this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 2pm: in the us, tropical storm florence is causing catastrophic flooding on the east coast — five are reported dead so far, as forecasters warn that storm surges remain a dangerous threat. once we get to that nine foot range, this is an absolute life threatening scenario. the strongest typhoon so far this year has been battering the northern phillipines — with violent winds and 20 foot storm surges. thousands have been evacuated. there will be need for water and hygiene kits and kitchen essentials to make their lives more tolerable in the evacuation centre. also coming up this hour... an overhaul of divorce law. ministers set out plans for no fault—divorce, removing the need to allege blame. nasa is poised to launch its most advanced space laser ever — and in half an hour,

a journey into the controversial world of live animal exports — bbc scotland investigate the dairy industry. in a moment, we'll bring you the latest on storm florence and typhoon mangkhut, but first nasa is about to launch its most advanced laser ever into space. let's cross to the vandenberg air force base in california now — where the satellite is being launched. 15, 14, 13,

15,14,13,12,11, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... lift of the final delta two. launching nearly three decades of science research and exploration missions, on a quest to explore the polar ice sheets of our co nsta ntly explore the polar ice sheets of our constantly changing home planet. this is a mission to major the changing height of earth's ice. taking off from the vandenberg air force base in california. that there is the graphic provided by nasa. the isat2 is carrying just one instrument, and advanced laser system also known as atlas. i understand it's going to send about ten days —— 10,000

understand it's going to send about ten days ——10,000 laser understand it's going to send about ten days —— 10,000 laser pulses back down to earth's surface which will measure the height of ice sheets, galatians, sea ice and vegetation by calculating the time it takes the pulses to return back up to the spacecraft. the hope is... let's just listen in. delta will hold onto those motors for initial 20 seconds. one minute 20 seconds, standby for motor jettisoned. we one minute 20 seconds, standby for motorjettisoned. we have good indication of jettison motorjettisoned. we have good indication ofjettison all four four rocket motors. one minute 30 seconds into flight. continuing good chamber pressure on both the engines. stable pressure on both the engines. stable pressure on both the engines. stable pressure on the fuel and outside injector crashes. vehicle body rates looking stable.

one minute 55 seconds into flight. that is the isat2, just two minutes now since launch. it has jettisoned its motors, it has got onejob now since launch. it has jettisoned its motors, it has got one job to do, it's carrying one instrument, it's called an atlas and it's basically a laser which hopefully provide researchers with unparalleled, that is how it has been described, unparalleled detail. hopefully giving us more information on how land and sea ice is changing and also what is driving these changes taking place on earth. we will be talking tojonathan amos later in the programme so i do hope you stay with us for that. live scenes there from california. you're watching bbc news. the united states' national hurricane centre has warned of catastrophic flooding as tropical

storm florence moves through both north and south carolina. forecasters are warning that the storm's slow progress could leave much of the region under water. at least five people have died, including a woman and her baby who were killed when a tree fell on their house. keith doyle reports. the winds have dropped and hurricane florence is now a tropical storm but the rain continues to fall and people have been warned of life—threatening storm surges with catastrophic flooding. a metre of rain is expected to fall as the storm passes through north and south carolina. here in new bern, the area is already flooded. rescue teams have plucked people from the waters and rescued those who had moved into attics of houses as the water keeps rising. the storm is moving slowly inland, leaving death and destruction in its wake. the roof has gone.

yep. were you in here? i was in there, i had my kids asleep, a lot of wind, rain, spinning, blue lightning, green lightning. so you came here for safety and ended up with no roof. no roof. a woman and child died when a tree fell on their house in wilmington. three other deaths have been reported elsewhere. power supplies have been hit. the governor of north carolina said millions could be without electricity. we have about 650,000 north carolinians without power state—wide and the utility companies tell us that this number will keep rising and they think it could be anywhere from a million to 2.5 million people who could eventually lose power. the white house said president trump will visit the area next week if it does not affect rescue efforts. the storm may be weakening but its impact is still being felt and its full cost is yet to be determined. keith doyle, bbc news. our correspondent laura

trevelyan is in wilmington, in north carolina. you look pretty wet. is it still raining? it is still raining. we are getting two to three inches an hour, thatis getting two to three inches an hour, that is now the big threat. this is the main river here in wilmington and it's expected that it won't be until tuesday before this river actually crests from the gigantic amount of rainfall it's getting. it is flooding now, long—term flooding here on the coast and inland as well as flash flooding, some places with 20 inches of rain just since yesterday. that is the big risk now to life and property. what we are seeing is across north carolina and south carolina, what is happening on the coast is that this tropical storm is now moving at only two miles an hour, so incredibly slowly,

