this is bbc news. i'm vicki young. the headlines at 103m: tropical storm florence continues to better the us east coast with high winds and rain — as weather forecasters warn of life—threatening flash floods. today we're getting reports that people are trapped inside their houses because of the high flood waters. five people are known to have died, among them a mother and baby. hundreds of thousands of homes are without power. on the other side of the world, the strongest typhoon so far this year has been battering the northern phillipines with violent winds and 20—foot storm surges. two people have died. also coming up this hour: an overhaul of divorce law. ministers set out plans for no fault—divorce, removing the need to allege blame. and coming up on the travel show in half an hour — seeing the world bit by bit. is cryptocurrency the new traveller's friend? the travel show goes down under to find out.

five people are known to have died in the us as tropical storm florence, with warnings of catastrophic flooding in the coming days. the storm, which was downgraded from a hurricane, is moving into eastern south carolina, bringing life—threatening storm surges and strong winds. hundreds of thousands of people have been left without power and evacuation warnings are in place for 1.7 million people across south carolina, north carolina and virginia. chris buckler reports. 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's going to go, how high it's going to go and how we're 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 you can 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. in the past few hours the us national hurricane centre has warned that the combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters. myrtle beach in south carolina is one of the areas likely to hit. our colleague don dahler from cbs news is there. it apparently happens that the storm, it looks like it's heading just north of myrtle beach. the fear was that the high tide which happened at midnight, coupled with 18 inches of rain, 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 flow down into south carolina or the coast and there is worry that those flood swollen rivers are dumping it into south carolina, which could lead to devastation of the infrastructure, businesses and farms. it could cost south carolina billions of dollars of damage. there are significant concerns about the level of flooding expected as the storm moves inland, flash flood warnings are in place for a number of areas. let's have a look at how the american news outlets are responding to the story. you've got flash flood warnings throughout eastern north carolina, that emergency is a specific life—threatening case, so you have the flash flood warnings further

inland and then the river flood warnings be cos we had indications the rivers would come up because that's tracking over the centre of south carolina into western north carolina, if you work on the right side of the storm you're still getting those heavy bands because this is not falling apart quickly so you will see flash flooding and river flooding, but if you are under any sort of warning, especially a flash flood warning, the situation will go downhill pretty quickly. elsewhere, the world's strongest storm this year, super typhoon mangkhut, continues to his the northern coast of the philippines with strong winds and heavy rain. two people are confirmed to have died in the storm, and around four million people are in its path. these are the latest satellite pictures of the typhoon as it moves across the north of the island. over the coming days, mangkhut will move away from the philippines towards hong kong. our correspondent howard johnson is travelling towards the north east

of the country where the typhoon hit hardest, and reports on the damage there. typhoon mangkhut 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. let's talk to alexandra pura. she's christian aid's country directorfor the philippines and is on the ground in manila responding to typhoon mangkhut. thank you for speaking to us. you're not in the direct path of the storm at the moment but what are you hearing about what's going on elsewhere? i'm 500 kilometres away but we are also feeling the impact, strong winds and heavy rains in central manila. can you hear from people elsewhere about how bad it

is, especially in some of the more remote areas? we have made a lot of progress in being prepared but in the remote areas, village areas in the remote areas, village areas in the mountains and small islands, we do not know whether the early warning system has been effective, we have tried to work with them in terms of making sure they are prepared for the isolation because of landslides, where people may not reach them for a week, so we hope they have prepared for that, so that is our immediate hope. what was the advice about how to prepare for this? it's all very well knowing it's coming but dealing with it is another matter. communities are in

this plan so that includes evacuation, identifying places to evacuate two, making sure they have foodstuff at least for a week so the basic contingency planning but until it hits, we do not know whether people have been prepared or have been given enough warning, so that is what we are most concerned with but the second concern we have is recovering from this devastation because the typhoon came just before harvest season and also came on the heels of several smaller typhoons that had saturated the ground, so one big typhoon coming in, the crops, rice, will not be able to withstand the intensity of this. so

