this is bbc news. the headlines at seven. a terror investigation is launched after three people including a police officer are stabbed at manchester's victoria station. my thoughts are very much with the couple who are still being treated in hospitalfor their very serious injuries. and of course with the brave british transport police officer that was stabbed during the attack. there it is. meet ultima! four billion miles away and the most distant space object ever explored — a nasa space probe gets an image of ultima thule. jair bolsonaro, a far—right politician vowing a crackdown on crime and corruption, is sworn in as brazil's new president. in russia, an eleven—month—old baby is pulled from the rubble of a block of flats hit by an explosion — eight bodies have so far been found. coming up in our sports bulletin, everton manager marco silva says his players were "too nervous" as they record their fourth defeat in five games, with leicester winning 1—0.

and coming up at 7.30, a special programme about the unique choir who played their part in celebrating the royal wedding of harry and meghan. police have launched a terror investigation after the stabbing of three people last night at manchester's victoria railway station, one of them a police officer. a 25—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. the victims‘ injuries are said to be serious but not life threatening. the prime minister said her thoughts were with them and praised the response of the emergency services. our correspondent danny savage is in manchester for us tonight. danny. tell us a little bit about the

investigation and how it has unfolded through the day. christian, there is little doubt that anyone passing through manchester victoria railway station at about ten to nine last night would have been terrified to witness the events that happened here on the platform. a knife attack carried out at random, it appears, on people passing through the station. police have said because of what the attacker alleged to have said during the attack and after the attack as he was led out of the doors here into a police van, they are now treating this as a terrorism investigation. a railway station in central manchester, just before 9pm last night. move away now. move! police restrain a man on the ground who moments earlier had been wielding a knife, attacking passers—by. a bbcjournalist was on the platform at the time and saw what happened. it's new year's eve, people have had a drink. they've probably —

"it's just, it's just a fight." "it will fizzle out in the next few seconds." but then ijust heard the guy shout as part of a sentence, "allah", and i thought, that doesn't sound good. at the point i was just edging towards the tracks to jump onto the tracks he was pepper sprayed, he was tasered, theyjust kind of swarmed on him, brought him down. three people were stabbed, one of them was a police officer, the other two were a man and woman in their 50s. all the injuries were serious but not life—threatening. allahu akbar! a short time later the man was taken away from manchester victoria station by police, shouting "god is greatest" in arabic. the chief constable of greater manchester police said it is being treated as a terrorist incident.

we are treating this as a terrorist investigation. which is being led by counterterrorism officers with support from greater manchester police. they were working throughout the night to piece together the details of what happened and to identify the man who was arrested. the same time, they announced they were searching a property in the cheetham hill area of the city, where police now stand guard. the city's mayor is trying to reassure people. manchester is strong, it is united. we will not allow anybody to divide us. we will continue to work closely with colleagues in the government and other public services over the coming days. but as i say, people should not be unduly alarmed. we would ask people to remain vigilant. but we believe this has all the hallmarks, and appears to be an isolated incident. the injured policeman is now at home. but the couple attacked here last night are likely to be in hospital for some time.

police also say that the location of the attack may be a factor as well. this is manchester victoria station and is adjacent to the manchester arena where a suicide bomber kills 22 people back in 2017 and injured many hundreds of others. listening to what the counterterrorism officer had to say today and also what the chief constable of greater manchester police had to say to us today, they are reading between the lines, and it just today, they are reading between the lines, and itjust feels as though they do not feel as though it is a coincidence that this attack, which has happened in the city last night, that it happened here, that that is just a coincidence that it has happened at the same railway station close to the arena, so that is a pa rt close to the arena, so that is a part of the line of the inquiry as well. and full credit to the policeman, we heard from sam last night about the speed with which they responded prevented other people from being attacked. what has been the general reaction from

people today in manchester? one of the key points that the counterterrorism officer made to us today, he basically gave us an on the record briefing which couldn't be shown or broadcast, so giving us information about the investigation and what was happening, and one of the key points he made was that he praised british transport police, because that's who covers this railway station, it's not greater manchester police, it's british transport police who are responsible for this site. they were quickly on the scene and very bravely handle the scene and very bravely handle the situation, and eyewitnesses say that british transport police officers swarmed onto the suspect within moments of the attack beginning, and were soon on top of him, and half a dozen officers were pinning him down, so there has been great praise for them, and also from andy burnham as well for the way they went forward. that was also reflected in the arena attack, had a british transport police ran to the scene and were the first to be giving first aid and helping people as they came out from that attack.

