presidential elections in romania look separate runoff between a pro—russian candidate in the country's pro—european prime minister. and in the uk, storm bert brings heavy snowfall, rain and strong winds, causing widespread disruption. iam i am helena iam helena humphrey. good to have you with us. the united arab emirates says it arrested three suspects on sunday in the killing of an israeli—moldovan rabbi. it comes hours after israel's government reported that the missing rabbi was found dead. the government added that zvi kogan was last seen on thursday and described his death as an act of anti—semitic terrorism. rabbi kogan represented the ultra—orthodoxjewish group chabad in the uae. the us condemned the murder,

calling it a horrific crime, and said is working closely with the israeli and uae authorities. mr kogan managed a kosher grocery store in dubai — a popular destination for israelis since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 abraham accords. an israeli foreign ministry official says the body could be repatriated to israel on monday. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said he was "deeply shocked" by rabbi kogan�*s disappearance and death. he also vowed to hunt down the suspected killers. translation: the state of israel will act by all i means and bring justice to the murderers and their senders. none of them will be clean. i greatly appreciate the cooperation with the united arab emirates in the investigation of the murder. we will strengthen the ties between us precisely in the face of the attempts of the axis of evil to harm the peaceful relations between us. we will strengthen them and we will also work to expand

stability in the region. our security correspondent frank gardner is injerusalem and sent this report. the murder of rabbi zvi cogan has been taken very seriously in israel. there's some incredibly strong statements coming out of the prime minister's office. mossad, the external spy agency for israel, are investigating this along with the emirati authorities in the uae, where his body was found. the statements are saying things like, "no—one will be spared. "they will track down this alleged murderer and those who dispatched them to do this." it's been treated as an anti—semitic act because he was a rabbi, part of an organisation called chabad, which is essentially... it's worldwide, not all of its members are israeli, but they promote jewish interests, jewish way of life — he was managing a kosher supermarket in the emirates. and it does appear that on thursday, he was either abducted or lured away in some way and his car was found about an hour—and—a—half drive's away from where he was.

so, this is quite a shocking incident for israelis who are in the gulf — because remember, since 2020, there's been full diplomatic relations established under the abraham accords, between israel and the uae and bahrain, and there's been a huge tourist industry — somewhat dampened down, in fact, considerably dampened down by the war in gaza, which has put off a lot of israelis from visiting there. but still, there are full relations, and so there is a joint investigation taking place. the unconfirmed reports appearing in israeli media say that the perpetrators of this murder are three uzbek nationals who were possibly being directed by iran and have since fled to turkey. there is a track record here of israel tracking down it considers to have killed israeli citizens abroad, so i think that is probably a threat to be taken

seriously when they say no one will be spared who has been involved in this. meanwhile, explosions were heard and plumes of smoke were seen above beirut�*s skyline on sunday, as lebanese state media reported several israeli air strikes on the capital's southern suburbs. they came moments after the israeli military announced new evacuation orders for the area. officials say in—person classes are suspended until the end of december, citing safety concerns amid the bombardment. meanwhile, israel reported more than 300 missiles, rockets and drones were launched from lebanon since sunday morning. some of the rockets reached the tel aviv area, however, no deaths have been reported. earlier, the lebanese army reported that at least one soldier was killed and 18 others were injured after an israeli attack targeted an army centre in southern lebanon. israel has since apologised. the escalation comes after us envoy amos hochstein travelled to the region last week in pursuit of a deal. however, he returned to the us on friday without one.

the welsh first minister has described the flooding in the aftermath of storm bert as "absolutely devastating". the storm left one man dead in wales — police say the body was recovered sunday afternoon. two areas in south east wales are under severe flood warnings, meaning the conditions pose a "significant risk to life". our correspondent danjohnson is in southern wales, where a river burst its banks overwhelming homes and businesses. there are about 300 homes that have been flooded across south wales, in these valleys alongside the rivers that run down off the welsh mountains, and these in the main were people who had already been flooded four years ago during the storm dennis. and they were not expecting it to be as bad this time. they say the warnings they received were not as severe as the flooding turned out to be, that it was not forecast and predicted accurately.

