this is bbc news. the headlines at 11. 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 getting reports that people are trapped inside their houses because the high floodwaters. 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 in half an hour, foreign correspondents currently posted here look at events in the uk through outsiders‘ eyes eyes in dateline london.

five people are known to have died in the us, as tropical storm florence, with warnings of catastrophic flooding in the coming days, as its moves further inland. the national hurricane center said the storm, which was downgraded from a hurricane, is slowly weakening as it moves into eastern south carolina, but it continues to cause extensive flooding, with 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. 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 have the flash flood warning that happen further inland and then you get the river flood warnings

because we have the indications that the rivers are going to come if you look at that track, right now it is tracking over centre of south carolina, into western north carolina, into western north carolina, all the while if you are on the right side of that storm, you are still getting those heavy bands because this is not falling apart quickly. that is why you will see flash flooding and river flooding. if you are under any sort of warning, it means that the situation is going to be going downhill pretty quickly. some areas have been warned of storm surges up to nine—feet high. the weather channel demonstrates the danger of these conditions in this report. once that water comes up to three feet, it will be coming up towards my waist. this could be enough to knock you off your feet. it could even float some cars. this is extremely dangerous but once we get up extremely dangerous but once we get up into that 6—foot range, look at how high this water goes. the winds pick everything up, cars would be

floating at this point. this water is over my head. i would not be able to stand here, even withstand the force of the water coming in. there might even be dangers like chemicals and exposed power lines looking in the waters. once we get to that nine foot range, this is an absolute life—threatening scenario. this is through the first floor of your home, there are fish floating around in here. this is extremely dangerous and life—threatening. if you find yourself here, please get out. if yourself here, please get out. if you are told to go, you need to go. listen to the local officials and make sure you heed to the advice. 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. on the road out of cagayan province, we passed farmers anxious to do what they can to salvage their harvest. 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 go to manila now and speak to lot felizco. she's oxfam's country director for the philippines. thank you forjoining us. how much do you know about what is going on in the philippines, particularly in the areas where it is presumably quite hard to have any communication channels? yes, it has been 16 hours since typhoon mangkhut made landfall. and because of the coverage of this typhoon, it covers

23 provinces along the eastern seaboard and in the northern portion. some of these areas are mountainous areas along the coast, not very accessible from town centres. we are only starting to receive initial reports now and looking to having a more complete picture, maybe in another day or two. and what do you think the priority is going to be for oxfam, for the help that you can give to people? what will you be focusing on? in this case, we will of course be having the focus primarily in the first two days on life—saving needs, considering the number of displaced families, there are already more than 50,000 scattered across more than 50,000 scattered across more than 700 evacuation centres. there will be needs for also access to water purification tablets to make sure that they are supported. there

will be need for water and hygiene kits and kitchen essentials to make their lives more tolerable. but also, although that will be over the next few days, we think that given the strength, the power of the typhoon, the heavy winds and rains, that there will be considerable damage to shelters, houses that are made of flimsy materials. they will bea made of flimsy materials. they will be a need for shelter repairer and in the medium term, considering that this has hit farming and fishing areas, there will be a lot of support needed for livelihoods. but all of this, we will have to coordinate with the local and national governments to make sure that other responses are lined and coordinated. do you know how much warning people received ? coordinated. do you know how much warning people received? we are obviously reporting on hurricane on the other side of the world, in

america, he evacuation programmes and people being warned for days, weeks indeed, is that the same thing in the philippines? do they have an early warning system? yes, this is one of the areas of prepared that the philippines has made great strides on in the last few years. the early warning system is in place. there have been... there was a lot of effort to reach communities over the media, all forms of media. there was a lot of briefings being done by the government and a lot of the technical and scientific information, there was more effort to translate this into information that communities who could understand and therefore act on. so the early warning, the course for evacuations, those were going on for about 2—3 days before landfall. so i think in this area, the country has learned its lessons and we are starting to see some progress on it

