this is bbc news. the headlines: at least 1a people are known to have died in the massive storm which brought destruction to the north of the philippines. -- 25. typhoon mangkhut ripped through the main island of luzon tearing off rooves, felling trees and triggering more than forty landslides. many remote areas remain cut off. authorities in the us have warned that storm florence is "far from done". the weather system has caused catastrophic flooding across both north and south carolina. officials say at least 12 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands of homes are without electricity. the british prime minister, theresa may, has passionately defended her plan for brexit — and added she gets a "little bit irritated" about how long she'll last in thejob. in an exclusive interview with the bbc, she said "this debate is not about my future, but the future of the people of the united kingdom." the government is proposing 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 correspondent clive coleman reports. 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 is 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. now on bbc news: our world. on the ground, up in the air, and off the coast, i've been travelling all around colombia to observe a fight for the future of this country. they see narco trafficking as an opportunity, and narco trafficiking is a global problem. it's a country still emerging from half a century of civil war, seeking stability and prosperity for its highly polarised population. many colombians are facing crippling poverty, crime, and extortion. now, a new government is questioning the terms of a recent deal that brought peace here, while old enemies fear a return

to the hostilities of the past. has colombia defeated its demons? or is this a new and dangerous beginning? flying high above a lush and fertile valley, counter narcotics policemen grab sleep when they can. two years on from the peace deal with the insurgent farc guerrilla movement, they're still fighting a war — a war of drug—fuelled crime. coca production is at an all—time high. we're flying south, to a part of the country that's only recently been demobilised, where the farc

guerrillas have handed in most of their weapons as part of the peace deal. we've landed in a provincial capital in central colombia, a place called san jose del guaviare. not long ago, it was in rebel hands. dissident guerrillas live on in the surrounding jungle. coca is still being produced. singing national anthem. counter narcotics police prepare to mount a raid on a cocaine

laboratory, hidden in thejungle. i go with them, along with my wheelchair. i was shot and partly paralysed while reporting in 200a. the police commanders are well armed, and they need to be. ruthless mexican drug cartels have been moving into colombia's already violent cocaine trade. the police know that the laboratory is active. it could be well defended. 50 miles out, the lab is spotted. it was identified by intelligence five days earlier. the choppers land, right in the middle of a coca field. the troops fan out, then move in towards the laboratory. when we reach it, it's obvious it's onlyjust been

abandoned minutes ago. the police act fast. they don't want to risk spending a second longer on the ground than they need to. this here is a fully operational jungle laboratory. you can smell it in the air. they are going to now destroy it, but they are very worried about a counter—attack from the people who are operating this. they think they are going to come and try and hit them. in the rush to get out and back to the choppers, there's not even time to use my wheelchair. their raid has achieved its objective. in four days, this unit destroyed 23

bases in the jungle. but there are countless others hidden out here. locating them is like finding a needle in a haystack, even when they are found in and destroyed, others quickly spring up in their place. it is a never—ending struggle, fuelled by the global demand for cocaine. but some things have improved. colonel oscar zarate told me what operations were like before the peace deal with the farc. until recently, the unit's helicopters would frequently draw fire and they'd take casualties. now, theirjob is easier. colombia's guerrilla war

was the longest—running insurgency in latin america. by the time it formally ended in 2016, over 200,000 people had been killed and over 5 million displaced. the farc began in the ‘60s as a left—wing protest movement against poverty and inequality, but it became heavily involved in the global drugs trade and multiple kidnappings at home. right—wing pro—government paramilitaries fought them, but they too were accused of kidnapping and killing civilians. the peace deal signed two years ago between then president santos and the farc was a truly historic moment. it won him the nobel peace prize. the vast majority of the farc‘s 7000 or so guerrillas have handed in their weapons to un observers.

but in the vacuum left behind, numerous criminal gangs are vying for control of the drug trade, dramatically increasing cocaine production. even the peace deal itself is controversial. this year, colombia elected a new president, ivan duque. he and his backers have vowed to revise the peace deal on their terms. terms which, some say, risk undoing the entire peace process. ivan duque‘s campaign chimed with voters unhappy about allowing former farc militants to escape trial and even run for political office. the issue has polarised colombia. then there are other so—called dissident rebels, former farc guerrillas who have

kept their weapons and joined criminal gangs linked to the drug cartels. so, just how permanent is this peace deal? and could former farc commanders take up weapons again? i went with un observers to a remote camp to find out. we are on a road heading south, away from the police base, and we're going to a camp set up by the colombian government for former farc fighters who've handed in their weapons under the 2016 peace deal. i want to ask them if this peace agreement is working for them, or whether life was better when this whole area was controlled by the farc guerrillas. some of those guerrillas are still hiding out in the surrounding countryside, fighting on — despite the peace deal. but those who have given up their weapons, are now living a very different life.