floodprediction, a very inaccurate science, difficult thing to get right, but people who live here now have water in their homes, upset about how the warnings were issued, over the last two days, and about the level of preparation that was put into place to try to stop their homes flooding. there are flood defences here. it is somewhere that has flooded many times in the past. they were told the flood defences had been upgraded after what happened four years ago, so people living next to the river here woke up this morning to water through their homes, and they are only now really starting to clear up and counting the cost. we've got people turfing out their furniture, people pulling up carpets, ripping out all that sort of stuff, that miserable experience that anybody who has seen or been through flooding will recognise how devastating that is to see your home wiped out in that way. the river level here is now beginning to subside and it has finally stopped raining after more than two days of solid rain. just to pinch a bit of a picture of the geography, we are in a narrow valley here that comes

down off the welsh hills, where there was always lot of rain, and there is still an enormous amount of rainfall to come down these rivers, so although the worst of it does seem to be over, the authorities are saying they cannot breathe a complete sigh of relief yet. there is concern about coal tips potentially being unstable because of the amount of water that has gone through them, and we have seen landslides in different parts of wales that have affected roads and some properties too, so all sorts of difficult conditions for people to manage. they are gutted by what they have witnessed and they are disappointed with the lack of forecasting, warnings and preparation action from the authorities who they rely on, who told them this flood would not be as bad as what happened four years ago. perhaps not as many homes have been devastated this time around, but for those who have been flooded, it is just as devastating — in fact, even more so — to experience it once again. danjohnson there in wales. the worst of the rain is now moving toward england. there are over 100 flood warnings across the uk, winds have reached 75 miles per hour in coastal regions and 65 miles per hour inland. extreme flooding has already caused road closures, disrupted transport and even collapsed a wall in tenbury wells just south of birmingham. a man was also rescued from

his car in the west midlands as officials warned people not to drive through flood water. everyone, get back! get back! it was like a muddy—brown tsunami. a torrent of water pouring into the centre of tenbury wells. move back, move back! everybody, move back! move, move, move! the town sits on the river teme, but this didn't come from the river. instead, it poured in from the brook which runs alongside the main shopping streets. this timelapse shows how the wall holding it back couldn't cope, after 2a hours of nearly relentless rain. this is where the wall was. where the water came through. it was sort postal, literally shattered it. there are bricks strewn everywhere, and it sent a wave along this street and down

into the centre of tenbury and inside many of these businesses, there are people now trying to clean up. the british foreign office is investigating reports that a former british soldier fighting for ukraine has been captured by russian forces in the kursk region. this is a still from a video circulating online, where the man claims he served four years in the british army but was fired and joined the international legion — a military unit of the ukrainian army made up of foreign volunteers. the russian news agency tass is reporting that what it calls a mercenary from britain has been taken prisoner in southern russia. separately, the kremlin is blaming western countries for what it called an "unprecedented escalation" in the ukraine war. calling the green light for us and uk missiles to strike inside russia a "reckless confrontation", kremlin spokesman dmitry peskov said russia updated its nuclear posture as a direct response. meanwhile, the former german chancellor angela merkel says that she does not regret

blocking ukraine's data mentorship bid in 2008, as she believes it would have triggered an earlier conflict with russia. mrs merkel has been speaking to the bbc ahead of the publication of her book chronicling her 16 years in power. a senior uk minister is set to warn that russia is prepared to carry out cyber attacks on the uk and other allies in hopes of weakening support for ukraine. the chancellor of the duchy of lancaster pat mcfadden, whose role includes her spots ability for national security is due to tell members at a nato meeting on monday that the kremlin could be targeting reddish as mrs and leave millions without power. mr mcfadden will focus on the threat of russia's capacity to shut down entire power grids and warned that russia's cyber threats should not be underestimated. we will live to suzanne spaulding. she let these cybersecurity and for