the recovery will be a big challenge, and on top of that the philippines is experiencing spikes in the food crop and rice shortage, so in the food crop and rice shortage, so this will exacerbate that, so that's making the situation more complex than just a natural hazard ofa complex than just a natural hazard of a typhoon, so it comes on the heels of many smaller disasters, and economic challenges we are facing. what can christian aid do? with your priority be the longer term getting food to people? yes, and we are looking at how to advocate for the government to provide subsidies to small farmers and helping people not get into the debt trap because they are still recovering from a big storm two years ago so they are

indebted and how to get them out of this debt cycle, that will be a big challenge. we will leave it there. thank you, alexandra. more details have emerged about government plans to overhaul "archaic" divorce laws in england and wales. couples wishing to divorce could soon benefit from a less confrontational process, under proposals confirmed by thejustice secretary david gauke. our legal affairs correspondent clive coleman has more. at present divorcing couples are forced to blame each other for the marriage breakdown on the grounds of adultery, desertion or behaviour which is unreasonable to live with, or prove they have been separated for a minimum of two years, even if the separation is mutual. like many, jenny thinks blame can make a difficult process a lot worse. it caused an awful lot of arguments. it caused me obviously to feel very hurt, i got angry, then there were arguments which my children were witness to, it hurt them, and i really think

it was completely unnecessary but it was purely based on wanting to get things done quicker. pressure for no—fault divorce has been growing for decades, because when couples divorce they are being torn apart emotionally and financially, often trying to work out sensible living arrangements for their children, so if you throw blame and fault into the process at that stage, people think you are just making a bad situation a whole lot worse. the government is persuaded, and it's proposing removing the need to show evidence of the other spouse's conduct or a period of living apart, introducing a new notification process where one or both parties can notify the court of the intention to divorce and removing the opportunity for the other spouse to contest the divorce application. it's right that we update our divorce laws, it's right that we try to take the animosity out of this process as much

as possible and we have a system that isn't looking back in trying to play the blame game but looking forward to find the best way in which we can have a reasonably constructive relationship between the divorcing couple. the consultation also seeks views on the minimum time between the interim and final divorce decrees, in order to allow couples time to reflect and reach agreement on arrangements for the future if divorce is inevitable. clive coleman, bbc news. let's speak now to nigel shepherd, head of family law at mills and reeve and former chair of the famly law organisation, resolution. hejoins me on webcam from stockport. people have been calling for these changes for a long time to make the

process more antagonistic, —— less antagonistic, do you think that will work? i've been campaigning for this for the best part of three decades andi for the best part of three decades and i think this is a positive step, the government has been listening to calls for reform and this is great news for the couples i felt on a daily basis and for their children because the current system pushes people into conflict, it means they are looking backwards and we need a modern process and these changes will bring that about. there will be those who say in some ways you are speeding up the process which might be good but could it become too quick, so couples don't have time to think again? what the government is proposing will take longer than the current system, you can now get divorced within four or five months

so divorced within four or five months so these proposals will mean a longer period but what's important is that people are taking things constructively rather than chucking mud at each other and that's why this reform is overdue. are you surprised it has taken this long? it seems a high profile case for our husband didn't want to divorce his wife who wanted to leave, that seems to have propelled this change. it's been a perfect storm, we have been campaigning for it for years and the government introduced no—fault divorce 20 years ago but it was never implemented, so that case has certainly been a catalyst for change, as has research by liz trender which showed how much damage the current process does, which has persuaded the government to take this step and we can look forward to

change and families can look forward toa change and families can look forward to a better future. do you think your clients are aware of these changes, is it something they will welcome? i think so, there is a lot of misunderstanding about how the current law works, when people are told by me, they both want a divorce but i have to say unless you want to wait two years, to do it by consent, the only way you can get it settled is for one of you to blame the other and they think that is crazy, so when people understand what this change means, they will welcome it and that is what professor trender‘s research showed. thank you, nigel shepherd. the headlines on bbc news... warnings of catastrophic flooding as tropical storm florence continues

