this is bbc news, i'm ben brown. the headlines at 10pm. china makes a bid to become an "aerospace power" after landing the first unmanned spacecraft on the far side of the moon. the democrats take control of the new us house of representatives, with nancy pelosi elected as speaker and promising to end the shutdown. the son of the banned radical cleric, abu hamza, is arrested as part of the investigation into the murder of a security guard at a new year's eve party in park lane. good evening. fiona bruce will be here in a few minutes with a full round up of the day's news. but first, the new us congress has been sworn in, with the democratic party assuming control of the house of representatives, and saying it will take action to end a partial government shutdown.

it's still refusing to give president trump the $5 billion he wants for a mexican border wall. here's the newly—elected house speaker nancy pelosi. we have no illusions that our work will be easy, and that all of us in this chamber will always agree. but we pledge that when we disagree, we've respect each other and we respect the truth. applause. we will debate and advance good ideas, no matter where they come from. and in that spirit, democrats will be offering the senate republican appropriations legislation to reopen government later today. applause. we will do so to meet the needs of

the american people, to protect our borders, and to respect our workers. and i pledge that this congress will be transparent, bipartisan, and unified. that we will seek to reach across the aisle in this chamber, and across divisions across our nation. in the past two years, the american people have spoken. tens of thousands of public events were held, hundreds of thousands of people turned out, millions of calls we re people turned out, millions of calls were made, countless families, even sick little children are little lobbyists bravely came forward to tell their stories. they made a big difference. now the floor of this house must be america's town hall, where people will see our debates, and where their voices will be heard

and where their voices will be heard and affect our decisions. transparency will be the order of the day. applause. and as mrjeffries, our distinguished chairman said, we will follow our mandate for the people, andi follow our mandate for the people, and i thank you for your kind domination and accept those kind remarks on behalf of the entire democratic house caucus who made all these figures possible. some of them ina bipartisan these figures possible. some of them in a bipartisan way. china marks an historic moment in space exploration. in space exploration. it lands a probe on the far side of the moon and sends back images never seen before, like the deepest, oldest crater on the surface. if this is not china following in the footsteps of nasa the footsteps of nasa or the russian space agency. this is then pushing ahead, doing something for the first time. we'll be looking at what this breakthrough by the chinese says about a new space race.

also tonight... the son of the banned radical cleric abu hamza appears in court charged with firearms offences. a rare footage of the fighting against the islamic state group inside syria — as donald trump defends his decision to pull us troops out. the breathalyser that could detect early signs of cancer, and ultimately revolutionise treatment of the disease. commentator: and for sane, a chance... goal for manchester city! and manchester city close the gap in the race for the premier league title with victory over top of the table liverpool. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news... as michael schumacher turns 50 today, we look back at the career formula i's most successful driver ever. good evening.

it's a major milestone in space exploration — china has landed a spacecraft for the first time on the far side of the moon, the side that is never seen from earth. the probe has already sent back an image of the largest, deepest and oldest crater on the moon's surface. it's the latest step in china's race to catch up with russia and the united states and become a major space power by 2030. the chinese are also planning to begin building their own manned space station next year. our china correspondent john sudworth is in beijing. john, this is a serious indication of the scope of china's ambitions. well, fiona, the chinese space agency isjust a well, fiona, the chinese space agency is just a fraction of the size of nasa, with something like a

quarter of its budget, at best, yet that it has managed to achieve today is something nasa itself has ruled out in the past as being too costly and to technologically challenging. there can be little doubt this is a huge step forward. here's what china itself thinks about what it has done. state media saying this achievement "lifts the mysterious veil on the backside of the man, and opens a new chapter in human lunar exploration." "commence landing," the control room says. and then comes the extraordinary sight — the first close—up images of the far side of the moon ever recorded. after a few more tense moments, chang'e—li safely touches down inside the moon's largest and deepest crater. "it's all gone according to plan," this scientist tells chinese state tv. one side of the moon always

faces away from earth. spacecraft have photographed it but never before landed on it. this animation shows how the probe's thrusters were fired to slow it, before its sensors guide it onto a surface far more rugged than that of the near side. another challenge involves the need for a relay satellite to carry signals from the far side back to earth. well, the moon has already sunk below the smoggy beijing skyline, so there's, unfortunately, no chance tonight for people to gaze at it in wonder. not that they had much warning, mind you. the landing attempt was accompanied by an almost complete news blackout, giving you a sense of the sensitive propaganda value of this huge leap forward in china's space race ambitions and the perceived cost of failure. china plans to follow this mission

with another that will bring mineral samples back to earth, and — eventually, perhaps — a reported plan for a lunar base, capable of supporting humans. translation: i don't think our exploration will stop. it will only go deeper, further, and we will invest more. meanwhile the probe's lunar rover will begin exploring the moon's far side — groundbreaking science from a rising space power. as well as what this tells us about china's space programme, what it tells us about china as a country is equally as extraordinary, fiona. when you think where china was when the us last visited the moon in