and just damping miles an hour, so incredibly slowly, andjust damping rain miles an hour, so incredibly slowly, and just damping rain on us. the effect this has is its like a slow motion catastrophe, gradually the water levels are going to rise here in the cape fear river and elsewhere. by mid week next week, there will be large—scale flooding. that now is the situation. after the drama of the hurricane winds and the storm surge, we have this gradually rising water levels which pose a huge threat. what advice is being given to people about how to cope with this flooding? looking at that water behind you, it really does menacing. and it is menacing. some people have been told they should not return to their homes because of the risk of flooding, 400 people had to be rescued yesterday from a town about 100 miles north of may at the co nflu e nce about 100 miles north of may at the confluence of two rivers where they

experienced flooding up to the second story of their homes if you can imagine. we will see many more stories like that unfolding, so what is happening is state officials have told people they can sign up via text to receive alerts if it seems that their home is somewhere that is ina zone that their home is somewhere that is in a zone that is a risk of flooding, then people must simply evacuate. as i know from covering flooding myself last year, hurricane harvey in houston, texas, flooding happens very quickly. it takes months for the home to recover, all your furniture is damaged, months for the home to recover, all yourfurniture is damaged, there is mould, a terrible smell, it's insanitary to live somewhere that has flooded. these are the challenges of the days to come. we will leave it there. go in and dry off for us! thank you. in the philippines — the strongest typhoon so far this year has brought violent winds and torrential rains. two rescue workers were killed by a landslide, a third person drowned and further casualties were reported in a coastal town. typhoon mangkhut hit the country's main island,

luzon, early this morning blowing down trees, ripping off roofs and knocking out electricity supplies across the north. lauren moss reports. roofs ripped off, electricity supplies knocked out and people wading their belongings through floodwaters. more than 4 million people were in the path of typhoon mangkhut, as it hit the northern part of the philippines, early this morning. translation: when the wave hit the road, it also hit the embankment and the houses were shaking. two rescue workers were killed in one of the many landslides and a third person drowned, as six—metre—high storm surges and 115—mile—an—hour winds battered the region. meteorologists say the storm is the strongest tropical cyclone the world has faced, so far, this year, the diameter of the cloud measuring about 900 kilometres. thousands of people are staying

in shelters, flights have been cancelled and shops and schools are boarded up. the typhoon is now heading towards vietnam and southern china. it is expected to pass near hong kong tomorrow. the magnitude of the devastation left behind in the philippines still isn't known and more heavy rain is on the way. already, people living here are having to pick up the pieces of their lives, which have been destroyed. lauren moss, bbc news. lot felizco is oxfam's country director for the philippines — her team have been on the ground across the philippines assessing the extent of the damage. it's been 16 hours since mangkhut made landfall. because of the coverage of this typhoon, it covers 33 provinces along the eastern seaboard and in the northern portion

of luzon. 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, even. we will of course have the focus primarily in the first few days of life—saving needs. considering the number of displaced families, already more than 50,000 scattered across more than 700 evacuation centres, there will be needs for access to water purification tablets to make sure there is drinkable water. there will be need for water and hygiene kits, kitchen essentials to make their lives more tolerable in the evacuation centres. 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 rain that there would be considerable damage to shelter, two houses that were made of light orflimsy shelter, two houses that were made of light or flimsy materials. so, there will be a need for shelter repair. in the medium term, considering this has hit farming and fishing areas, there will be a lots of support needed for recovery. all of support needed for recovery. all of this we will have to coordinate with the local and national governments to make sure that our responses are aligned and coordinated. the church of england is considering buying the loan book of the pay—day lender, wonga, after the company collapsed last month. the idea was suggested by the chair of the work and pensions committee, frank field, who hopes the church might lead a group of investors willing to run wonga without charging high interest rates. 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 family of a former british soldier say he has been give a seven and a half year jail sentence in turkey because he helped the kurds fight against the islamic state group. joe robinson, who's 25, was arrested last year while holidaying in turkey and charged with terrorism offences. he'd previously helped kurdish fighters from the ypg, who the turkish authorities regard as terrorists. the headlines on bbc news: the strongest typhoon of the year so far hits northern phillipines with violent winds and 20 foot storm surges. fourteen people have been confirmed dead, with the number expected to rise. 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. ministers reveal plans for no fault—divorce — removing the need to allege blame in a seperation. the government is proposing a significant changes to the law on divorce — removing requirements to allege fault or show evidence of separation. launching a consultation on the proposals, justice secretary david gauke said he wanted to make the process less acrimonious. our legal affairs correspondent clive coleman has more. at present, divorcing couples are forced to blame each other for their marriage breakdown on the grounds of adultery, desertion or behaviour which it's 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. 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, most people think you're just making a bad situation a whole lot worse. the government's 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 possibly 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 try to take the animosity out of this process as much as possible and we have a system that isn't looking back and 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. in the last half hour, nasa has launched its most advanced laser ever into space. five, four, three, two, one...