so the same happened last night, and it is reassuring, but the key message from the authorities is that the man who carried out last night's attack was operating alone, there isn't a wider network of other people involved, it wasjust somebody on their own. danny savage in manchester, thank you very much indeed. a nasa spacecraft has flown past the most distant world ever studied in our solar system — some four billon miles away. there were celebrations from scientists at mission control when confirmation came through that the new horizons probe had achieved the historic fly by of the mysterious, icy world known as ultima thule. the probe has taken pictures of it that will be sent back to earth over the coming months. 0ur science correspondent, palab ghosh reports. ten, nine, eight, seven, six... it's not the new year they're counting in, but the arrival of nasa's new horizons spacecraft. one! go, new horizons! it's just arrived at the most distant object that humanity has ever explored. this simulation shows

the mission‘s target. it's called ultima thule. 4 billion miles away, it's one of the building blocks that planets are made from. we're here to tell you that last night, overnight, the united states spacecraft new horizons conducted the farthest exploration in the history of humankind and did so spectacularly. thousands of operations on board the spacecraft had to work correctly in order for us to be able to tell you this, and now we know that it all did. so far, the spacecraft has only sent back low resolution pictures. but over the coming days, the images will become increasingly clearer. nasa confirmed that the spacecraft had acquired gigabytes of photos, the latest of which they released today. and it's ok to laugh, but it's better than the one we had yesterday. there it is! meet ultima! ultima thule seems to be peanut—shaped. what a difference a day makes!

and ultima thule is finally revealing its secrets to us, and even though it is a pixelated blob still, it's a better pixelated blob! and this analysis suggests it might be rotating like a propeller. new horizons has flown towards the edge of our solar system, sending back these spectacular images of pluto on its way. these are real images of one of the solar system's most distant worlds. and very soon we'll be able to see ultima thule in such incredible detail. and then, the team hopes that new horizons will be able to journey even further out. pallab ghosh, bbc news. truly fascinating. we're joined now by emma alexander, a researcher of astrophysics at the university of manchester. so we have this taster of what is to

come tomorrow, albeit a pixelated blob at the moment. what sort of information might we learn when the high—resolution images come in? information might we learn when the high-resolution images come in? we are looking for details on the surface of this distant object, ultima thule, and really it's a snapshot of what the solar system might have been like 4.6 billion yea rs might have been like 4.6 billion years ago, because this object has not changed much in that time. this area, this region, just outside our galaxy, it is known as the one. it's not somewhere we have been able to explore in situ before. so tell us what we are hoping to learn. this is the kuiper belt come on the edge of oui’ the kuiper belt come on the edge of our solar system, so this is really going out quite far, only a few probes have made it this far before. and we are looking at these cold, distant objects that have been

perfectly preserved. i'm marvelling when i watch this at the technology and what they have been able to do, because it effectively it is a slingshot into space, and they have managed to channel it towards this object that they have seen through their telescopes. explain to us the extraordinary achievement they have made here. as you said, it really is extraordinary, because these are operating at distances that are so far away, it takes six hours to receive a signal to new horizons, and it also takes six hours to send anything, so a couple of days ago when the final observations and course corrections were made for this flyby, and from initial photos when they were approaching the object, they thought there was no debris or anything else that got in the way that the spacecraft could have crashed into, but we didn't really know, and it'sjust have crashed into, but we didn't really know, and it's just that sigh

of relief when you know that spacecraft has sent that signal home and it has completed the flyby, and at the moment everything is looking promising that things have gone well. so we will get these very high resolution images. and we will get other information as well. what are they looking for, the geology of this rock? yes, we would like to map the surface, so one of the areas of interest is how many craters it has on the surface, because that gives an indication of how often these objects might be colliding with each other out in this distant kuiper belt. and what about this spacecraft, new horizons? does it carry on travelling? what happens next? it willjust keep on travelling, it is going at 14 kilometres a second, so moving very quickly away from us and it will just consider —— continue heading out through the kuiper belt, and it might come across some other object on the way that ultimately it is