andi starting to see some progress on it and i am really gratefulfor starting to see some progress on it and i am really grateful for that. given the powerful nature of this typhoon, the fact that of course zero casualties would have been our ideal but now we have three reported casualties, that is still sad but it is already progress on past experience. and have the team's been able to get out to assess what is going on? we have heard about some rapid assessment team is not able to leave their accommodation because of course the typhoon is still working its way across the philippines? yes, of course, as much as possible you would want to pre—position or in our case, we did pre—position... we sent out advance teams. oxfam in the philippines, we work with national partner organisations who have a presence that has already been established in the affected areas. that is one thing that is very important to us that we work with partners who are already active in

those areas. we did send out advanced teams and they were in place before landfall. of course, they did not venture out at the height of the storm. landfall was shortly before 2am. our assessment teams ventured out around 9am and we are waiting to hear back from them. they tried to cooperate on the coastal areas and the province adjacent to where typhoon mangkhut made landfall. thank you very much for that update. 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. 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 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. 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. the liberal democrats are discussing a major shake—up of the party as 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 dems are also urging disillusioned labour and tory supporters to join them to help stop brexit. our political correspondent jonathan blake is at the conference now. jonathan, the march of the

moderates. that is what vince cable wa nts. moderates. that is what vince cable wants. is it likely that other supporters from other parties will swing behind the liberal democrats, given their political fortunes have been rather stuck in recent years? they have and that is one reason why vince cable is making this pitch to his party membership to open up the liberal democrats and turn it into, as you say, a movement for moderates. he wants people to be able tojoin moderates. he wants people to be able to join as unpaid supporters of the party, for those people to have a say in leadership contests and also to allow those people who are not liberal democrat mps to stand for the leadership and potentially go on to lead the party. just because he wants that to happen, does not mean it necessarily will. the liberal democrats pride themselves on being a party where themselves on being a party where the members come first and they have a real say in saying how the party

is run and deciding what its policies are. vince cable arrives in brighton coming he may have the weather for iraq's brighton coming he may have the weatherfor iraq's in brighton coming he may have the weather for iraq's in few days by the seaside but these are serious days for the party. —— a relaxing few days. it needs to get itself back into the mainstream of british politics. it only has a dozen mps and despite being the only party firmly having an anti—brexit stands, it has not been able to capitalise on that. we will have the brexit spokesman making a speech this afternoon, appealing for people again to come to the party if they are disillusioned or disaffected labour or conservative supporters or people that want a say on the final day reached with brussels. the liberal democrats, he will say, are their chance to exeter from liberal democrats, he will say, are their chance to exeterfrom brexit. but it is that aren't also the potential changes that vince cable

has set out for the party that will dominate the conference and we will hear him speak as he arrives in brighton later this morning with that appealfor brighton later this morning with that appeal for people to join the liberal democrats and create what he wa nts to liberal democrats and create what he wants to be a more powerfulforce in british politics. 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. 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.

the archbishop of canterbury will lead a meeting next week to discuss calls for the church of england to take over the loan book of the payday lender wonga, which went into administration last month after a surge in compensation claims. the idea came from the mp frank field, the chair of the commons work and pensions committee, who says this could prevent thousands of borrowers facing higher interest rates if the loans were sold to another commercial lender. 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. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. good morning. we start with news of britain's new world champion in triathlon. vicky holland came second in the final race of this season's world series, but that was enough to claim the title. in this final showdown, holland, had to beat her american rival, katie zaferes, to become world champion for 2018 and it was holland who these days lives and trains in leeds who led out of the water. zaferes 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 ashleigh gentle, the american was back in 3rd, and holland could celebrate the world title, with fellow brit,

georgia taylor—brown in 3rd. 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. 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. ali alleges, "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 spokesman said, "remarks of this nature are unacceptable and have no place in our sport, or in society. final practice ahead of qualifying for the singapore grand prix is underway.

it started in day light at the marina bay street circuit, but the sun will have set, by the time the drivers fight it out for pole position. lewis hamilton will be grateful to have a thirty point championship lead over rival sebastian vettel, as mercedes traditionally struggle at this race. qualifying gets underway at two o'clock. nine years after their last win in new zealand, south africa have upset the all blacks by beating them 36—34 in wellington. the springboks ran in five tries. this lung busting effort from the halfway line by cheslin kolbe early in the second half was the pick of the bunch. new zealand actually scored more tries, but the boot of handre pollard made the difference. the all blacks had the chance to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but replacement damian mckenzie dropped the ball at the crucial moment. the premier league is back this afternoon, with liverpool and tottenham kicking off the weekend's action in the early match at wembley. liverpool have a 100% start to the season, while tottenham are looking to bounce back after defeat at watford last time out.