1972, it was impoverished, suffering that political chaos of the cultural revolution, and its own space programme had barely got off the ground. given that, this really is a giant leap. studio: john sudworth in beijing, thank you. so what does this moon landing tell us about china's place in a new space race? our science editor david shukman is here. yes, by any standards, china landing on the far side of the moon is a real achievement. after decades of trying to catch up with the americans, the russians, and the europeans in space, the chinese have now shown they can be pioneers as well. haunting and barren, much of the surface of the moon has been well known for centuries. but this is the side we see from earth. by contrast, the far side is far more mysterious, with the deepest craters. and when nasa considered landing astronauts there back in the ‘60s, the idea was rejected as too risky. in this image, it's easier to see how different the two sides are,

and no one really knows why. so the chinese lander, now on the far side, will analyse the rocks. scientists are hoping to learn how the moon was formed, but some experts say this is more about china planting a flag. the fact that chose to land on the far side of the moon is part of the chinese strategy to do things that haven't been done before, to garner the prestige that comes with it, because that prestige very often translates into geostrategic influence. this is one of a series of moon landings by china, and the big question amid all the national pride is, where will it lead? on the one hand, china is working on its own, the landing hushed up until it proved successful. no surprise, with the military dominating the space programme. on the other hand, one instrument on the lander is german. there is some collaboration, and the chinese say they want more of it. but we don't know if china's future

missions will be more open, or whether the tendency to keep things secret will continue. i hope we do see china become more internationally and globally focused. because space is too big and too ambitious to go it alone, and there's a lot of expertise. and we've seen it with recent missions coming from nasa and the european space agency that the most ambitious ones are the ones where they've collaborated together. so where will you land? but some chinese scientists want to exploit the moon. back in 2013, this senior figure told me of plans to mine the moon for precious minerals. we'd like to leave immediately. the last moments of apollo 17, the final american mission to the lunar surface back in 1972. at this rate, the next boots on the moon will be chinese. by golly, this goes fast! now, we'll get a good sense of chinese intentions when we see if they share whatever they've learned about the far side of the moon.

david, thank you. and if you'd like to know more about the science behind china's moon landing, and what the probe might find, david will be answering your questions on twitter for the next 20 minutes. so you can tweet him with the hashtag #bbcnewsten. a man arrested as part of the investigation into the murder of a security guard outside a new year's eve party in central london is the son of the banned radical cleric abu hamza. his son, imran mostafa kamel, who's 26, has appeared in court charged with firearms offences unrelated to the murder. jeremy cooke reports. police were called to a violent incident at a party in london's park lane early on new year's day. one man had been killed, three other people — two men and a woman — had also suffered stab wounds, although their injuries were not life—threatening. the dead victim has been named as 33—year—old tudor simionov, who was working at the venue as a security guard after arriving from romania a few weeks ago.

on her facebook page, his girlfriend says her loss is "impossible to understand". it's being reported that mr simionov had not been scheduled on shift that night but had been covering for a colleague. as part of the police operation, 26—year—old imran mostafa kamel was arrested for questioning. he has now appeared in court, charged with possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear or danger, and possession of a firearm while banned for life. it's now emerged that imran mostafa kamel is the son of the banned radical preacher abu hamza, seen here in 200a. tonight the police are saying that the firearms charges are not directly linked to the killing that happened here, and they say that no shots were fired during the incident on new year's day. jeremy cooke, bbc news, central london.

a muslim convert who plotted a terror attack on oxford street despite repeated attempts by authorities to deradicalise him over a decade has appeared at the old bailey ahead of sentencing. 27—year—old lewis ludlow from rochester in kent said he was filled with "animosity and hatred" when he swore allegiance to the islamic state group. the former royal mail worker pleaded guilty last year to plotting an attack in the uk and to funding is in the philippines. shares in the technology giant apple fell by almost 10% today, a —— wiping more than £40 billion from its value. it came after the company announced it was expecting lower earnings than previously forecast. the firm blamed a slowdown in sales in china, as well as the trade war between beijing and the united states. but some analysts say it's also because consumers are increasingly reluctant to upgrade their phones. our business editorb simonjack reports. —— our vusiness editor, simonjack reports. now, let's talk about iphone... it's arguably the most successful consumer product of all time. the launch of a new model is a global event and, so,

