good morning and welcome to breakfast our headlines today: hundreds of people have been killed and thousands left without power as tropical storm florence continues to battle america's east coast. a mother and baby are among five people killed and forecasters are warning of frightening storm surges. on the other side of the world, a super typhoon is hitting the philippines. in other news, changes to the divorce laws in england and wales. the government comes up with proposals which could end the blame game. britain has a new world triathlon champion. vicky holland has just won the world title,

after finishing second in the final race, on australia's gold coast. that is simon yates but the big news breaking through is that vicky hollins is world champion, simon yates was hoping to win the vuelta a espana. mostly dry this weekend with sunny spells but there is some cloud and patchy rain further north and west. more details in half an hour. good morning, it's saturday the 15th of september. our top story: five people have been killed and hundreds of thousands left without power as tropical storm florence continues to batter america's east coast. a mother and her baby are among the victims. despite being downgraded from a hurricane, florence is still posing a danger to millions of people on its path, with forecasters warning of life—threatening storm surges. evacuation warnings are in place for 1.7 million people across south carolina,

north carolina and virginia. our correspondent chris buckler has this report. the carolinas knew what was coming, but they could never fully prepare for the force of florence. along this coastline, houses found themselves on the front line for a fierce incoming storm, and a surge of water that flooded streets and homes. despite the many days of warnings, there were people caught out, and families who needed to be rescued from their homes. cool water. there you go. in new bern, in north carolina, the emergency services had to move in as people became cut off. i've never been so terrified in my entire life. it was horrifying. just wondering what was going on and where the water

is going to go, how high it's going to go and how we are going to get out. in the town of wilmington, street after street was littered with the debris of the storm. huge trees, no match for the power of the winds, even though this hurricane had weakened before it reached land. this morning, people gathered to see what was left of their neighbourhood. they kept telling us how bad it would be, and we thought we were prepared. but you just can't be prepared for that. there's nothing to do when a tree falls, you know? and this storm has already proved to be deadly. a fallen tree near here was responsible for killing a mother and her child. hurricane florence is powerful, slow and relentless. it's an uninvited brute who doesn't want to leave. while florence is here, some families have headed to emergency shelters. places where they know

they will be safe. what are you worried about? not having a place to go home to or a job. all those practical concerns are shared as florence continues to hover over the carolinas. she's wheelchair— bound, and it's been really rough. i said, "god, throuthesus christ, our lord, please, please, protect our home and everyone else in wilmington." evacuation warnings remain in place, as families steel themselves for another night of wind, rain and damage here on cape fear. chris buckler with the situation in the united states. the world's strongest storm this year, super typhoon mangkhut, is blasting the northern coast of the philippines with strong winds and heavy rain. more than four million people are directly in the path of the storm. our correspondent howard johnson has been travelling through the provinces of cagayan and northern isabela,

two of the areas which are expected to be hardest hit. earlier he sent us this report. typhoon mankhut has made landfall on the northern tip of the main island of luzon. five million people are thought to be in the path of this potentially deadly storm. authorities had already urged thousands of people to move inland from vulnerable coastal areas. in nearby santa ana, local officials aren't taking any chances. this village school has been turned into an emergency shelter. translation: there is a tendency for landslides in this area in the past, so a village council has advised them to get out early. the philippines endures about 20 typhoons and storms each year, mangkhut is the strongest storm of 2018 so far. it's more than 500 miles in diameter, with sustained winds of over 160 miles an hour. we're around 100 miles away

from where this storm is about to hit hardest. already, the winds are up and it's been raining heavily. as you can see, most people have heeded the warnings to stay inside and wait for this potentially devastating typhoon to pass. we will talk to louise lear in a minute about how those two weather effects are moving and we will have all the weather in the uk as well. couples wishing to divorce could soon benefit from a less confrontational process, under proposals confirmed by thejustice secretary david gauke. in a consultation the government is proposing removing fault, and the ability of spouses to contest the divorce. the government has launched a consultation proposing removing all these issues.