heading out of the solar system. can we keep in contact with it indefinitely, or is there a limit? we think we will be able to keep in contact with it for a while yet. it depends on how healthy is systems stay. it runs on nuclear fuel, depends on how healthy is systems stay. it runs on nuclearfuel, so it should have a supply for a while yet, but it is a case of keeping those instruments warm and safe, and hoping that nothing fails on them. but yes, we should still be able to receive signals from it for a fair few years to come. we will excitedly look forward to those pictures coming through tomorrow. emma, thank you very much indeed. two people have died in separate stabbings in london. a man thought to be in his 30s was killed outside a party in park lane. two other men and a women were also treated for stab wounds. it's undertood the men were working as security staff. meanwhile, in camberwell in south london, a 34—year—old man has been arrested after a woman was fatally stabbed. the victim, in her early 30s, was found in a house early this morning.

the right—wing populist, jair bolsonaro, has been sworn in as the new president of brazil. he's promising a crackdown on corruption and violent crime, and vowed to revive brazil's flagging economy. but mr bolsonaro is a deeply divisive figure, whose homophobic and misogynistic comments have angered many. 0ur south america correspondent, katy watson, sent this from the country's capital brasilia. a historic day for brazil, one that even bolsonaro and his fans probably never expected could happen. but he made it, and for the next four years, this will be the man in charge of latin america's biggest economy. a man who's promised to lead brazil down a very different political path to that of his predecessors. thousands came to see mr bolsonaro take power. dressed in the colours of the brazilian flag, they shouted support for the man they call a legend. after 13 years of a very corrupt government in brazil,

so now we have a hope that with bolsonaro, he will clean up. he wants to unite families, not divide. we are not black, white, poor or rich, we are a nation. jair bolsonaro campaigned as an outsider, promising to drain the swamp of corrupt politicians. for several years now, the political establishment has been mired in corruption scandals. brazilians are fed up. much like donald trump, a man he openly admires, bolsonaro says he wants to make brazil great again, to rule the country with an iron fist. for people in this crowd, bolsonaro represents change, a fresh start for brazilian politics. but his fiery rhetoric during the campaign means many people are worried, especially from brazil's minority groups, about what the next four years will mean for their future. for the country's many indigenous communities, bolsonaro represents a huge threat. he has made it clear

he supports the powerful and lucrative farming industry, and said he won't give a centimetre more land to the indigenous once he's in power. translation: we are left worried whether he will try and finish us off or give us the land we deserve. he supports landowners, they are more valuable to him than we are. mr bolsonaro certainly marks a new political direction for brazil, but how the country will fare with this far—right firebrand in power is uncertain. katy watson, bbc news, in brasilia. viktor 0rban, the hungarian leader, was the only european leader to attend today. what has been the wider reaction there, katy? we have had a tweet from donald trump

congratulating jair bolsonaro, and jair bolsonaro replied saying i truly appreciate your words of encouragement. we shall bring prosperity and progress to our people. so the bromance has begun, mr bolsonaro is very clear in his admiration for mr mr bolsonaro is very clear in his admiration foertrump, mr bolsonaro is very clear in his admiration for mrtrump, and mr bolsonaro is very clear in his admiration for mr trump, and the two men are talking. we will see how the relationship will flourish. he certainly wanted to promote the relationship between the us and brazil more than his predecessors. it was a divisive election, katy, but he did promise to govern for all brazilians when he won. are we expecting a softer tone now he has been sworn in? certainly elements of the acceptance speech showed a softer tone. you talked about the fa ct softer tone. you talked about the fact that this would be a huge challenge for brazil, a new chapter for the country, and he was ruling for the country, and he was ruling for all brazilians. but he hasn't

