Hadley Freeman, announced they had resigned in protest over the scandal.

In a letter to the editor, Jake Wallis Simons, posted on X, Freedland said he was quitting the paper to which he had contributed for 26 years, and which his father began writing for in 1951.

Freedland, who is also a columnist and podcaster for the Guardian, wrote: “The latest scandal brings great disgrace on the paper – publishing fabricated stories and showing only the thinnest form of contrition – but it is only the latest. Too often, the JC [Jewish Chronicle] reads like a partisan, ideological instrument, its judgements political rather than journalistic.”

He added: “Of course, all newspapers make mistakes and run articles that writers on the paper dislike. The problem in this case is that there can be no real accountability because the JC is owned by a person or people who refuse to reveal themselves. As you know, I and others have long urged transparency, making that case to you privately – but nothing has happened.”

Freedland said he hoped to return to working for the paper but only when it “returns to its best traditions”.

Aaronovitch reposted Freedland’s comments, saying: “I have done the same”. Baddiel retweeted Freedland’s post. The writer and comedian’s spokesperson said: “David has no plans to write any more columns for the paper but there is no further comment at this stage.”

Freeman, a Sunday Times journalist, said in a separate post marking her departure that recent events at the Jewish Chronicle had “made it impossible for me to stay”.

Nazir Afzal, a former chief prosecutor for north-west England and a former member of the independent press regulator Ipso, said he had been following the saga with “great dismay”. Writing on X, he said: “I think a ‘standards investigation’ is overdue.”

Perry’s articles purported to describe detailed accounts of Israeli operations and Israeli intelligence on the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Last week Israeli press described his articles as “fabrications” and suggested they had been placed in the European media to support Benjamin’s Netanyahu’s negotiating position over Gaza.

Earlier in the month, the Israeli prime minister suggested that if the Gaza border area with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi corridor, was not under Israeli military control, then Sinwar could use it to escape, perhaps taking hostages with him.

The following day, an article by Perry in the JC claimed that intelligence existed showing Sinwar planned to escape to Iran with the hostages. The story was later dismissed as a “wild fabrication” by the IDF.

Perry’s claims about his background, including his supposed work as a journalist and academic, and parts of his military record, were also questioned in the Israeli press.

Wallis Simons and the JC have so far declined to describe how Perry came to write for the paper, and remained tight-lipped about its ownership.

Perry told the Observer that the JC had made a “huge mistake” in announcing the deletion of his articles. He described the criticism as a “witch-hunt … caused by jealousy from Israeli journalists and outlets who could not obtain the details that I managed to”.

On Sunday, Wallis Simons wrote on X that it was “every newspaper editor’s worst nightmare to be deceived by a journalist”.

“The @JewishChron has cut all ties with the freelancer in question and his work has now been removed from our website. Readers can be assured that stronger internal procedures are being implemented.

“I understand why some columnists have decided to step back from the paper. I am grateful for their contributions and hope that, in time, some of them will feel able to return. I take full responsibility for the mistakes that have been made and I will take equal responsibility for the task of making sure nothing like this can happen again.”

There have been questions over the ownership of the JC, with the Guardian’s former editor Alan Rusbridger suggesting in an article in Prospect magazine this year that it was ultimately backed by a billionaire American, who has denied the claim.

In a stunning admission, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, said he was willing “to create stories” on the campaign trail while defending his spreading false, racist rumors of pets being abducted and eaten in a town in his home state of Ohio.

Vance’s remarks came during an appearance on Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, where he said he felt the need “to create stories so that the … media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people”.

Asked by the CNN host Dana Bash whether the false rumors centering on Springfield, Ohio, were “a story that you created”, Vance replied, “Yes!” He then said the claims were rooted in “accounts from … constituents” and that he as well as the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, had spoken publicly about them to draw attention to Springfield’s relatively large Haitian population.

Vance’s remarks drew a quick rebuke from the US transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, a Democrat who supports his party’s White House nominee in November’s election, Kamala Harris.

“Remarkable confession by JD Vance when he said he will ‘create stories’ (that is, lie) to redirect the media,” Buttigieg wrote on X. “All this to change the subject away from abortion rights, manufacturing jobs, taxation of the rich, and the other things clearly at stake in this election.”