the changes would apply to heterosexual and gay marriages, and civil partnerships. ministers are to announce a review of the rail industry next week, following extended periods of disruption up and down the country. details are yet to be confirmed, but the department for transport said it was committed to improving journeys for passengers. labour said it would re—nationalise the railways. the liberal democrats are set to discuss wide—ranging proposals on the future shape of the party when their annual conference gets under way in brighton this morning. the changes, set out by the leader sir vince cable earlier this month, include allowing supporters — as well as fullyjoined—up members — to have a say in choosing who leads the party. let's get more on this from our political correspondentjessica parker. this is our bid by the lib dems to stay relevant, isn't it? yes, because the party has been struggling to be heard recently and

conference season struggling to be heard recently and conference season is a chance for parties to sell themselves to voters and the liberal democrats will try to press home a couple of messages, reminding voters they are offering an exit from brexit and also the leader is trying to create what he calls out movement of moderates, he thinks people out there feel politically homeless so is trying to make party membership more flexible and talking about the leader in the future not even being an mp, of course the lib dems only have 12 mps at the moment, so the party will be testing these ideas and it will be interesting to see how sir vince cable's ideas go down with the public and with his own activists. ariana grande has given an emotional tribute to her former partner mac miller, who she called her "dearest friend" and the "kindest, sweetest soul". the us rapper, aged 26, was found dead at his home in los angeles following a reported overdose.

the pair performed together at a memorial concert following the 2017 manchester arena bombing. the american space agency, nasa, is about to put a laser in orbit to measure the condition of earth's ice cover. the satellite mission, called icesat—2, should provide more precise information on the effects of climate change. antarctica, greenland and the ice floating on the arctic ocean have all lost volume in recent decades. back to our top story now — and that tropical storm florence, which is battering america's east coast, has already claimed five lives — including a mother and her baby. we'll cross live to north carolina

in just a minute, but first let's have a look at how our colleagues at the american network cbs are reporting the impending threat of a storm surge. it apparently happens that the storm, it looks like it's heading just north of the beach, the high tide happened at midnight, there is 18 inches of rain which could lead to devastating flooding to this tourist mecca. now the focus is more on inland flooding west of here, most of north carolina's rivers flowed down into south carolina and there is worry that those flood swollen rivers could lead to devastation of the infrastructure, businesses and farms, it could cost

south carolina billions of dollars of damage. extreme indeed. let's speak now to martyn gay, who's from the uk but who moved to wilmington in north carolina in 2015. that's the town whera a mother and her baby died when a tree fell on their home on friday. i know it's the middle of the night but it must be hard to sleep right 110w. but it must be hard to sleep right now. the power went out 24 hours ago so we now. the power went out 24 hours ago so we have no air conditioning and it's difficult to sleep. how are things looking in your community? the pictures we are seeing look horrendous. we are on high ground so the flooding isn't an issue, we have had rainfall but no chance of flooding, so in this area there are a lot of trees down and we are cut

off at the moment. we will not be going anywhere for a couple of days at least. the headlines are quite misleading because we have been talking about the wins and a hurricane but it looks like it's the rainfall and the fact it isn't moving quickly that is potentially more damaging. i think it is, for us the flooding wasn't an issue but elsewhere in town that was the real danger and quite low lying areas we re danger and quite low lying areas were told to evacuate but the sustained amount of time has been an issue, we had the category one hurricane a few years ago and that was my first hurricane here and it wasn't as bad as i thought, and win when we heard this one was a category one i thought it would be more of the same but this was different, whereas before we had

about an hour of intense winds, this one has been going on for eight or nine hours, strong pummelling wins and that was the difference, it has caused more structural difference although flooding will be the big issue. we're seeing pictures of lower lying parts of your community, boats pushed into streets and that storm surge with the water flooding in from the sea. it will take a long time to recover from this.|j in from the sea. it will take a long time to recover from this. i think it is, that's something that we do not know what that timeframe is, it could be up to ten days for the power, we hope because we are close to the hospital and downtown area we might bea to the hospital and downtown area we might be a little sooner but i think the one thing we have no idea of is how long it will take to get back to what we consider normal. how much

fear is there when this kind of thing was known to be coming?|j think people here, they know a lot about hurricanes, they understand the different categories so initially we thought it would hit as a category three or four and people we re a category three or four and people were saying that would be catastrophic, they work our work of the flooding so a lot of people close to the beach were scared and evacuated, we decided to stay put and most of our neighbours did so i wouldn't say there was fear, there was no point where i felt my safety was no point where i felt my safety was at risk, it was more about what would happen to our house and if you have a tree down on the roof, that is potentially dangerous, the house is potentially dangerous, the house is two story and brick so that gave us more is two story and brick so that gave us more protection but we were more

worried about what it would do to the house, damage could take a long time to put right because there would be builders here with spare capacity to help you out. martin, thank you forjoining us, we wish you well and we hope you and your family stay close and this hurricane moves through as quickly as it can. if you were wondering why we are not seeing more pictures from the philippines, the communication structure isn't as well established so we don't yet have pictures from there and we are keeping in touch with our correspondence there. and it's easier to get the facts about of the united states than it is from the philippines. meteorologists are keeping track of this and you can see the huge size