ruled yet, so let's see exactly what happens. certainly his rhetoric during the campaign has worried a lot of people, and talking about that meant he is supporting big business, and what that means in the amazon and the conservation efforts there as well as indigenous groups, environmental protections. there are a huge amount of concerns. here he has plenty of supporters, but there are many more. and his biggest challenge to crack down on the corruption that is existing in brazil at the moment. absolutely. he came to power saying that he would put an end to corruption. people here in brazil are fed up. there has been a huge amount of corruption scandals in the past few years. former president lula da silva is in prison for corruption, and he is seen as prison for corruption, and he is seen as everything that has gone wrong with politics. despite the fa ct wrong with politics. despite the fact that there are politicians from all parties serving time will have been accused of corruption, so how he will do anything different. there

are huge hopes here, especially in this crowd, that what he will do differently and how successful he will be, that remains to be seen. katie watson, thank you very much. it is just after a quarter past seven. let's check in on the headlines. successfully flown past icy mass ultima thule — the most distant object every explored in the solar system jair bolsonaro, a far—right politician vowing a crackdown on crime and corruption, is sworn in as brazil's new president. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's sarah. thank you very much, christian. let's start with leicester city. leicester city beat everton1—0 at goodison park to win the first premier league match

of the jamie vardy was the match winner with a goal in the second half. leicester up to 7th in the table after a really good run of festive fixtures — they've taken 9 points from a possible 12. two other premier league matches today. spurs have moved back into second. they came out 3—0 against cardiff in the evening kick—off. that has just come to full—time. all the goals coming in the first half an hour. earlier arsenal beat fulham 4—1 at the emirates — decent response from the home side after that hammering from liverpool. there was a cracking match in the championship as nottingham forest beat leaders leeds 4—2. the visitors had gone down to ten men in the first half but they looked to be on for a remarkable turnaround when they went 2—1 in front. but forest struck a leveller through jack colback‘s second goal of the game, and then went in front when daryl murphy headed in from this corner.

leeds eventually tired and conceded a fourth late on, but they are still top of the league after promotion rivals norwich and west brom both dropped points. all today's results from across the divisions are on the bbc sport website. andy murray started 2019 with a win in australia but says he doesn't know how much longer he'll be able to compete. last year was virtually a write—off following hip surgery. he beat australianjames duckworth in straight sets in the first round of the brisbane international but revealed just how hard his rehab has been. it is not easy to sum up in one sentence 01’ one answer. it has been really hard 18 months, a lot of ups and downs. it was trickyjust a kind of get back on the court competing again, so i'm happy i'm back out here again. i want to try and enjoy it as much as i can,

and just try and enjoy playing tennis as long as i can. i don't know how much longer it's going to last, but we'll see. the british number1johanna konta was also in action in brisbane, she beat the former us open winner sloane stephens in straight sets. konta's had a difficult 12 months, but now has a new coach and says she's trying to create something new and better in 2019. two greats of the game faced off in perth earlier — as roger federer came out on top against serena williams in a mixed doubles match at the hopman cup. this was the first time they had played against each other in a tournament. federer and belinda bencic, representing switzerland, are the defending champions and they beat williams and her us teamate frances tiafoe in straight sets. federer says it was an ‘honour‘ to play against serena and this is what she thought. it's something that as we grew

up together, really, just watching and having an opportunity after all these years, we've actually never done this, so it was super cool that we get to do it at such a pinnacle point in both of our careers, so for me it was super cool, i wanted to take pictures, and i wanted to bring my baby out, i was way too excited! but it was really fun. she certainly enjoy that, didn't she? but have a look at this, that happened early in the day. federer was playing a singles match, and this was the warm up. something is missing, and can you spot it? i could compete at that sport without the tennis balls! eventually they did get one, and they could eventually get on with things. and geraint thomas and chris froome are both going to focus on the tour de france this year. froome isn't going to defend his giro d'italia title in may, conserving his energy for a tilt at a record—equalling fifth tour title in france injuly.

