At least eight people were missing in France after a storm passed through the southeastern part of the country, causing strong floods around the city of Nice.
Meteo France said that 17.7 inches of rain was recorded over 24 hours in some areas, which is the equivalent of close to four months of rain at this time of the year.
There was more rainfall than on October 3, 2015, when floods caused the death of 20 people in and around the city of Cannes on the French Riviera, Jérémy Crunchant, the director of civil protection, told France Info.
The department of Alpes-Maritimes, on the border with Italy, was on red alert on Friday as the storm was approaching. The storm, dubbed Alex, had already caused heavy winds of more than 180 km per hour in Brittany between Thursday and Friday.
Authorities downgraded the alert to the orange level on Saturday, the rains having moved towards Italy.
Israel's military is poised to evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah and assault Hamas hold-outs in the southern Gaza Strip city, a senior Israeli defence official said, despite international warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Marine wildlife experts were frantically trying to rescue some 140 pilot whales stranded on Thursday in the shallow waters of an estuary in the southwest of the state of Western Australia.
A grand jury has charged 18 people with allegedly participating in an Arizona fake elector scheme to re-elect then-US President Donald Trump in 2020, the state's attorney general said on Wednesday.
India is inspecting facilities of spice makers MDH and Everest for compliance with quality standards after sales of some of their products were halted in Hong Kong and Singapore for allegedly containing high levels of a cancer-causing pesticide.
Israel is poised to send troops into Rafah, the Gazan city it sees as the last bastion of Hamas, Israeli media reported on Wednesday, saying preparations were under way to evacuate war-displaced Palestinian civilians who have been sheltering there.