structure security agency. welcome to you. very good to have you with us. we were just discussing and talking about that warning from a uk minister, saying that russia could be preparing and ready to carry out cyber attacks on western allies. what do you make of that? it western allies. what do you make of that?— western allies. what do you make of that? it is completely consistent _ make of that? it is completely consistent with _ make of that? it is completely consistent with both _ make of that? it is completely consistent with both activity i consistent with both activity that we have seen from russia and a warning that was given in september by the uk intelligence agencies and national cybersecurity centre, the us intelligence agencies and a number of other allies, a joint advisory warning about a stepped up cyber activity from russia. and it is a threat to be taken seriously, it is important to understand what russia's objectives are with this and do what we can to prevent poutine achieving the objectives that he hopes to achieve from the cyber activity. achieve from the cyber activity-— achieve from the cyber activi . , , , ., activity. help us understand more how —

activity. help us understand more how destructive - activity. help us understand more how destructive these j activity. help us understand - more how destructive these kind of attacks could be, what kind of attacks could be, what kind of form they could take. again, i think the _ of form they could take. again, i think the objective _ of form they could take. again, i think the objective that - i think the objective that putin hopes to achieve is to putin hopes to achieve is to sap both political societal sap both political societal telnet and telnet and to continued support for to continued support for ukraine. this is a crucial ukraine. this is a crucial time, he believes, to gain time, he believes, to gain maximum advantage and weaken as and weaken as maximum advantage and weaken as much as possible ukraine's much as possible efforts, and that means efforts, and that means weakening support for ukraine weakening support for ukraine from the allies, so that is from the that is presumably the reason that they from the allies, so that is presumably the reason that they are concerned about attacks on are concerned about attacks on critical infrastructure that civilians depend upon, and critical infrastructure that civilians depend upon, and cited specifically is attacks cited specifically is attacks on the electric it. it is a on the electric it. it is a reminder to make sure our reminder to make sure our critical info structure is critical info structure is resilient, that there are plans resilient, that there are plans in place to be able to operate, in place to be able to operate, evenif in place to be able to operate, evenif in place to be able to operate, even if a cyber attack is even if a cyber attack is successful, to respond successful, to respond effectively to is to effectively to recover

effectively to recover effectively for the national grid has a reputation or having a bridge of resilience, that does not mean our bunko out, but we have seen even in ukraine, russia has a hard time causing a sustained power outage through cyber means only —— that does not mean power will not go out. that is resilience in ukraine. resilience is the emphasis here for all operators and owners and for individuals to be prepared for example electrical outage for some period of time. and talking about that preparedness, to what extent has nato been investing in this, because we think of it and it is a defence alliance, but to what extent is it also a cyber defence alliance?- cyber defence alliance? nato has been _ cyber defence alliance? nato has been focused _ cyber defence alliance? nato has been focused on - cyber defence alliance? nato has been focused on the - cyber defence alliance? matt? has been focused on the cyber threat for quite some time now, and working with critical infrastructure, so this is not a new issue for them, but i

think what we're hearing in these warnings, both in september and the speech tomorrow, is that we need to be prepared for stepped—up activity from russia and

by non—state actors, by organised crime, by so—called activists, by those who are not part of the government but are acting at the behest of an on behalf of the government. —— hackivists. so it is a mix. suzanne spaulding, thank you for sharing your expertise with us. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's take a look at some other stories making news now. and it seniorfaith stories making news now. and it senior faith leaders seniorfaith leaders representing senior faith leaders representing christians, muslims, jews, hindus and sikhs have ordered vulnerable people could be left feeling they have a duty to die if this week's vote on allowing assisted dying in england and wales is passed. 29 religious leaders signed the letter published in a cited newspaper. parliament will debate on friday with mps given a free vote. the work and pensions secretary said young people who refused to work will face having their benefits cut. liz kendall says the government

will offer the opportunity to earn or learn, under new proposals to be unveiled on tuesday. 0fficialfigures published earlier this week show that nearly a million young people were out of education, implement or trading betweenjuly and september. between july and september. presenter and broadcaster lauren lavergne says she has been given the all clear after treatment for cancer. she will be back to work on the one show on tuesday. the presenter who also works in radio revealed her diagnosis in august, saying at the time that her cancer had been caught early. you are live with bbc news. a new political coalition is expected in uruguay. uruguay state media is protecting the left—wing candidate has won the election after a tight race