Vance further insulted people in Springfield who are Haitian as “illegal”, though the vast majority of them are in the US legally through a temporary protected status (TPS) that has been allocated to them due to the violence and unrest in their home country in the Caribbean. The status must be renewed after 18 months.

The rumors proliferating out of Springfield have led to bomb threats aimed at local hospitals and government offices. Vance on Sunday told Bash it was “disgusting” for the media to suggest any of his remarks had led to those threats. He also used the same term to refer to the people issuing those threats, though – in a separate appearance on Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press – he made it a point to blame the media for accurately reporting on them, saying it was “amplifying the worst people in the world”.

Vance ultimately defended his endorsement of the lies about Springfield as calling attention to the immigration policies at the White House while Harris has served as vice-president to Joe Biden.

“I’m not mad at Haitian migrants for wanting to have a better life,” Vance said. “We’re angry at Kamala Harris for letting this happen.”

Haitians in Springfield have been thrust under the US’s divisive political spotlight after Trump alleged that some of them were responsible for the abduction and consumption of pets during the former president’s debate with Harris on Tuesday.

Town officials have vociferously rejected the lies, and a woman who helped start the rumors on a widely circulated Facebook post acknowledged they were unfounded hearsay.

Nonetheless, Springfield has been subjected to far-right conspiracy theories.

About 15,000 immigrants began trickling into Springfield – a city of about 60,000 – in 2017 to work in local produce packaging and machining factories. They have been particularly in demand at a vegetable manufacturer and at automotive machining plants whose owners were experiencing a labor shortage in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Republican governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, said on Sunday on ABC’s This Week that Haitians in Springfield “are here legally”.

“What the employers tell you is, you know, we don’t know what we would do without them,” DeWine said. “They are working. And they are working very hard. And they’re fitting in.”

Nonetheless, while vulnerable with voters over their handling of reproductive rights, Republicans have helped spread the xenophobic rumors in Springfield in an attempt to capitalize on voters’ dissatisfaction with Democrats’ handling of immigration.

Vance on Sunday also sought to distance himself from a second controversy, telling the Meet the Press host Kristen Welker that he doesn’t like remarks by the far-right Trump campaign ally Laura Loomer that the White House “will smell like curry” if Harris wins the election.

Harris is of Indian and Jamaican heritage. Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, is of Indian heritage, too.

“I make a mean chicken curry,” he said, but “I don’t think that it’s insulting for anybody to talk about their dietary preferences or what they want to do in the White House.

“What Laura said about Kamala Harris is not what we should be focused on. We should be focused on the policy and on the issues.”

Vance has spent much of his vice-presidential run on the defensive, including over his stated belief that women who choose to pursue professional careers rather than roles as family matriarchs are miserable.

The Tom Hiddleston-led drama The Life of Chuck is the surprise winner of this year’s Toronto film festival audience award.

The under-the-radar adaptation of Stephen King’s novella beat out competition from higher-profile titles to gain the majority of attendees’ votes. The film entered the festival without distribution.

The unusual genre-bending story of the life of an accountant was adapted by Mike Flanagan, whose previous King adaptations include Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game. He is also known for the hit Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House. The cast also includes Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan.

The Daily Beast’s Nick Schager wrote that it was “as sweet as it is scary” while, in comparing it with Flanagan’s more horror-heavy King adaptations, the Hollywood Reporter’s Michael Rechtshaffen claimed that it “makes for an oddball if less ideal fit”.

After the announcement, King tweeted congratulations to the “dark horse” winner. “I’m so blissed out for Mike Flanagan and his talented troupe of actors,” he wrote.

In previous years the winner of the award has tended to receive a best picture nomination or win at the Oscars. Past winners have included Green Book, La La Land, Jojo Rabbit, The Fabelmans and American Fiction.

The first runner-up was Emilia Pérez, the Jacques Audiard-directed crime musical comedy that premiered to acclaim at this year’s Cannes film festival where it picked up best actress awards for its three stars Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón and Selena Gomez.

The second runner-up was Sean Baker’s Anora, a comedy drama about a sex worker, that won this year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes.

Other winners includes the Demi Moore-led horror The Substance, which topped the Midnight Madness section, and the music documentary The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal which won the documentary section.

The awards come after this year’s Venice film festival’s Golden Lion award was handed to Pedro Almodóvar’s first full-length English-language movie, The Room Next Door.