liftoff of the final delta two, launching nearly three decades... the ice sat2 will measure the condition of earth's ice cover and should provide more precise information on how these frozen surfaces are being affected by global warming. tom neumann is the deputy project scientist for icesat2 at nasa — he explained to our science correspondentjonathan amos what the satellite would do. as the antarctic sea ice accumulates more snow on it, that extra weight pushes the ice further down the ocean and eventually you get flooding. there is so much snow on top of the ice that the ocean water washes right over the top of the ice and saturates the snow. it is a pretty tricky problem down there. with the isat2, we think it should be able to help with that in that we will be measuring that top surface of the snow, but combining it with

cryo helps us get at how thick that's snow really is. let's talk now to our science correspondentjonathan amos. there was so much excitement. i can imagine not only in the space community but also environmental science community. this laser has been described as a marvel. tell us more. it is the most precise tool we've ever had, actually, to measure theice we've ever had, actually, to measure the ice sheets, to measure the height of antarctica, of greenland, but also the sea ice that surrounds antarctica and that which floats also in the arctic ocean. so, this particular device fires down about 10,000 shops a second. it's moving forward a shot every 70 centimetres. it's able to precisely measure the height of the ice to about a centimetre, less than a centimetre in fact. you may well say, what difference does a centimetre make if

theice difference does a centimetre make if the ice melts that much? if you were to scrape a centimetre off, say, the antarctic, that's 140 to scrape a centimetre off, say, the antarctic, that's140 billion tonnes of water. that goes into the ocean and that bush is that sea levels around the world. some of the changes that are taking place around the earth really quite subtle. —— that pushes sea levels up around the world. you need precise tools to measure this and that is what this is all about. when will we start to see that comeback? they are just in the process of launching it into space, so it will go around the polls, and then they will have to check it out. the spacecraft went up with the door covering its instrument, there will have to open that in the coming week. then they will start to warm the laser up and test it. probably in the next few weeks they will start to take some measurements. of course, it's not an instant result. you have to follow the seasons. they get big seasons in the antarctic and also in the arctic. we have seen in

the arctic how the summer sea ice gets very, very small and then it grows again in the winter. you need a long series of measurements to start to pick out the trends. don't expect immediate results. really, this is going to give us a baseline, this is going to give us a baseline, this particular spacecraft, for all the measurements we do in polar regions for the many years ahead. the measurements we do in polar regions for the many years aheadlj understand there was an original isat2, what was it doing that differentiates from isat2? yeah, that was a laser instrument as well, it really pioneered the laser measurement of ice services back in the two thousandths. it had a bit of a technical problem where it would blow its devices that generate the light so they could only really run it for two months of the year. really you need to run it all the time to build up that long series of

measurements i talked about. when that particular spacecraft eventually died, nasa went back to the drawing board, they completely reinvented the laser, and isat2 is the result. it's actually kind of like six lasers in one. bonds that laser goes through...|j like six lasers in one. bonds that laser goes through... i am going to have to jump laser goes through... i am going to have tojump in here because we laser goes through... i am going to have to jump in here because we are crushing to washington. —— crossing to washington. let's get an update on the flooding from female. —— from fema. good morning. florence, nowa tropical storm, is moving very slowly, nearly stationary over eastern north carolina this morning. it will produce catastrophic flooding of the parts of north and south carolina for some time. at eight o'clock eastern time, florence was the centre of 35 miles west of

myrtle beach uncontained maximum sustained winds of 50 miles an hour. areas near newport north carolina have received nearly two feet of rain from florence, and powerful rain from florence, and powerful rain bands may produce another 15 to 20 inches or more. these rain bands may slide south into the wilmington area during the day today. as florence drifts area during the day today. as florence d rifts into area during the day today. as florence drifts into north—central and north west carolina and south carolina, it will take the very heavy rain bands with it and heavy rain may impact the charlotte, north carolina area late tonight into tomorrow. a three to five foot storm surge is still expected for parts of the pamlico basins. tornado watch remains in effect for south—eastern north carolina and waterspouts are possible over the open waters. many rivers will experience catastrophic flooding from florence, including portions of the news, north eastern cape fear basin, the pd river, the little pd river basin, the lumbar

