this is bbc news. the headlines at apm. the strongest typhoon of the year so far has been battering the northern phillipines — with violent winds and 20 foot storm surges. thousands have been evacuated. at least 1a have been killed — most of whom caught in landslides set off by the powerful winds and heavy rainfall. in the us — tropical storm florence is causing significant flooding on the east coast — five are reported dead so far. it will produce catastrophic flooding over parts of north and south carolina for some time. also coming up this hour,

an overhaul of divorce law. ministers set out plans for ‘no fault—divorce‘ — removing the need to attribute blame. nasa has launched its most advanced space laser ever, the ice satii, a billion dollar mission aimed at studying the extend of the earths melting ice. 1a people have died in the philippines —

where the strongest typhoon so far this year has brought violent winds and torrential rains. map 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. tens of thousands have been evacuated from coastal areas. typhoon mangkhut hitjust before to me an last thursday, wreaking havoc in the predawn darkness. this is what people woke up to. almost every building is damaged in the city in some way. downed trees, crushed cars, debris including fallen power lines litter the streets. when the wave hit the road, it also hit the embankment and the houses were shaking. mangkhut is the strongest tropical cyclone the world has seen so far this year, even though its wind speed dropped when it hit land and the storm is downgraded from a super typhoon, mangkhut is still packing winds of equivalent

of a hurricane for cyclone. 185 kilometres per hour. the philippines is no stranger to typhoons. residents were as prepared as they could be. flights have been cancelled, schools shut and the army is on standby. but the torrential rain has caused landslides, which have already claimed lives and authorities feared the death toll will rise. we are looking at a house buried because of the eruption. we are looking at a vehicle, they are still rescuing the vehicle, buried because of the landslide. now it's heading to china. the typhoon is forecast to pass over hong kong on sunday afternoon. authorities say when it hits, it may be upgraded once again to a super typhoon. conditions should ease by tuesday. lot felizco is oxfam's country directorfor 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 on 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, to 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 lot of support needed for livelihoods 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 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. the governor of north carolina roy cooper is giving a news conference right now — this is what he's had to say so far. we face walls of water at chris, along rivers, across farmland, cities, and in our towns. more people now face eminent flirt than when the storm was just offshore. —— threat. i cannot be overstated. floodwaters are rising, and if you are not watching for them, you are risking your life. have several important warnings this morning.

first to the people who have evacuated, if you are safe, stay there. we know that people are anxious to get back home. but do not go back until the storm passes and you get the official all clear. second, know that the water is rising fast everywhere. even in places that don't typically flood. this system is unloading a big amount of rainfall. in some places measured in feet and not dangers. many people that think that the storm has missed them have yet to see a threat. roy cooper there. 0ur correspondent laura trevelyan is in wilmington, in north carolina. we heard the advice being given by the governor, people speaking

earlier about the flooding, tornadoes, waterspouts. the warnings, the dangers have not cleared yet. no, not at all, hurricane florence has been downgraded, it is now a tropical storm, she's dumping so much rainfall on north carolina and parts of south carolina that the worst of the flooding is yet to, as the governor of north carolina roy cooper was outlining down the clip you played. as an illustration of this, the river behind me, it is not jude to actually quest until she stayed. so that means the worst flooding that will be expressed here is not for a few days yet. that is why this is very deceptive and it is widely governor is trying to make point that more people's lives are at risk now done well when this thing made landfall. because we are expecting some places of north carolina to get out the year's worth

of rain injust two or three carolina to get out the year's worth of rain in just two or three days, so of rain in just two or three days, so just of rain in just two or three days, sojust think what of rain in just two or three days, so just think what that does to the rivers. it creates flooding and this isa rivers. it creates flooding and this is a coastal area and that hurricane is a coastal area and that hurricane is happy effect of a bulldozer, forcing all this water onto the land, land that was saturated from rainfall later in the summer. it is a very dangerous moment in the evolution of this storm. i have seen people walking behind you and a car driving by, it is that the water level has not peaked. what are the local scene to you, those who haven't evacuated? the people at out and about looking for gas, which is in short supply, to run their generators, cars. nearlya million people across north and south carolina are without power, so just imagine what that is like. in some places you cannot even flush a toilet. if you do not have shelter