to batter the us east coast — five deaths have been linked to the storm and thousands are in emergency shelter. the strongest typhoon of the year so far batters northern phillipines with violent winds and 20 foot storm surges. two people have died. ministers reveal plans for no—fault divorce — removing the need to allege blame in a seperation. sport, and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's mike bushell. we start with good news of a world champion, and vicky holland has won the world title in the triathlon. 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 actually believe it, i thought at one point the run was done. i can't believe i brought it back in but this season has been incredible and three wins, two seconds 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 5:50am, with highlights starting at 2pm over on bbc two. simon yates could become the third different british rider, to win one of cycling's grand tours, when he goes in the final competitive stage of the vuelta a espana. he has a lead of one minute 38, over his nearest rival, in the overall standings,

after a dominant finish to stage 19. joe lynskey reports. simon yates wakes up this morning close to home and close to history. he lives and trains in the hills of andorra and soon the red jersey might belong there. the vuelta a espana's destination which come down to his but the welcome is deceiving, stage 19 would see them right up 1200 feet. the climb stretched out the entire field, everyone in first gear, but simon yates faced the hills he is familiar with to make this a title decider on home turf. hisjob, to stop his rivals making ground, with ten kilometres to go, he decided not to wait, he moved away from the pack and got to second stage —— place in the stage. today they are back in the mountains but

britain's fourth grand tour winner could now be one read away. cricket australia are to investigate claims made by england all—rounder moeen ali that an australian player called him osama during the 2015 ashes series. england were hosts for the series and won it 3—2 to regain the ashes. ali has made the accusation in his soon to be released autobiography. "an australian player had turned to me on the field and said, ‘take that, osama'. i could not believe what i had heard." a cricket australia spokesperson said... "remarks of this nature are unacceptable and have no place in our sport, or in society." three matches, plenty of sixes and a mascot race— it's twenty20 finals day at edgbaston later. lancashire, worcestershire, somerset and sussex are all in action. the future of the t20 blast competition's been in the news with the plans for a new hundred ball competition due to be announced soon. but the 20 over version's still going strong in its fifteenth year. 2020 has changed so much over the

yea rs 2020 has changed so much over the years from just being this gimmicky game when it first came in and people were slogging it with nicknames on their backs and funny shirts, to what it is now, which is successful and really good for cou nty successful and really good for county cricket. the premier league is back this afternoon, with liverpool and tottenham kicking off the weekend's action in the early match at wembley. the players from both sides have returned to their clubs this week, after the international break, and the liverpool manager says adjusting back to domestic action can be a challenge. it's a big challenge but it is for all of us, so playing someone like totte n ha m , all of us, so playing someone like tottenham, denmark is playing com pletely tottenham, denmark is playing completely different to tottenham so life as a premier league manager through the week is never perfect, we need to be ready. 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. that's all the sport for now. thanks, mike. 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.

lord heseltine there. the liberal democrats are set to discuss a major shake—up of the party when their 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 vote for a new leader. the lib dems 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. the head of the organisation of american states has said that a military intervention to overthrow president nicolas maduro of venezuela shouldn't be ruled out. luis almagro was speaking to reporters in colombia

near the border where he met with venezuelans who have fled their country. the united nations estimate that 2.3 million people have left since the country's economic and political crisis began in 2014. the mp frank field says he's been "expelled" from labour but claims that the party "has no basis" to do so. the veteran mp quit the party's group in parliament last month, saying the leadership is becoming "a force for anti—semitism in british politics". i've been expelled from the party, my membership of 60 years has been cancelled and i've been told i'm no longer a member. the lawyers advising me suggest the party has no basis to do that, so i hope very shortly i will regain my membership. labour has previously said

that by resigning the whip, frank field also chose to resign from the party. the metropolitan police have charged former never mind the buzzcocks host mark lamarr with common assault and false imprisonment. the tv personality and comedian was charged on 1st september in london and will appear at uxbridge magistrates‘ court on two october. young people heading off to university this month are being urged to make sure they have been vaccinated against meningitis. the local government association, which represents councils in england, is warning that students are at particular risk due to them mixing closely and living with new people who may not know they're carrying meningitis—causing bacteria. 15 to 19—year—olds, a quarter of students, carry the meningitis bug in the back of their throat and whilst they may not get meningitis they can spread it. in the general population it's only about one in ten of us that carry the bug so students are in close contact with each other, people

are getting to know each other, spending a lot of time together and that allows the meningitis bug to spread. 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 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's 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 would 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 of his 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 with 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's your father's medals. she gasps. 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.