with the incumbent party candidate. the coalition has governed for 15 years until the victory of the current president in 2019. mr 0rsi is a former history teacher and two—time mayor of the capital montevideo. he campaigned on increasing taxes and ups to learn investment and on social security reforms that would lower the country's retirement age. polls are closed in the romanian presidential election, with exit polls suggesting a run—off will be needed in two weeks' time. in the hotly—contested race, far—right nationalist calin georgescu currently holds a narrow lead over the country's current prime minister marcel ciolacu. mr georgescu — who campaigned heavily on tiktok — ran on reducing romania's reliance on imports, supporting farmers and increasing domestic production of food and energy. meanwhile, mr ciolacu — the leader of the center—left social democratic party — campaigned on promising economic stability and a decent standard of living. as neither candidate appears to have secured 50% of the vote, a second run—off is expected to take place on december 8. it comes during a tumultuous time amid rising inflation and the ongoing war

in neighbouring ukraine. for more on the results, i spoke to nick thorpe, our east and central europe correspondent. nick, what's the latest you can tell us? yes, as you say, something over 80% of the votes counted now, and the surprise of the night, isuppose, is mr georgescu's remarkable result, although it is not quite a result yet. we still have the votes from the city of bucharest, the capital of romania, to be counted, and most of the votes of the diaspora, so there could be some changes in store. we will only know later in the morning on monday the final result here, but certainly for now it does look like mr ciolacu and mr georgescu will go to the second round runoff. basically, pitting a social democrat, albeit with some

national and populist credentials of his own, against a pretty hard line nationalist. mr georgescu, calin georgescu, who has come from nowhere to overtake all the other rivals. there were actually 13 candidates standing in this election and mr georgescu is certainly the surprise of the night. and do we know how he achieved that? because in the run—up to all of this, everyone was talking about romania bucking a global trend, pivoting to the far right, and this is something of a surprise now, as you say. it is a surprise. mr georgescu, he is 62 years old. he does have a certain amount of experience in the united nations, for example, he is an expert on sustainable development. his radicalism has come from, and his standing up for romanian patriotism, this has come in a series of interviews in the past weeks and months, but really the key to his success has been his very adept, aggressive,

some people would say, use of tiktok. this was basically flooded with his name, even the campaign rallies, the campaign messages of all his rivals were flooded on tiktok by his own messages. he's called the tiktok champion, really, in romania, because he has managed to crack the algorithm in a way to make himself very popular, not only in romania but also within the diaspora. so, a very modern figure, albeit with some messages from the far right. perhaps his most controversial statements have been to call heroes of the romanian iron guard — this was the neo—nazi party which ran romania during the second world war, for most of the second world war, to call them heroes.

he is under criminal prosecution for those remarks. i should add, though, i think another factor in his success, doing so well in this election has been, i suppose, the effect of donald trump's victory, another antiestablishment figure, ithink, giving strength to a figure in this case, mr georgescu, really making him more electable than he would have been had donald trump not won in the united states. authorities in laos have released the names of three more touristy died of suspected methanol poisoning. the government _ methanol poisoning. the government confirmed an american victim, a 57—year—old, was found dead in his hotel room on the morning of the 13th of november. 0thers room on the morning of the 13th of november. others were found unconscious at the same hotel in the riverside town of vang vieng. in total, three tourists

have died. 0ur asia correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes has been to vang vieng to meet tourists, from where he sent this report. it's late afternoon in vang vieng, and the nam song river is bustling with tourists and watercraft of every description. for many young backpackers, the preferred form of transport is innertubes. 0ut here, you can get a real sense of why so many young travellers are drawn to vang vieng. it's got this beautiful river. it's surrounded by stunning limestone mountains. you can go kayaking, you can go hot—air ballooning, paragliding. it's an incredibly relaxed place, with very few rules. each year, hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists come to enjoy this place, including briton simone white and australians holly bowles and bianca jones. their deaths — along with three others — from methanol poisoning, have sent a shockwave through the backpacking scene here.

young women, in particular, like these from hertfordshire who've just arrived from neighbouring vietnam. in vietnam, you know, you get free drinks, particularly if you're playing games in the evening, and we've just never thought about it. you just presume that what they're giving you is safe. so, like, we've had free shots. we've had buckets before. but moving on, i think we're just not going 1554 00:23:19,696 -