river, and the wok or river. as the re m na nts of river, and the wok or river. as the remnants of florence make their way into the southern and central appellations, rivers and streams flowing out of the mountains will also experience moderate to major flooding. the details of this will become more clear early next week. be aware that rivers will stay in flood stage for an extended period of time. the next update from the national hurricane centre will be issued at 11 o'clock eastern time. good morning. noah is now moving into response and recovery mode. the weather service forecast office in this particular area of north carolina and south carolina have been dealing with significant flash flooding. i would like to take this opportunity to extend my deepest appreciation and gratitude towards the hurricane centre and the weather service particularly the morehead city and wilmington forecast offices. individuals here have been sheltered in place for many days yet these particular offices have

remained fully operational. the office of coastal survey has been deployed to the hurricane centre to verify the storm surge magnitude. what we're dealing with is a major flooding and rain event at at this point, we also looking at potential landslides and the flooding is far from over. please follow instructions from state and local emergency managers, do not attempt to drive to any water that you see on the roadway. remember, turnaround, don't drown. good morning. obviously i want to start again by thanking the media all across the board on this storm for getting our message out. we need more of that as the storm moves inland, if the weather service —— as the weather service just pointed out, large amounts of rain falling over both states and it will continue to fall. please urge citizens not to try to drive through high water, you don't know the depth

of it, it's not safe, don't drown, turnaround. fema is well positioned to support the state, we have rescue is ongoing, hundreds of thousands without power just as is ongoing, hundreds of thousands without powerjust as anticipated. we are poised and ready to go in when conditions are safe to start the restoration of all critical lifelines. i urge everyone to wait for local officials to give the all clear for citizens returned to the impacted areas. as you know, the president declared a major disaster in north carolina, that opens up lines of assistance in the individual and assistance side. other decorations will be anticipated to follow. —— other declarations. we have thousands of people in shelters with adequate resources to support our state and local partners on that, we have adequate meals for emergency feeding, adequate generators for critical services, we continue to monitor those critical facilities to make sure we have plans in place

should we need to enact any type of evacuation or support. the feeling of emergency generators. at this time we see no shortfalls, we continue to work closely but only with the partners that you see on the stage but our state and local partners, private sector, non—government partners, and the whole community approach. you will hear me say the word team comically remember that hear me say the word team comically rememberthat team, our hear me say the word team comically remember that team, our citizens are a memberof that remember that team, our citizens are a member of that team. —— you will hear me say the word team, you are a memberof hear me say the word team, you are a member of that hear me say the word team, you are a memberof that team. that is the latest update in washington from fema. as we have been hearing, more catastrophic flooding on the way, more rain on the way and people being told to get advice from their local sources on the ground. we will have more on this right on bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather.

in much, picture here across the uk. not a lot going on in the weather today that we will see something wet and windy over the next few days and. defeat feed entry tonight, it's going to push its east into northern ireland, then scotland and parts of northern england and wales into the early hours. further south than the still breezy but dry, temperatures staying in double figures for all. we start tomorrow with outbreaks of rain across southern scotland, northern england and parts of wales. gradually pushing south and east as we move to the day tomorrow. behind it, something brighter coming in, one or two showers for western parts of scotla nd one or two showers for western parts of scotland and it will be dry and fight in the south—east, temperatures a little warmer, a maximum of 23 celsius. we will see further wet and windy weather particularly later monday into tuesday, the remnants of hurricane plm bringing some outbreaks of rain. and some quite destructive winds. it

will also drag in some more humid air, turning warmer in the south. hello, this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines: the strongest typhoon so far this year has been battering the northern phillipines with violent winds and 20 foot storm surges. 14 people have been confirmed dead, with the number expected to rise. in the us, tropical storm florence is causing catastrophic flooding on the east coast — five are reported dead so far, as forecasters warn that storm surges remain a dangerous threat. an overhaul of divorce law — ministers set out plans for no fault—divorce, removing the need to allege blame. the church of england to discuss whether to buy pay—day lender wonga which went into administration last month. three, two, one.

nasa has launched its most advanced space lazer ever, the ice sat 2, a billion dollar mission aimed at studying the extend of the earth's melting ice. next on bbc news, a special investigation by bbc scotland into milk production. it is a controversial trade. these animals are babies. the age that they are when they arrive is three weeks. i am on the trail of cattle trucks across europe. six days, two ferries, five countries. that was the most stressful journey i think i have ever done. i discover the bleak choice farmers are faced with. the alternative argument may well be that you just have to shoot this animal.