of tropical storm florence. two storms into oceans but still causing devastation. florence was category one when it made landfall but it's the storm's longevity that will be the issue. i reckon it will bea will be the issue. i reckon it will be a record breaking amount of rainfall as it will hang around for a couple more days. saturday, still the vibrant colours on sunday, then by the end of the weekend it potentially moves its north up through virgin earand potentially moves its north up through virgin ear and pennsylvania but it will bring catastrophic flooding. mangkhut across the philippines, this was a more powerful storm, a category four hurricane, it pushed across the philippines at quite a pace but it

brought damaging gusts of wind ‘s, weakening a little in the south china sea and the expected to make la ndfall across china sea and the expected to make landfall across the far south of china and we will keep updated about that when information starts coming in. closer to home, there will be some rain mostly through the night tonight but also dry weather further south and east. starting today dry with sunshine for many, a little showery rain into the north of england and northern ireland as we speak, some sunshine into eastern scotla nd speak, some sunshine into eastern scotland but cloud will gather here and winds will strengthen, here a little cooler, 20 in the far south—east, the rain arrives across northern ireland, into western scotla nd

northern ireland, into western scotland from heavy rain through the night into scotland and northern ireland, then it grinds to a halt across england and wales first thing tomorrow, so a real north—south divide to start sunday, those weather fronts pushed south and east but we see more of us south—westerly flow driving in milder air and with drier weather into central and southern areas drier weather into central and southern areas can drier weather into central and southern areas can hear things stay warmer. some of the rain still quite heavy as it moves across the midlands and behind that it is a breezy, showery story. highest values of 23 degrees in the south—east corner. this weekend in the early half of next week it stays interesting, all tied into what's happening in the atlantic. this is the remnants of axe hurricane helene. it will bring some wet and

windy weather across the far west of the uk, it looks likely to bring some severe gales for a type and heavy rain but they south—westerly flow and there is still a lot of tropical air so it will feel quite humid, so the south—east could see 25 degrees on tuesday. louise, thank you. the occupation of the channel islands during world war two is generally regarded as a dark chapter in their history. but every so often a story emerges which demonstrates the humanity shown by some members of the german forces. that 5 what happened when workmen found a box of personal possessions during a house clearance in guernsey. from the channel islands, robert hall reports. a dusty box, from a dusty cupboard, but its contents could transport one

guernsey visitor back through the decades to a family story she never knew. a story which unfolded when she was a child. and herfather, dr albert kowald, was among german forces occupying these islands. tremendous character. he came here injanuary1943, he was posted as an air force doctor, and he was posted to look after the luftwaffe troops on the islands. and here, carefully packed away, albert kowald's medical books, his pistol, his cameras, letters from home and photos of his family. he told us about guernsey, he was very fond of guernsey, but he was very lonely and he was homesick. these are some medical magazines.

but albert didn't tell his family everything. since the find, investigations have revealed he risked his own life to help islanders. among those on his trail, a tv sleuth turned occupation historian. the islanders were starving and they were dying and suffering from all kinds of diseases, typhus and so on, for which they had no medication. and albert kowald, against the military law, provided the civilians a great deal of help. the entrance would have been just here. albert secretly treated his islander patients at the military hospital where he worked. he even helped them keep in touch with the bbc. he told them that there is a speech from churchill and he invited them to hear the speeches, and it was forbidden. they could have shot him.

when albert was betrayed and imprisoned by his superiors, islanders wrote letters in his support. and he had left one last surprise for his daughter. it's very special. and it is your father's medals. those are his medals. and they were left here. i give my thanks to him for his life, because it was, for him, it was a bad life outside, but a good life inside. i am proud of what he did. robert hall, bbc news, guernsey. a wonderful story and it reminds you

of history and all those personal relationships. you're watching breakfast from bbc news, it's time now for a look at the newspapers. janice long is here to tell us what's caught her eye. let's take a look at some of the front pages today. the times reports that british intelligence services believed former labour leader michael foot had been a kgb informant at the height of the cold war. they suggest they have more evidence to back up that theory. the daily telegraph quotes a government advisor as saying parents must turn off their phones and other social media devices at night to set an example for their children. we will talk to janice about that in a minute. the guardian leads with singer lily allen saying she was sexually assaulted by a music executive as she slept. it had ongoing theme among women in