and no power, this is very primitive living. also, food supplies have also run down in areas where there was mandatory evacuation if you stayed behind, those who left brought the food. it is a very difficult moment, people here have seen difficult moment, people here have seen hurricanes before, but this is a monster storm. thank you very much for that. laura will keep us updated on the ground. i've been speaking to lieutenant bob berez from the south carolina highway patrol about what advice he's been giving to residents. we're asking people through south carolina not to drive around because we had 100 trees down overnight, we responded to those calls and some of the trees brought down power lines, so, not safe for travel. just a

little while ago i checked, and we had 160,000 people without power through south carolina. as far as the power lines, once they have come down, is still safe to be around them? absolutely not, you cannot tell if the power line is still charged or not. we cold the power company and work with the department for transport titian to remove the trees after the deceased to do so, so there are a lot of people and agencies involved but we want to make sure the roads are clear and safe before anyone drives. —— remove the trees when it it safe to do so. what sort of rescues are your team taking part in? have a lot of people evacuated the area? did he heed the warnings are you having to step in and help out? —— are they heeding the warnings? we reversed 100 miles

of interstate last week to expedite the evacuation process, so, we have seen the evacuation process, so, we have seen people leave, and we encouraged that earlier in the week, but the people who are staying here still today, we encourage them to stay inside, be with your families but do not come out until the authorities tell you it is safe. i suppose nothing can be done until the water sta rts nothing can be done until the water starts to subside. what are the utility vehicles, those looking into repairing the power lines and checking that everything is safe, when can they start to move in? when it is safe, what we're seeing at the moment is steady rain, the wind is dying down, especially in the charleston area, so we're checking the roadways continuously, and as we receive calls for service, we are addressing those and we want to sure roadways are safe before power

workers and transportation workers. 0nce workers and transportation workers. once it is safe we will let the public know. the family of a former british soldier say he's been given a seven and a half yearjail sentence in turkey because he helped kurdish forces in the fight against islamic state. joe robinson, who's 25, was arrested last year while on holiday in turkey and charged with terrorism offences. he'd previously helped kurdish fighters from the ypg, who the turkish authorities regard as terrorists. his family say he was volunteering as a medic. let's speak now to joe robinson's fiancee, mira rojkan. can wejust can we just clarify first, what was joe doing in turkey? we were on a family holiday with my mum and dad, we have family there so we went to

see them last summer. and the allegations are that he was fighting against the so—called islamic state. you are saying that he was carrying out medical duties? he was never pa rt out medical duties? he was never part that, he neverfought, and during the time that he was there, which was one month, there were no clashes and he was mostlyjust helping civilians and providing medical help. how is he at the moment? he was very shocked by the news from yesterday. he is very desperate to come home, he is broken, he is tired, and hejust wishes to come home as soon as possible. where is he? he is in a

town in turkey, where he has decided register once a week, every monday. so, he is on bail, then? it is being appealed, so it is not a final decision, but of course it is a sentence. what sort of support is joe's family receiving and yourself, with this matter? i am a bulgarian citizens who i received a lot of help from the bulgarian foreign 0ffice help from the bulgarian foreign office and they really supported me throughout, we always have a representative from the bulgarian embassy coming to court hearings. u nfortu nately for embassy coming to court hearings. unfortunately for joe, there embassy coming to court hearings. unfortunately forjoe, there was very little help from the foreign 0ffice. very little help from the foreign office. they are interested in the case and they are following it, but they did not send any representatives to help nearly as much as the bulgarian magistrate. representatives to help nearly as much as the bulgarian magistratelj understand the foreign office have

said we stand ready to provide consular assistance to a british national in turkey. what is your next move, what is his next move? we are appealing at the moment and we're going be appealing until we get home because the decision is not justifiable. it is not based on any legal grounds, purely based on political agenda and posts he has done on facebook, which i think it is not ok in the 21st century, and we're going to be appealing. what sort of posts are talking about? where he is criticising the turkish government, the way they are treating not just their government, the way they are treating notjust their own citizens, but foreign citizens as well, like him. the violations... he