therefore, is a surprise warning from the chief executive that sales are not on target. the value of the company slumped over $60 billion in seconds. this once trillion—dollar company has now lost a third of its value since october. so, what's going wrong? we've all got smartphones now and they all work pretty well and there are a tonne of other smartphone makers out there. just a lot of competition. apple's high prices, very ambitious expectations for consumers to continue buying the next new, big, shiny thing are not quite being met. it's not just about these, the iphones. embedded in the apple boss' surprise message was a warning that could have implications for big companies, big employers all over the world, including here in the uk. the warning is this — everything is not going exactly according

to plan in the world's second biggest economy, china. this manufacturing and exporting superpower had hoped to shift more towards an economy in which the spending of increasingly affluent chinese consumers would drive growth. if that plan bore fruit, then it would be great news for producers of consumer goods everywhere in the world, including in the uk, in the us and everywhere else. apple, jaguar, all kinds of other consumer goods and so on, would find an export market in china. unfortunately, in the last year or so, they have backtracked, they've gone into reverse on that process of trying to unlock the chinese consumer. china is the biggest car market in the world now. in november, sales fell 20%, and jaguar land rover has already said a slump in china was a major reason for cutting over 1,000 jobs last year. this is all playing out against a us—china trade war, which is encouraging many chinese consumers to buy chinese products. i think the lesson we've learned

already from the trade war that's happened so far is that nobody wins a trade war. the idea is to inflict more damage on your opponent than they can on you, and in this respect obviously apple's news tells us something about how american companies are being hurt by this conflict. china is not apple's only problem — convincing consumers they need ever flashier phones is right up there. but it won't be the last company to discover china is a tougher market than many hoped. simon jack, bbc news. the defence secretary gavin williamson has confirmed the navy vessel hms mersey will be deployed to the straits of dover to help prevent migrants from making the journey across the channel from france. the ship has been diverted from routine duties to assist the uk border force and french authorities. more than 230 people have reached the uk in small boats since november. questions are being asked about a firm that was controversially awarded a £13 million government

contract to provide extra ferry services in the event of a no—deal brexit. seaborne freight, which has never operated a channel ferry service before, is facing claims that the terms and conditions on its website were copied from a takeaway restaurant. it's now removed a section which mentioned "delivery drivers" and "ordering meals". the government said the terms and conditions were posted in error. farmers and food producers have warned the government that it needs to make decisions on how it will secure the nation's food supplies once britain leaves the eu in less than 90 days. in a speech to the farming industry today, the environment secretary michael gove said leaving without a deal would cause "considerable turbulence" to agriculture. he also encouraged farmers to back the prime minister's deal. our correspondentjon kay has more. tom's family has been farming here in devon for nearly 100 years. but what will this year bring? brexit will affect his dairy exports, the regulations he has to stick to, and the foreign workers he employs.

so he wants some clarity — and soon. it does leave a lot of uncertainty, i mean, trying to plan when you don't know where you stand is hard work. a lot of people don't know what's going to happen. so it needs to be resolved quick, i think. tom's views were echoed today by the national farmers' union, who say every aspect of what we eat, where it comes from and how much it costs will be affected by brexit. the nfu says it wants action from the government to prevent cheaper imports, lower standards and long border checks. we need to make sure that we agree this in an orderly manner, otherwise it is going to lead to friction and challenges with getting food across here. we saw it last year in the snow, it doesn't take much to take food off the shelves — and that of course creates absolute meltdown. the environment secretary, who campaigned for brexit, told farmers today that the best way to avoid what he called turbulence would be for mps to vote for the prime minister's withdrawal

deal this month. nobody can be blithe or blase about the real impact on food producers in this country of leaving without a deal. that isjust one of the reasons why i hope my colleagues in parliament support the prime minister's deal. it isn't perfect, but we should never make the perfect the enemy of the good. mr gove called on farmers to embrace technology, to make production more efficient after brexit. back on tom's farm in devon, they've installed a laser—guided milking unit. this machine goes around 12—14 times every day. and a robot to make sure the cows are fed. so that's saving you an awful lot of time every day? yes, it is, several hours, yeah. but tom wants to know how the government will help farmers buy this kind of kit after brexit. what will happen to subsidies and grants? after nearly a century as a family farm and after four decades in europe, the next generation faces some big changes.