the entertainment history. and the ft weekend reports that one of the labour party's most senior politicians has said the opposition could vote against theresa may's brexit deal. whatever it is, they don't think she can come back with anything they will vote for. janice, mobile phones, it's no good as nagging our children, we have to practice what we preach. they are telling parents to turn their phone off at night. relationship and six education they say they are just realising the effects of social media and parents by example should not be at the dinner table checking messages or tweeting, and at night time leave the phone in the kitchen, turn it off and the kids will follow suit. kids are becoming isolated, social

skills are diminishing, they aren't meeting people were going out so pa rents meeting people were going out so parents have to lead by example. that is true, people tell us about social skills and isolation but in other areas of teenage difficulties, things like teen pregnancy, alcohol and drug use, that is decreasing and some people say that is the benefit of social media, you can entertain yourselves in your house. work kids are spending more time at home on their phones rather than going out. i noticed this picture of a little boy who had been involved in a protest about getting parents to get off their phones, he was so sick of his dad and mum being glued to their phones. people arejust his dad and mum being glued to their phones. people are just on screens all the time, nobody is chatting or

reading, it's all social media. you rarely see people walking down the street, we are all on our phones and i'm as guilty of that as anyone. train passengers will be interested by this one. if you have ever left your money on a train...|j by this one. if you have ever left your money on a train... i travel with a riva and should i leave my la ptop with a riva and should i leave my laptop on the train, i have to spend £25 to retrieve it, for a bicycle i think it's £3 but if you lose your purse or wallet, they'd take 10% of what is in there, so if you have £80 they will take £8 and then charge you £2 administration and they say, sorry, they need to fund the lost property office and there is such an uproar that they will not do it

anymore. they say our customers' feedback is important and they will be changing the policy, and they will be giving people it back by the sounds of it. they will struggle to get 10% out of my purse because increasingly i only have a few quid in there, cashless society. a throwaway comment many years ago that it has stayed with kate moss and she'd got a lot of stick for it at the time and now she's talked about how she regret saying it. nothing tastes as good as skinny feels and she was accused of encouraging people to become anorexic, this was in 1995 and stuck with her forever and now

anorexic, this was in 1995 and stuck with herforever and now she realised it was completely wrong. she said it was banter. it was like ajingle, and it stuck she said it was banter. it was like a jingle, and it stuck with and now she has a modelling agency and she says one size does not fit all, they need different shapes and sizes and diversity. and clearly peanut butter on toast does taste much better than skinny feels. and jam has to be on toast for me. jam on cold toast, peanut butter on a hot toast? that will set social media alike this morning. blimey. something is really important, we talk about christmas, how many days left? we shouldn't keep blaming father christmas for this. it's the big posh shop in

london's fault, harrods, i was exciting about seeing father christmas and in harrods you have to be really rich to give to the grotto, if you have spent, £15,000 isn't enough to be eligible. grotto, if you have spent, £15,000 isn't enough to be eligiblem grotto, if you have spent, £15,000 isn't enough to be eligible. it is invitation only. harrods say about this that the christmas grotto experience is available by invitation only. we care hugely about making it as magical as possible so tickets are very limited. we are over grand each year by req u ests limited. we are over grand each year by requests which we try to facilitate but we cannot meet the demand. i would like to know what santa thinks of that.

maybe they should have a arriva pulsate and charge whatever is in your wallet. have a mince pie, janice. it's nearly christmas. the headlines coming up. hello, this is breakfast withjon kay and rachel burden. coming up before 9am, louise will have the full weekend weather forecast for you. but first, a summary of this morning's main news. five people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been

left without power as tropical storm florence continues to batter america's east coast. a mother and her baby are among the victims. evacuation warnings are in place for 1.7 million people across south carolina, north carolina and virginia. despite being downgraded from a hurricane, florence is still posing a danger to millions of people on its path, with forecasters warning of catastrophic flooding and life—threatening storm surges. the strongest typhoon so far this year is battering the northern philippines. super typhoon mangkhut made landfall last night, with gusts of more than 150 miles per hour. more than four million people are directly in its path and thousands have been evacuated. it's difficult at the moment to get an assessment of exactly what has happened. mangkhut is expected to clear land by mid—morning. our correspondent howard johnson

is in one of the worst affected areas and sent us this report. we're on the road between isabela and cagayan province, two of the areas hardest hit by this storm. overnight we've seen this area battered by heavy winds and rains and on the way here we saw the posts felled, we saw trees ripped to shreds, and detritus all over the street. we've also heard reports that there have been bridges and roads closed by flooding and also by landslides. but what people are most concerned about are the coastal areas, these remote areas near the seaboard. what we've heard is that the storm passed directly overhead last night and the fear is that the devastation will be worse there. tory peer lord heseltine says borisjohnson will become the next leader of the conservatives, but warned the move is likely to divide the party. the former deputy prime minister, an outspoken critic of mrjohnson, told bbc radio 4's the week