spent three months in iraq... sound problems did he understand the risks of where he was going and what he was saying, did he not understand the political situation on the ground? we spoke about it before going to turkey, but we went on holiday and he had not committed any crime towards turkey. he spent one month in syria, providing humanitarian help as a military medic, he was not a member ofan help as a military medic, he was not a member of an organisation and did not know the situation between the kurds and the turks, so we thought it would be ok and we are just a normalfamily going it would be ok and we are just a normal family going on it would be ok and we are just a normalfamily going on holiday. we're going to leave it there for no. thank you very much. 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. in sport, liverpool have made it five out of five in the premier league. they maintain their perfect start with a 2—1victory over totte n ha m. start with a 2—1victory over tottenham. lewis hamilton will start the singapore grand prix from pole position after a qualifying lap he said felt like magic. his rival sebastian vettel could only manage third. britain's simon yates leads the vuelta with 20 kilometres remaining. the latest from the

premier league fixtures are on the website. we are back at 5:30pm. the government is proposing a significant change 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. let's speak now to liz trinder, professor of socio—legal studies at the university of exeter — who recently led a study into the impact of divorce cases. shejoins me now via webcam. thank you forjoining as. you led the study. what did you find from this? we find previous researchers have done that the existing law causes problems, it does not achieve anything constructive. it produces conflict, and lots of pain that is

not really necessary. we have not got the best line, but i'm going to continue. so, how badly are these reforms needed? we have been trying to reform the law for the last 30 yea rs. to reform the law for the last 30 years. there was a previous attempt in1996, years. there was a previous attempt in 1996, but that was not actually implemented. it is long overdue, so the existing law nearly 15 years old. we are aware that living conditions have changed significantly since then, and the law has not kept up pace with those changes. so, the idea that you need blame, you need fault in order to progress through divorce, what about the idea of contesting, because there have been some pretty high profile cases where a husband has contested the application for divorce. just take us through how that will improve. it is actually

very rear. you are probably the fed into the keys of 0wens very rear. you are probably the fed into the keys of owens and 0wens, which is probably the only case in the past ten, 20 years, where the court has refused to grant a decree of divorce even though the marriage had clearly broken down irretrievably. these are rare cases and there is only about 600 cases out of 110,000 of the year, where one of the parties says they are going to defend the divorce. but few continue to trial, as in the keys of 0wens, continue to trial, as in the keys of owens, and if they do actually get to court, usually the court says, it is very clear that the marriage has broken bone irretrievably, you wouldn't be here otherwise, so it is surely taking out the possibility of defence is going to affect a tiny handful of cases, and what we found

in our research is closed defended cases are typically not for good reasons, it is clear the marriage has broken down irretrievably and the respondent just has broken down irretrievably and the respondentjust doesn't want has broken down irretrievably and the respondent just doesn't want to let go, and is really playing the system, trying to make it as difficult as possible for the other side, and we don't want to see that. through this study and the research, we re through this study and the research, were any surprises thrown up and recommendations that go beyond the reforms that go through consultation at the moment? no, usually researchers want to say we have fantastic new findings that no one has ever found before, but in fact what we found was previous researchers have been finding over the last 20 decades. what the government has suggested is very much in line with our recommendations, and those of other interested parties like resolution, who are very important professional body within the field, so it is

great that the government has been listening, but it is notjust to our research, it is the voices of people with knowledge and understanding of the system going back 20, 30 years. we will be that there, thank you very much. 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. 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 to. the ice sat ii 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 ice sat 2 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 icesat—2, 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. now it's time for a look at the weather with lucy. a fairly settled day—to—day, but we have wet and windy weather to come over the next few days, in fact we're already seeing outbreaks of rain into northern ireland, parts of scotla nd rain into northern ireland, parts of scotland as we go through the night, into the early hours. wind is picking up, with temperatures staying in double figures. the rain will become increasingly light and patchy, behind at a good deal of sunshine. we will see some drier, brighter weather, and in the south—east, feeling warmer than today, with a maximum of 23 degrees. wet and windy weather to come next

week, later monday into tuesday, the re m na nts of week, later monday into tuesday, the remnants of the hurricane three bring wet and humid weather. stay tuned for the forecast and we will keep you up—to—date. hello, this is bbc news with lu kwesa burak. the headlines: the strongest typhoon so far this year has been battering the northern phillipines with violent winds and 20 foot storm surges. 1a 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.