you need to deserve to win and you need to perform in the way that you believe you can beat your opponent. of course, liverpool, for me is one of the best team in europe, not only in england. they have very good players. great manager. and of course they will be a very tough opponent and of course, it is going to bea opponent and of course, it is going to be a lot of energy for us to have a very good performance we want to be close to win. it has been called the fight of the century. it is taking place in las vegas tonight. the first fight was co ntroversially vegas tonight. the first fight was controversially scored a draw. the first rematch was postponed after a

failed drugs test. former world champion david haye thinks the fight will live up to the hype. everyone is talking about it and the fa ct everyone is talking about it and the fact it is happening at aam, the fa ct fact it is happening at aam, the fact it is happening at aam, the fact it is happening in las vegas and people in england are going crazy about it, the first fight was an epic battle. 12 rounds of amazing action. and they are both claiming they are going to get the knockout. they are going to engage and it is going to be an absolutely cracking fight. that's all the sport for now. now for the weather forecast. we started off with beautiful blue

sky and sunshine. i know the cloud has developed over the last two hours and we keep some fair weather cloud across central and southern parts of england and wales but that is of the weather will be. a few spots of rain. and maybe some brighter spells into the afternoon across parts of eastern scotland but generally speaking, cloud thickening, showers up into the far north—west and the breeze strengthening. 14—16d. 21 in the far south—east. overnight, we start to see the wind strengthening further still and that will drive in more cloud and heavy rain through northern ireland and western scotland. eventually it will push across the whole of scotland, stretching out the borders into the north of england and north wales by tomorrow morning. sunday, in real north—south divide across the country. the best of the weather looks likely to be across central and southern areas and with a light south—westerly flow starting to develop a degree or warmer. at the

same time, the weather front continues to drift its way south. into the north midlands, wales and south—west england by the end of the afternoon. the winds easing behind it in scotland. a bright and breezy affair, the same for northern ireland. in the south—east, we could see 23 overall. things get pretty interesting as we move out of sunday into monday. we have this deep area of low pressure pushing in from the atlantic. this is actually the re m na nts of atlantic. this is actually the remnants of ex—hurricane helene. it will bring some pretty heavy rain and some strong to gale force, may be severe gale force gusts of wind across the northern half of the country whether the same time, it is tropical air. it will drag country whether the same time, it is tropicalair. it will drag in country whether the same time, it is tropical air. it will drag in some humidity. if you have not got the wind and rain, it will feel quite warm. quitea wind and rain, it will feel quite warm. quite a bonkers setup into the

early half of next week. often windy. some rain times. but it will feel humid for many in the south. hello, and a warm welcome to dateline london. i'm jane hill. today, we're discussing the movement in the brexit talks against the backdrop of leadership rumblings, whether enough lessons have been learnt ten years after the global financial crash, and if you had two russian friends visiting the uk for 48 hours, what would you tell them are the must—see sights? with me is the american writer and broadcasterjef mcallister longtime correspondent for germany's die welt, thomas kielinger, the italian filmaker and writer annalisa piras, and british columnnist and keen political observer iain martin. welcome, all. a curious week of mixed messages regarding brexit — the president of the european commission jean claude juncker, in his state of the union address, said the eu will work day

and night to achieve a deal, but reminded everyone that it's not only britain that has red lines. meanwhile, an increasingly vocal group of conservatives at westminster put forward its own proposals for the talks, particularly with reference to the tricky issue of the irish border. they claimed their plan was nothing to do with the issue of theresa may's leadership. many observers thought otherwise. we'll come onto leadership issues. annalisa first, what's your take on the eu's approach? there has been a significant change this week, and i think there's going to have some important consequences on brexit and an theresa may's leadership. mainly, there has been an awareness of the significant rise of the far right, and the populist movements in europe, is going to

create a lot of problems for the good opinion, especially in the next six months.