in westminster that the recent slew of negative headlines had not done the former foreign secretary irreparable harm. has he done himself any irreparable harm? i don't think he has. what you have to say to yourself is, who is the tory membership of the house of commons going to choose to send to the activists of the conservative party in any leadership campaign? and while there is strong opposition to boris, i find it difficult to think of two names that they would send that don't include him. couples wishing to divorce in england and wales could soon benefit from a less confrontational process, under plans confirmed by thejustice secretary david gauke. pressure for reform intensified after tini owen's appeal for divorce was rejected by the supreme court injuly due to her husband's refusal to split. the government is proposing removing fault, and the ability of spouses to contest the divorce.

the liberal democrats are set to vote on a major shake—up of the party when their conference gets underway in brighton this morning. the changes, set out by the leader sir vince cable earlier this month, include allowing supporters — as well as fullyjoined—up members — to vote for a new leader. the lib dem's are also urging disillusioned labour and tory supporters to join them to help stop brexit. ministers are to announce a review of the rail industry next week, following extended periods of disruption up and down the country. details are yet to be confirmed, but the department for transport said it was committed to improving journeys for passengers. labour said it would re—nationalise the railways. ariana grande has given an emotional tribute to her former partner mac miller, who she called her dearest friend and the kindest, sweetest soul. the us rapper, aged 26, was found dead

at his home in los angeles following a reported overdose. the pair performed together at a memorial concert following the 2017 manchester arena bombing. the american space agency, nasa, is about to put a laser in orbit to measure the condition of earth's ice cover. the satellite mission, called icesat—2, should provide more precise information on the effects of climate change. antarctica, greenland and the ice floating on the arctic ocean have all lost volume in recent decades. this measure should tell us how much and what could happen next. what will have gamage happen next in spain? we have a new winner in the women's

race. vicky hall and survived the heat on the gold coast and took the overall title. at 32, that is getting on a bed for triathlon. she has been building up to this for yea rs. has been building up to this for years. good things come to those who wait. she got a bronze in 2014 at the rio de janeiro wait. she got a bronze in 2014 at the rio dejaneiro olympics. in the final race of the season, holland, had to beat her american rival, katie zafeerez, to become world champion for 2018 and it was holland who these days lives and trains in leeds who led out of the water. zafeerez fought back on the bike, but a brilliant final transition to the running shoes, gave holland the advantage, and although she finished second on the run, to australia's ashley gentle, the american was back in third, and holland could celebrate the world title with fellow brit, georgia taylor brown in third. i can't believe it. i thought at one

point it was done but i brought it back in. this whole season has been absolutely incredible and three wins, two microseconds and a world title is so much more than i thought i would get out of this year. and you can see full highlights of today's race from the gold coast on bbc one at 2:45 this afternoon and tomorrow we'll have coverage of the climax of the men's event — live on the red button from 5:50 am, with highlights starting at two o'clock over on bbc 2. if simon yates can stay out of trouble in the mountains of andorra, he will ride into history today, at the vuelta espana. yates increased his lead to beyond one and a half minutes, through the brutal final climb of friday into andorra, where he lives and trains, to finish second. the main thing is, his nearest rival in the overall race, alejandro valverde. . .struggled and finished 8th...he could become the third different briton to win

a grand tour this year — that's never happened in cycling before. it's back to club football after international action on players mightfind it international action on players might find it a challenge to him just. our main news today is lukaku talking about manchester united, not the best art of the season for them. they take on watford this weekend, who have been brilliant so far. 100% record in the premier league. he is talking about the manager, who has been under quite a bit of pressure earlier this season. that is what he said when asked about how the manager is betraying himself. —— portraying himself. the manager you've got, mr mourinho, what's he like? my relationship with him is cool. he makes me laugh, makes the players laugh, he's a real family guy. he fights for his

players, he's real. so what you see, what he's doing, it's because he's not happy. and when you're not happy, you don't need to fake your emotions. so people need to appreciate that at least there are people who are real in this world, like him. so what we're seeing at the moment is the man, isn't it? it's the man, it's the man. he's the man, and you should respect that. plenty more from lukaku. do you remember the pronunciation troubles in the past? we also have the player moving from liverpool to southampton. they take on brighton. some have spent millions over the summer some have spent millions over the summerandi some have spent millions over the summer and i have been to leeds. a big leeds fan from the office has been to see the way that things have been to see the way that things have been turned round at leeds. he is loving it at the minute and so are most of leeds fans. the beast has