in the demobilisation camp, i meet ivan ali, a former farc commander now running the camp. not so long ago, he was organising attacks on the military and police. now they are watching him from a wary distance, after turning up unannounced to monitor our visit. for the hundreds of former farc fighters and their families, living in this camp as civilians now takes a huge adjustment. there is a palpable sense of listlessness here, a lack of purpose. no one can be sure just how they will be accepted by colombia's civil society. but if this project is for anyone, it's for those with a life

all ahead of them. most of these children were born in the jungle in a time of conflict. they are going to need both an education and a stable future in a new, post—insurgency colombia. meanwhile, the police suspect that dissident rebels who haven't surrendered are trying to recruit from this very camp. i put this to ivan ali. given that the new government coming in now to colombia is very hard line and is saying the peace deal is too soft, do you worry about the future? is there any chance that colombia could go back to war? we're a long way from the coca fields of the amazon jungle.

this is cartagena, on colombia's northern caribbean coast, a gateway to the us and the global cocaine market. i'm being shown the state—of—the—art equipment that enables the authorities to monitor every single item of freight leaving this terminal. the police told me this is one of the most secure container terminals in the world, almost impossible to smuggle drugs from. the navy told me a different story. the colombian navy say that this island, just off cartagena harbour, is absolutely key to the cartels getting their shipments out of colombia. what they say is that they use the local population here to transfer their drugs from the mainland, and then put them onto the container ships at night. captainjulian cuartas knows exactly how it works. they use small boats with four

or five people who reach the ship during the transit of the channel, and use handmade stairs, load the container, and after that, goes down to the small boat again. but to do that, they must have some informants inside the port, yes? that's correct. aside from container ships, there are other more traditional ways of shipping your product overseas. —— these pictures, filmed in may, show a colombian navy interception of a cartel speedboat just offshore from cartagena. the operation succeeded. the drugs ended up in the sea. but an unknown number of other vessels still make it through. and if speed doesn't work, there's always stealth. this submersible was found

in a small shipyard, hidden along the coast. how far would one of these go? can it reach the united states? yeah, it can go to the united states in a travel time of around 13 days. right. another day, another mission. i am accompanying the counter narcotics troops as they mount a raid on a coca crop close to the dangerous ecuadorian border. i have met the officer in charge before, he's coloneljesus quintero. eight years ago, i found him fighting a mostly farc run drug trade. today, he's up against international crime cartels. they've moved into the vacuum left after the farc disarmed. violence has soared in some areas, as rival gangs compete for turf and trade across the borders.

today's raid is focused on one thing alone, manual eradication of illicit coca crops. the us wants production halved by 2033. production went up by a quarter last year alone. that is despite the reported eradication of 50,000 hectares. and it's dangerous work too. the cartels plant landmines, so sniffer dogs have to go in first. once the troops depart, the cartels and the farmers simply replant the coca crops. which begs the question, what's the point? colonel, when i met you here eight years ago, in the same province, you were doing the same thing, manual eradication. it feels a bit like groundhog day, has anything changed ?

yes. i do believe there are some other things changing now in our country. first of all, we must see that we have been making a great effort, on bringing new opportunities for development of the economy through the substitution programme. it hasn't worked, has it, because coca production isjust a soaring, it has trebled in the last two years, since the peace deal? yeah, we have some troubles that need to be repaired, to fix up the whole programme. but we cannot desist on working to bring these guys, these families, new opportunities to be part of our country. operations like these are deeply unpopular with the farmers. so the police have brought with them a riot control unit and full body armour. in one clash last year, shots were fired and five local farmers reportedly killed. the government wants to stop any

more clashes from escalating. for the eradication programme to be of benefit to the villagers here, two things need to happen... for the drug cartels to stop paying and pressuring the farmers to grow coca for them, and for the local population to be offered a viable alternative. we're in this village where they are doing manual eradication, the police are pulling up coca plans. we are trying to convince the local family here to talk to us. they don't want to talk because they have been a bit spooked by all the police. what they have told us privately is that they have had their crops pulled up three times this year and nothing works. none of the substitution stuff, they've tried avocados, bananas — it's too expensive for them to get their product to and from the market, so that is a real worry here. and in the nearby town of tumaco,

the violence of the drugs trade hangs over the population. the murder rate here has soared since the farc peace deal, as the gangs fight it out. it is four times the national average. across colombia last year, over 120 social workers have been murdered in contract killings, blamed on both the cartels and pro—government paramilitaries. the authorities were not keen on us filming here, but this was a key part of the whole story i didn't want to miss out on. oscar gregorio has been championing people's right here most of his life, trying to stop young men joining the gangs. like me, he's survived being shot at close range. i asked him how easy is it for young people to get recruited into drug gangs? could you paint a picture of the violence that accompanies