that means he'll go head to head with fellow team sky rider thomas again, who won the tour for the first time last year, despite froome being team leader. that's all the sport for now. sarah, thank you very much. we will see you shortly. rescue workers in russia have pulled a baby boy from the rubble of an apartment block that collapsed in a suspected gas explosion yesterday. the baby, who's 11 months old, survived despite subzero temperatures overnight. he has frostbite and head and leg injuries. at least eight people died when the building collapsed in the city of magnitogorsk — and many are still unaccounted for. 0ur moscow correspondent sarah rainsford reports. rescuers are calling this a new year miracle, the moment they reached the baby clinging to life between the rubble of his own. he had lain trapped and injured 4/30 hours. the

emergency team shouts to hurry as he is checked first by a medic and then bundled off the hospital with fractures and frostbite. translation: one of the rescuers heard a baby crying, and we stopped to listen, but when we said quiet, the baby went quiet, too. it was when we said, where are you, that we got a response. this is all that remains of almost 50 apartments. officials suspect the blast was caused by a gas leak, poor maintenance. fatal explosions are all too common here. last night president putin himself flew in in a show of support, and was briefed by emergency teams in their tent headquarters. they are working round the clock here, but they have only found a handful of survivors. for some, rescue came too late. the

bitter cold is an extra danger. at night, the temperature drops to —20 lower. finding baby ivan beneath all this has given the rescue teams fresh hope, though doctors say his condition is very serious. they plan to fly him to moscow for specialist ca re to fly him to moscow for specialist care as, at the scene, the search for other survivors goes on. eight people have been rescued in france , after spending the night trapped on a funfair ride more than 160 feet in the air. a new year's eve they won't forget ina hurry! firefighters made several attempts to help after the ride, in the western city of rennes, malfunctioned , but their ladders were too short. eventually a helicopter was brought in to winch people down. that is not my idea of a good time out. the president of the world anti—doping agency is "bitterly disappointed" after it was confirmed

russia's anti—doping agency missed the deadline to hand over data from its moscow laboratory. russia had until the end of the december to comply, but wada's inspection team were denied full access to samples. the country could now be at risk of another ban from international events after a state—sponsored doping scandal. wada says it will refer the issue to its compliance review committee. the archbishop of canterbury, justin welby, has called for an end to what he called the "divisions of recent yea rs." in his new year sermon, he says the uk is "wonderfully more diverse" than it used to be — and yet he says people are disagreeing on many things and are struggling to disagree well. our religon editor martin bashir reports. can i make you a cup of coffee? for his new year's message, the archbishop of canterbury, justin welby, didn't venture far. this is the kitchen at his london residence in lambeth palace. a home that he shares each year with around 20 young people who commit themselves to ten months of prayer, study and community service. they have an extraordinary range of backgrounds,

cultures and opinions. they live together, cook together, volunteer with charities together, and, because they are human, they clash together. named after a benedictine monk who became archbishop of canterbury at the end of the 11th century, the community of st anselm is an attempt to challenge whatjustin welby says is increasing division and rancour in british society. we disagree on many things and we are struggling with how to disagree well. turn on the television, read the news, and you see a lot that could tempt you to despair. quoting the gospel ofjohn, the archbishop said thatjesus chose community over conflict, hope over despair, and he says that we should do the same in 2019. hope lies in our capacity to approach this new year

in a spirit of openness towards each other. that will involve choosing to see ourselves as neighbours, as fellow citizens, as communities, each with something to contribute. and he acknowledged how challenging this will be in the current political climate. with the struggles and divisions of recent years, that will not be easy. but that difficult work is part of the joy and blessing of being a community. whether it's the 20 people here or millions of us, i wish all of us a happy, and more importantly hope—filled, new year. martin bashir, bbc news, at lambeth palace. it's coming up to half past seven, i will bring you the headlines very shortly. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise. good evening. for those of us lucky enough to have some sunshine today, that will lead to a cold

and wintry night. there is always the risk of an isolated shower on the north sea coasts, and that will prevent the temperatures falling below freezing, but further west we will see temperatures below freezing, a frosty start but a sparkling one on wednesday, lots of sunshine which continues particularly further inland away from those coasts. a dry sunny day for many, always the risk of perhaps a little more cloud running down through the north sea coasts, maybe into the south west, and that is where temperatures will sit at six or 7 degrees, inland in the sunshine looking at a maximum of five, so on the chilly side. thursday will be cold and frosty, but again there will be dry and sunny spells on offer, indications of something a little less cold as we head towards the weekend. good night.