played for all sorts of divisions in all sorts of teams. he has an unconventional footballer and that is what he has posted a training session. a sandwich, a steak bake, a bag of crisps, a pepperoni pizza to finish things off. in the age of counting calories and nutrition, he isa counting calories and nutrition, he is a rogue. and mark wahlberg. his nutrition regime is ridiculous. the thing about mark wahlberg is when people watch football focus they get hollywood stars on and people get annoyed. we have water fraud against manchester united, but it is mark wahlberg. having looked at his daily schedule, i'm surprised he had room for you.

we fitted in between half an hour of golf. david schwimmer said 46— note, these american type scorers. someone else thought manchester united would win by 86 points. as for leeds fans, it all gets wrong when they get to millwall. watford's secret is that the band baked beans. they are very strict. i love baked beans. a few issues, apparently, with big beans. celtic missed the chance to go level, with hearts at the top of the scottish premiership after drawing 0—0 with st mirren. the scottish champions had to play more than half the match with ten men, after olivier ntcham was sent off for a second booking. great britain are level at 1—1 going into the second day of their davis cup play—off

match against uzbekistan. great britain went one up thanks to dan evan's victory over dennis istomin. it's evans' first match back, in the competition since returning from a drugs ban. but cameron norrie's defeat in the second singles match means the tie is level, ahead of today's doubles. england's netball team have recorded their biggest ever win over new zealand in the quad series this morning. england ran out 52—39 winners, after running away with the match in the latter stages. england play australia and south africa over the next week. st helens have won super league's league leader's shield, after they beat hull fc 38—12. saints only needed a point to ensure they'd finish top of the league, but eased to victory, scoring six tries. it's the sixth time they've finished top in the super league era. there were also super 8 wins for wigan and wakefield. now, we are used to seeing canoes and kayaks racing through the white

water against the clock. but until now paddlers haven't battled down the course against each other. this sounds very dangerous. they are doing ski cross, boardercross, motocross, they are doing ski cross, boa rdercross, motocross, and they are doing ski cross, boardercross, motocross, and it had to happen sometime. that's changing thanks to the new discipline of extreme slalom, otherwise known as boater cross. it is featuring at the british open this weekend at the lee valley centre. i've been to take a look. britain's paddlers are entering uncharted waters. no longer are theyjust up against the clock but in the new discipline of boater x, it's a race to the finish against your rivals, who are trying to knock you off course. this has been inspired by the success of sports like motocross and the winter olympics ski cross, boardercross, because there you've got extreme in this case paddle—to—paddle racing.

look at them tussling for position before they try and get away. it has been such a success already it's now part of the world cup series as well. here at lee valley, where the london olympics was staged, boater x will feature at this weekend's british open and then again at next summer's world championships here. i think it's just the excitement for the spectators, to be honest with you. there's a lot more variables that get thrown in but really, you see that contact, you see everyone at the same time, so you don't have to watch a progression of times and things like that. we've all seen in formula 1, one person overtaking one person is exciting, but when they go three or four abreast, that's where the realfun is. there are also growing hopes that with france being a key player in the event, they will select it for its paris olympic debut in 2024. and just to add to the spectacle, each paddler must do an eskimo roll during the race or they will be disqualified. so, they've got to come through this gate, and as they come down from the end of this yellow buoy before that finish line, they will

have to navigate a full 360. so they've got to go upside down, get themselves back the right way up, as you can see there. they can choose the moment that they do it. to get a taste of the fast and furious contact racing, we are going to compete in the two—man kayak. front or back for me, do you reckon? you start at the front, you can be the powerhouse. you reckon? yes, of course. the only thing we can't do is an eskimo roll in this. not intentionally, anyway, we'll see how it works out. there's a huge sense of adrenaline rush at the start, a bit like before the grand national, trying to get there first, and you know that carnage is going to insure. so let's go. it is rather like being in a washing machine, and just when i thought we'd survived the rapids and had a clear route through the gate, we were rammed — although it wasn't us losing a man overboard — as chaos followed us all the way to the finishing line, leaving behind one of our cameras, which just goes to show how powerful the forces are when you're in at the deep end. we had to get the camera back but