jon kay, bbc news, devon. syria isjust "sand and death", said donald trump today, as he defended his decision to withdraw american troops from the conflict there. yet the kurdish militia and arab tribes known as the syrian democratic forces battling the islamic state group in syria, warn this could result in disaster. they say it would allow the resurgence of a largely defeated is. and it could seal the fate of the remaining western hostages of the remaining western hostages reportedly held by is, including one british man. islamic state is clinging on near the town of hajin in the east of syria, from where our middle east correspondent quentin sommerville has secured this exclusive footage of the recent fighting. his report contains distressing images. this is an empire in ruin, so—called

islamic state is hanging by a thread. these are kurdish and arab fighters taking on the last of is. in hajin, their enemy is not giving up in hajin, their enemy is not giving up easily. one truck bomb detonates. the men run outside. president trump says he will withdraw 2000 american troops from syria. these men will be left to fight alone. at the end of the street, on the building to the right, the is flag still flies. a message comes in over their radios — another truck bomb is heading their way. the bad weather means america 110w way. the bad weather means america now croft can't help them. these men are poorly equipped, with little armour. they've relied on us air

power at almost every step of their advance. the flash of a rocket propelled grenade and the fighting kicks off again. where we go? surrounded, the sdf men have nowhere to go but they hold their ground. the battle ends with success for kurdish—led forces, hajin is theirs and they have stopped the truck bombs in their tracks. here, the body of their driver lies in the mud. he wasjust body of their driver lies in the mud. he was just a body of their driver lies in the mud. he wasjust a boy, barely 12 yea rs mud. he wasjust a boy, barely 12 years old. the more desperate is become, the more they rely on child fighters. here we see another attack on hajin, from their perspective. an is commander orders his reluctant fighters to advance. there are as many as 8000 is

fighters still left in syria — a small army. with tens of thousands of supporters at the rear. this might look chaotic, but they are still a vicious and formidable force. the other brothers have left, the weather is clearing up, they shout, we will be exposed to every tax pretty soon. so they retreat. leaving the commander behind. this footage was recovered from his dead body. the power of american strikes can't be underestimated. without us support, the islamic state won't be

defeated. is, which was facing a last battle for its territory, now simply has to wait for the americans to go home. out meat, the islamic state's leadership likely remains, including abu bakr al—baghdadi. and in the ruins, foreign hostages may still be alive and in is captivity, including at least one british man according to western governments and local sources. years of fighting and thousands of lives have been given to this war and still it hasn't been won yet. quentin somerville, bbc news. california democrat nancy pelosi has again been elected speaker of the us house of representatives — the third most powerful position in washington. her party now controls the american legislature's lower chamber, giving them the power to frustrate republican president donald trump's political agenda. the us government remains partially shut down, with mr trump's party refusing to agree a new budget unless it includes funding for a border wall —

something the democrats have so far refused to include. scientists are testing a new breathalyser that could ultimately revolutionise how cancer is detected and diagnosed. the device is designed to find early signs of the disease in molecules in patients' breath. in england, almost half of all cancers are diagnosed at a late stage. our health correspondent catherine burns reports from cambridge. i'll just fit this over your face like that... this looks very simple, and it is — a breath test. but it's also highly sensitive. does that feel ok? that's fine, yeah. the idea is that patients breathe into it for ten minutes or so, and then their sample will be tested for chemical signs which could show cancerous cells. the revolutionary thing about this test is that it could apply notjust to one kind of cancer — you might think it's obvious for lung cancer, but potentially for all kinds of cancer. we could not only diagnose them earlier, but put patients through much more effective treatment and completely turn the survival statistics around.

rebecca is one of 1500 people who will help to test it. she's got a condition which means she's got a higher chance of developing cancer, so every two years she has an endoscopy, a camera inserted down her throat. over the years, i've had ten—plus endoscopies, and i get really worked up and anxious about it. so, to have a breath test instead, that will take just 15 minutes, would be so much better and less stressful. endoscopies are invasive, like other cancer tests, such as biopsies. others are simpler — scans and blood tests. but researchers hope this breathalyser could mean many patients avoiding them in the first place. the ultimate aim would be for this test to be done in gps' surgeries, so people would either be told that they do have a high chance of having a specific cancer and so be referred for more tests, or hopefully be given the all—clear. cancer research uk says this trial could mean getting

cancer diagnosed earlier — vital to increasing survival rates. the vast majority of bladder cancer patients will survive for at least one year if they are diagnosed early. but if diagnosis comes later, at stage four, that drops to 33%. and in stomach cancer, an early diagnosis means a high chance of surviving for five years or more. but if it's not found until stage four, that falls dramatically to 5%. the trial for this breath test is at the earliest stages, but the team behind it say that, if it works, it could potentially help diagnose other diseases, too. but that's a long way off. catherine burns, bbc news. eight years ago, sally challen, a mother of two, attacked and killed her husband richard with a hammer after 31 years of marriage. she was convicted of murder in 2011. but now, in what's believed to be a legalfirst, she will attempt to have her murder conviction reduced to manslaughter

on the grounds that for 30 years she was a victim of her husband's coercive control, a form of extreme psychological abuse. next month, in what will be a landmark case, her lawyers will argue that it was the damage her husband did to her mental state which led her to kill. our home affairs correspondent june kelly reports. on a summer's day in 1979, sally and richard challen were married. she was just 15 when they met.