At least five people have died as Storm Bert swept across the United Kingdom, causing power outages and widespread train and flight cancelations.

Dramatic footage which emerged over the weekend showed rivers in Wales, one of the hardest hit areas, bursting their banks to submerge low-lying streets and vehicles parked outside.

Rescuers waded through hip-deep water to rescue pets with an inflatable raft, while residents teamed up to manually remove water with buckets.

Fatalities during the storm have been reported in multiple locations across Britain.

A man in his 60s died after a tree fell on a car in the south English city of Winchester on Saturday while another man, in his 40s, was killed in a crash in Northamptonshire, a central county, according to local police.

Further north, a 34-year-old man died in a single-vehicle collision in the early hours of Saturday, West Yorkshire Police said.

British news agency PA Media also reported that two other people were killed as the storm battered the UK over the past few days. That included a body found in the search for a dog walker who went missing in floodwater on Saturday, it reported, citing North Wales Police.

Another man in his 80s died after his car entered water at a ford in the northern county of Lancashire Saturday afternoon, PA Media reported, citing local police.

It was unclear whether all of these incidents were linked directly to the storm.

There have been 53 heavy rainfall reports across the UK, according to the European Severe Weather Database. Total rainfall in the last 24 hours reached over 130mm, the UK Meteorological Office (Met) reported, issuing multiple warnings against strong winds for central, southern and eastern parts of England, as well as Northern Ireland and western Scotland.

The storm is expected to clear from the far northeast early Tuesday, though risks of further downpours and strong winds remain across the south of the UK until Wednesday, the Met Office has warned.

Some 300 flights in and out of London Heathrow Airport were cancelled over the weekend, with nearly 1,200 flights delayed.

Train services connecting London and Swansea in Wales, as well as from Exeter to Okehampton and Barnstaple in the southwestern part of the country, were among a raft of routes that were canceled, according to Great Western Railway.

Northern Rail reported “severe disruptions” for several services including in Lancaster, York and Sheffield in north of England.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks detected unplanned a spate of power outages in England and Scotland over the weekend, according to its website.

More than 60 flood warnings and alerts were reported in Wales alone for the past day, according to Natural Resources Wales.

“Thank you to the emergency services who are working tirelessly to protect communities — my thoughts are with those impacted,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote on X.

The cold front associated with Storm Bert will impact parts of western Europe, where orange warnings for high winds are in place for parts of Germany and France.

Israel’s cabinet unanimously voted to sanction the nation’s oldest newspaper, Haaretz, on Sunday citing its critical coverage of the war following the October 7 Hamas attacks and comments by the outlet’s publisher calling for sanctions on senior government officials.

Haaretz, which is widely respected internationally, has provided critical coverage of Israel’s war following the Hamas attacks on October 7, including investigations into abuses allegedly committed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as military operations expanded across Gaza and into neighboring Lebanon.

The proposal, put forward by communications minister Shlomo Kar’i, will end government advertising in the newspaper and cancel all subscriptions for state employees and employees of state-owned companies.

Haaretz described the move as an attempt to “silence a critical, independent newspaper.”

In a statement following the vote, Kar’i wrote: “We must not allow a reality in which the publisher of an official newspaper in the State of Israel will call for the imposition of sanctions against it and will support the enemies of the state in the midst of a war and will be financed by it, while international bodies are undermining the legitimacy of the State of Israel, its right to self-defense and are actually imposing sanctions against it and its leaders.”

Amos Schocken, the newspaper’s publisher, drew criticism for referring to Palestinian “freedom fighters” during a speech at an event organized by the outlet in London on October 27.

“It (the Netanyahu government) doesn’t care about imposing a cruel apartheid regime on the Palestinian population. It dismisses the costs of both sides for defending the settlements while fighting the Palestinian freedom fighters that Israel calls terrorists,” he reportedly said.

Following widespread criticism of the comments in Israel, Schocken clarified his comments saying that he did not believe Hamas militants were freedom fighters.

In an editorial Haaretz said that Schocken was referring to “Palestinians living under occupation and oppression in the West Bank.”

Still, it said Schocken had “erred” by referring to anyone who deliberately harms and terrorizes civilians as “freedom fighters,” arguing that the correct term was “terrorists.”

In the speech Schocken also called for international sanctions on Israeli leaders as the only way to force the government to change course.

“In a sense, what is taking place now in the occupied territories and in part of Gaza is a second Nakba,” he said. “A Palestinian state must be established and the only way to achieve this, I think, is to apply sanctions against Israel, against the leaders who oppose it and against the settlers.”

In addition to Schocken’s comments at the London event, Kar’i singled out the newspaper’s coverage of the war in his statement on Sunday.

“The decision came in the wake of many articles that damaged the legitimacy of the State of Israel in the world and its right to self-defense,” he said.

Haaretz slammed the move in a statement on Sunday, calling it “another step in Netanyahu’s journey to dismantle Israeli democracy.”

“Like his friends Putin, Erdoğan, and Orbán, Netanyahu is trying to silence a critical, independent newspaper,” the statement said. “Haaretz will not balk and will not morph into a government pamphlet that publishes messages approved by the government and its leader.”

The move comes two months after the military raided and shut down Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah and six months after the government shut down the broadcaster’s operations inside Israel in May, prompting condemnation from the United Nations and rights groups.

On Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said preliminary investigations showed at least 137 journalists and media workers had been killed covering the war, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.

Dominique Pelicot, the man who organized for more than 50 men to rape his unconscious wife, is “fully responsible” for his actions, a French public prosecutor told court after requesting the maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

Public prosecutor Laure Chabaud told the packed courthouse in Avignon, southern France, on Monday that the sentence would be “long” but “not enough considering the serious nature of these acts.”

“There are many examples in history of criminals capable of presenting themselves in a charming light and who at the same time are capable of the worst atrocities. Dominique Pelicot fits this bill. He was an attentive husband, father and grandfather,” Chabaud said.

“He suffers from no mental illness, so he is fully responsible for the acts he committed. We must ask ourselves about the future, which appears relatively bleak. His is considered incredibly dangerous,” she added.

A huge crowd of journalists and supporters gathered in the courtroom inside Avignon’s Tribunal de Grande Instance on Monday morning for the final day of oral arguments in a case that has made headlines at home in France and around the world.

Pelicot has been accused of organizing for more than 50 men to visit his house in the southern French village of Mazan and rape his wife, Gisele Pelicot. Over a period spanning nearly 10 years, Dominique Pelicot used an online website and messaging platforms to seek out men from a radius spanning roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers). Pelicot has admitted to habitually drugging his wife with a strong sedative before allowing strangers to sexually abuse her.

Dominique Pelicot kept his eyes closed and looked down at the ground during the hearing.

Beatrice Zavarro, the lawyer for Dominique Pelicot, told journalists outside court after Monday morning’s hearing that the request wasn’t a “surprise for us” and had been entirely “predictable.”

Despite this, she said it was still “difficult” to tell a 72-year-old man such as Pelicot that he may have to spend the next 20 years in prison.

Saskya Vandoorne reported in Avignon, Niamh Kennedy wrote in London.

A British man has been taken prisoner while fighting for Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region, Russian state media has reported.

Russian state media outlet TASS said the man was 22-year-old James Scott Rhys Andersen, a former British soldier, citing a military source.

The British Foreign Office confirmed it was “supporting the family of a British man following reports of his detention.”

In a video circulating on Russian media, a man identifies himself as James Scott Rhys Anderson and said had previously fought in the British Army before flying to Poland and taking a bus to the Ukrainian border. It is not clear whether he was speaking under duress.

The man says he was born in May 2002. He sits in front of a dark background and appears to respond to questions about his background and why he chose to fight for Ukraine. The video is heavily edited, with sharp cuts in various places.

People of various nationalities, often former soldiers, have fought against Russian forces in Ukraine’s International Legion, bolstering Kyiv’s armed forces in the conflict.

Kyiv launched an incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August, taking Moscow and even its own allies by surprise. It said at the time that the operation was necessary because Russia had been planning to launch a new attack on Ukraine from the region. It said it was aiming to create a “buffer zone” to prevent future cross-border attacks.

The Kursk offensive was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.

Romania’s political landscape is reeling after a little-known, far-right populist secured the first round in the presidential election, electoral data showed Monday, going from an obscure candidate to beating the incumbent prime minister.

Calin Georgescu, who ran independently, will face off against reformist Elena Lasconi in a runoff in two weeks.

Georgescu, 62, was ahead after nearly all ballots were counted with around 22.95% of the vote. Lasconi of the progressive Save Romania Union party, or USR, followed with 19.17%. She beat by a slim margin incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the Social Democratic Party, or PSD, who stood at 19.15%. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, or AUR, took 13.87%.

It is the first time in Romania’s 35-year post-communist history for the PSD not to have a candidate in the second round of a presidential race, serving a huge blow to the country’s most powerful party and underscoring voters’ anti-establishment sentiment.

After polls closed on Sunday, 9.4 million people – about 52.5% of eligible voters – had cast ballots, according to the Central Election Bureau. The second round of the vote will be held on Dec. 8. Georgescu, 62, won 43.3% of the vote in Romania’s large diaspora, compared to Lasconi who got 26.8%.

Most local surveys predicted he would win less than 10% of the vote.

The president serves a five-year term in the European Union and NATO member country and has significant decision-making powers in areas such as national security, foreign policy and judicial appointments.

After casting his ballot on Sunday, Georgescu said in a post on Facebook that he voted “For the unjust, for the humiliated, for those who feel they do not matter and actually matter the most … the vote is a prayer for the nation.”

According to his website, Georgescu holds a doctorate in pedology, a branch of soil science, and held different positions in Romania’s environment ministry in the 1990s. Between 1999 and 2012, he was a representative for Romania on the national committee of the United Nations Environment Program.

Despite not having a clear political agenda, his videos on TikTok are popular, amassing 1.7 million likes.

But his rising popularity will be tested when he faces Lasconi.

Lasconi, a former journalist and the leader of the USR, has been running on an anti-corruption reformist agenda. She told The Associated Press ahead of the vote, that she saw corruption as one of the biggest problems Romania faces and expressed support toward increased defense spending and continued aid to Ukraine. If she wins the final vote, she will be the first female president in Romania’s history.

Romania will also hold parliamentary elections on Dec. 1 that will determine the country’s next government and prime minister.