somehow i didn't end up going in, which was a surprise. is it which was a surprise. isita which was a surprise. is it a real adrenaline rush? absolutely, and as we thought we we re absolutely, and as we thought we were going to win the race, we were shoved into the wall. it is action packed, voted to bolt action. collisions all over the place. so you can be quite aggressive? yeah. and you can book a session in one of those kayaks that are for two people and experience what it's like alongside other racers. and you have four competing at a time. i would love to do the drop off the start ramp, which they are doing this weekend. thank you very much indeed, it looks great fun. the headlines:

tropical storm florence continues its devastating path across the us east coast, knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of homes. five people are already known to have died. meanwhile, more than four million people are directly in the path of super typhoon mangkhut, a huge storm making it's way across the northern philippines with winds of up to 160 miles an hour. here's louise with a look at this morning's weather. just as i was wavering about putting the heating on, it is warming up a little bit. just take extra layers in the bag because it will be different with every day of the week. but we can't moan given what is happening with storms across the globe. this weekend is not looking bad. they will be some rain around but not for eve ryo ne will be some rain around but not for everyone and not for long. today is

certainly the better of the two days. we are starting with sunny spells around. the cloud will thicken across the day. it has been a beautiful start in central and southern england and showery rehman. sunny spells to end the day in eastern scotland but also ready plant gathers towards the north—west. that will bring heavier rain and strong gust of wind, 40 mil per hour gust of winds as administrative and dark matter up a real north— south divide on sunday morning. the best of the weather a lwa ys morning. the best of the weather always likely to be across central and southern areas. where a little bit more of a south—westerly flow it will start to feel warmer as well. further north and west that frontal system will push its way steadily south and east. it will move into the midlands, lincolnshire, north wales, down into south wales and south—west england by the afternoon.

behind at the winds will start to ease. they will be isolated showers into the north—west, a degree or so warmer here, but highs of 23 in the south—east corner. it does start to turn a little bit bonkers to get your head around the weather into the early half of next week because of this area of low pressure. this is the remnants of an ex—hurricane. this is what can happen at this time of year, they move across the atlantic. it could be a potentially significant storm as it moves towards the shores of the uk so we need to keep an eye on that. it will bring heavy rain, maybe it's a severe gales, but on top of that, it will bring some humid, tropical air. if it stays dry across much of eastern and south—eastern england, these temperatures will climb up. we could see highs of around the mid—20s. that's mid—705 fahrenheit. don't put your shorts are we just

quite yet. thousands of people — including some teachers and nurses — are facing huge tax demands going back ten years or more. they are being warned they face a bill next april for the whole amount if they do not contact hmrc by the end of the month to spread the payments out. paul lewis of radio 4's money box programme has been investigating this story and joins us now. what has happened? i spoke to one social worker who feared she might have to sell her house and car. she can't understand why this is happening to her. what these people did on the advice of either an accountant or the agency they work through, because these are agency workers, was take some or all of their pay as a loan which would not be repaid for a very long time. because it was a loan, the advice to

them was its not taxable. in that sense they avoided paying tax on some of the income they got from theirjob. that is the money that they each mrc is trying to recover in one go at april. that could go back 5—10 years in some cases. in one go at april. that could go back 5-10 years in some cases. these are not big earning people. i can understand why some people are frustrated at what they perceived to be hmrc going in for easy targets. they are people on relatively modest pay and suddenly they are faced with this appeal. they certainly say that the revenue is going after the easy targets, the people who can't defend themselves. because there was a lot of dispute legally about whether these loans were in fact pay and whether they were taxable, the government simply passed a law less than a year government simply passed a law less thana yearago, government simply passed a law less than a year ago, last november, which said we had the right to collect what they call a loan charge

on this money as if it was pay and taxable. that can go back to 1999 in theory and in some cases, and it's that retrospectively to which the campaigners say is completely unfair. these people say they were poorly advised or wrongly advised. but i guess that is no defence for hmrc. they say they were badly advised, they follow the advice, didn't think there was anything wrong with it. they say they might have been naive but they are certainly not criminals that the punishing in this way. but as far as we know, and this is one of the things we want to clear up with the minister later on money box, as has any firm actually been prosecuted for selling for what now turn out to be probably all offal schemes? we just don't know the answer to that. they think you should go after the people who sold it to us, not ours. but every individual has a personal tax liability, so if we did do

something which isjust tax liability, so if we did do something which is just the wrong side of the law, we will have to pay the tax ourselves. campaigners are also saying there is a motion for parliament to say it should be spread over parliament to say it should be spread over more parliament to say it should be spread over more years, because parliament to say it should be spread over more years, because even five years, which is being offered to some people, is not long to read baywatch could be five or ten years' tax. someone has made a lot of money out of this. you can hear more on that story on money box on radio 4 at midday. it is just after 910 ian. it's london fashion week — and one charity is hoping to bring the industry face—to—face with its narrow standards of beauty. changing faces, which supports people who have a visible medical condition, mark or scar is going to put three of its ambassadors on the catwalk. ceo of the charity becky hewittjoins us now, alongside model brenda finn. good morning. let's hear your story