the drug trade here? tumaco and its surrounding province has been under—invested in for decades. many people here are of african descent and they feel abandoned and ignored by their government. the lure of the drugs trade often proves irresistible, despite the risk of being tortured to death by rival gangs. oscar took me to see

some of the families in the neighbourhood, to hear how their lives have been affected. do you have sons? do you worry that when your sons grow up, they will get intimidated into joining drug gangs? what do mothers say here to their sons, when their sons grow up and the gangs want to get them in, how do mothers stop them, how do you persuade them not to? it's a far cry from the wealth and affluence of the capital,

bogota. here, the head of columbia's armed forces admitted there is still a long way to go to achieve peace and stability in all parts of this country. we still have other groups that, as the farc left, they see narco trafficking as an opportunity. and narco trafficking is a global problem. it is a problem that is very difficult to solve, because as there is consumption, of course, production goes up. so, we are struggling to try to win the war against narco trafficking. coca hasn't gone away, production has trebled in some places, murder‘s gone up in some places. are you confident that you are going to have the support of the population in those areas? colombia is still struggling after the peace process to reach a stable peace. we need to be able to bring the rest of the state to many areas

of violence, because we need to stabilise those territories. we still have in colombia, u nfortu nately, places in which the only presence of the state is a soldier. we want to change that, and the opportunity that the peace process is giving to colombians, in general, is about that. at night, tumaco has had a bad reputation, with bodies getting dumped nightly into the sea. but this year, the goverment has brought in 12,000 police and troops to try to smother the violence. since march, the goverment has surged these streets with police and soldiers. so far, it's working. protected by an armed police escort, i took a stroll through tumaco with a local police commander. but everyone tells us it is only a temporary respite,

and it's unsustainable without addressing the underlying social problems. in 20 years this country has become safer, more prosperous, more hopeful, yet those hopes will be dashed if the rifts in society are not healed and if real, workable alternatives are not found to the clutches of the cocaine trade. hello. there's the potential for some turbulent whether in the forecast over the next few days and that is already making its presence felt across scotland, northern ireland, parts of northern england and north wales as this front works its way south and east overnight, bringing heavy rain and gusty winds. through sunday, the frontal system is running into an area of high pressure to the south of the uk. through sunday, it will weaken. the rain will tend to fizzle out and we will be left with a band of cloud and the odd spot of rain through the afternoon, stretching down through the midlands and south—west england. on either side, spells of sunshine. some patchy drizzle for the western isles of scotland where it will continue to be quite windy. elsewhere, the strong winds from overnight will ease down but still quite a breezy day and fairly warm across east anglia and south—east england.

temperatures up to 22 or 23dc. elsewhere, generally 17 or 20 celsius, cooler for the far north of scotland. keeping an eye on this area of low pressure, it has in it the remnants of hurricane helene, no longer a hurricane but providing tropical moisture and energy to that area of low pressure. it will strengthen the winds as we go through monday and pull some very warm and humid air across england and wales, particularly the further south and east you are. on monday, a mixture of variable cloud and a sunny spells before the rain arrives into northern ireland, parts of north—west england and western scotland. it will be heavy. some strong winds accompanying that with some very strong gusts as well. these are the average speed through monday afternoon. the gusts will be even higher. as we go from monday into tuesday, the gusts for the western isles of scotland could touch 60 or 70 mph. as we head south and east, in the warm and humid air we could see highs of 23 on monday across east anglia and south—east

england. here is our area of low pressure marching across the western side of the uk into tuesday. notice the squeeze in the isobars. this is where we will see the strongest winds — across northern ireland, scotland and northern parts of england. some very strong gusts. on tuesday, a mixture of sunny spells and heavy showers, particularly for northern ireland, scotland, western side of england and wales. again, a windy day for all of us but still holding onto some very warm and humid air across east and south—east england where we will see that which is up to 23 and 24. some sunshine here, yes, and very warm, but windy for all of us. particular gusty for northern ireland and scotland and northern parts of england. strong winds early next week, very warm in the south—east but some rain for the north and west. bye— bye. welcome to bbc news,

broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: at least 25 dead as typhoon mankut wreaks havoc in the philippines. warnings in the us that storm florence is "farfrom done". president trump declares a disaster in north carolina. the british prime minister defends her brexit plan — but dismisses talk of a leadership challenge. this is where i get a little bit irritated. this debate is not about my future. this debate is about the future of the people of the uk and the future of the united kingdom. and charting the polar icecaps from space. nasa's new mission launches a laser into orbit.