first of all. you lost your hair.|j woke up when i was 14 with half a head of hair as it never came back. within the space of a couple of weeks, it fell out everywhere. there was no sign of it beforehand and i'm not related to anyone with alopecia. people often say it was stress—related, but nothing like that was happening? no, i was having the best time of my life at that point and the best time of my life at that pointandi the best time of my life at that point and i couldn't understand why it happened. i was so happy and couldn't make head nor tail of it. tomorrow, you arejoining the couldn't make head nor tail of it. tomorrow, you are joining the other models on the catwalk at london fashion week. what does that mean to you? it is a dream come true. i have a lwa ys you? it is a dream come true. i have always followed london fashion week from a teenager and i always had this magical vision that one day i would do the catwalk. i thought i would do the catwalk. i thought i would never happen and i came to terms with that, so when changing

faces approached me, i was like, i'm going to do this, i'm going to on this and this is going to be incredible. why did you think it was something you couldn't do? because as someone something you couldn't do? because as someone who reads a lot of fashion magazines, i never saw anyone like me. i'm notjust bald, i'm also plus size, and at that point i had never seen anyone who would do that. there is the typical generic model and i didn't fit that bracket, so that's why i never thought i would. i think it's worth pointing out that through your teenage years, the bullying you gods, the names you were called, and you decided to home—school, learn at home because of this. if you could tell your 14—year—old self now that you're going to be appearing on a catwalk at london fashion week, what do you think she would say? i'd laugh because i wouldn't believe it,

not for a second. part of me still doesn't believe it now. i don't think it will hit me until i see the photos and think, that actually happened. this is potentially a game changer. why does it matter?m matters to us because we really want to change the way the fashion industry views beauty. we know at the moment that only a very narrow view of beauty is celebrated and in fa ct, view of beauty is celebrated and in fact, people with a visible differences are often excluded from mainstream culture overall. project kelly from the fashion industry. we are really hoping this will be a call to action for the fashion industry to present people with visible differences only really our frustration of —— aspirational way and send the message to society that people with visible differences are valued and celebrated. there is the idea from the fashion industry that we all want their model of what beauty is, but i'm not sure that

does genuinely reflect. i think we as consumers have a much broader sense of what is beautiful and what is lovely and eye—catching and what will sell clothes, which is what they want to do. that's right. we know from our research that young people in particular are under a huge pressure to look a particular way, and that's bad for everybody's self—esteem and mental health. one of the things that people with visible differences say to us all the time is, i never see anybody who looks like me. if i do, they are evil and are badly and are portrayed as somebody not to be trusted. and that has a huge impact on their resilience and confidence. it also sent a message to society that says, these people who look different or not valuable and it's ok to believe them. we really want to stop that and think the fashion industry has a responsibility now to say, let's celebrate difference, let's celebrate difference, let's celebrate what makes everybody knew unique. it's good for people with

visible differences but also everybody. it's a special event. when will it be just part of the catwalk for any event for some high profile design and we don't have to talk about it? there's so much change happening, we have shops using more diverse models, people being bowled to having the lie to go. it is about pushing more and more for that it is getting picked up more for that it is getting picked up by more for that it is getting picked up by not as much as it could be. and it's those high end designers, the big international label names that have to make the difference. they have the power to do so and they do notice. it is about having they do notice. it is about having the balance. there is room for all of us and room for the consumer to actually feel a part of it. rachel asked you what you'd say to your 14—year—old self, i just asked you what you'd say to your 14—year—old self, ijust wonder if those bullies from school are watching now, what would you say to them about where you are now? i'm doing london fashion week! and then

run. thank you very much both for coming in. enjoy your moment. i hope it's the first of many. take care. stay with us, headlines coming up. good morning, welcome to breakfast with rachel burden and jon kay. our headlines today: a mother and baby are among five people killed as a brutal storm batters the us east coast. hurricane florence has been reclassified as a tropical storm but forecasters warn that the threat of catastrophic flash flooding remains. on the other side of the world, winds of more than 120 miles an hour have been recorded as a super typhoon hits land in the philippines with early reports of heavy damage. here, is it the end of the blame game? ministers set out plans for no—fault divorces in england and wales.