this is bbc news — i'm ben brown. the headlines at 11:00: a new chapter in lunar exploration as the chinese space agency lands a probe on the far side of the moon, beaming back images from the previously unexplored surface. this is not china following in the footsteps of naz shah or the russian space agency, this is then pushing ahead and doing something for the first time. the democrats take control of the new us house of representatives with nancy pelosi elected as speaker and promising to end the shutdown. democrats will be offering the senate republican appropriations legislation to reopen government later today. the son of the banned radical cleric abu hamza appears in court charged with firearms offences. more than £40 billion is wiped off the value of the technology giant apple — they blame a slowdown in sales in china. and tributes forjulia grant, the first trans woman to share her story on primetime british tv — who has died aged 64.

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 at 11:30, kwe‘ll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers — jason beattie, head of politics at the daily mirror and owen bennett from city am — stay with us for that. hello, good evening. in 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. 0ur china correspondent john sudworth is in beijing "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. "the landing was the most important part. " 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. so what does this moon landing tell us about china's place in a new space race? 0ur science editor david shukman explains. china landing on the far side of the room moon is a real achievement. after decades of trying to catch up with the americans and the russians, the chinese have shown they can be pioneers as well. haunting and

barren, much of the service 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. 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 they chose to land on the far side of the moon is part of a 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?

0n 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. 0n 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 international, more globally focused because space is too big and too ambitious to go it alone, and there's a lot of expertise. we've seen with recent missions coming from nasa and the european space agency that the most ambitious ones are the ones where they've collaborated and worked 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 you 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, will get a good sense of chinese intentions to see if they share what they will learn about the far side of the moon. 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. gary 0'donoghue reports. the honourable nancy policy of the

state of california, having received a majority of the votes cast, is duly elected speaker of the house of representatives for the 116th congress. and with that, democrats took control of the house of representatives for the first time since 2010, ending republicans hold on both chambers of congress. 0nce again, the party turned to san francisco's nancy pelosi to assume the speakership, putting a second in line to the presidency after the vice president. she is the only woman ever to have held the post and a regular target of conservative vitriol. we all have the ability and the privilege to serve with over 100 women members of congress, the largest number in history. while republicans strengthen their control of the senate, it was a different story in the house. that means republicans now have 199 seats to

the democrats 235. and it's a congress of first women to including the first elected muslim and native american lawmakers and the youngest woman to be elected to the house, 29—year—old alexandria cortez. it is all smiles at the moment but the grown—ups have big battles ahead. first up, out went the 13— day— long federal shutdown, caused by failure to agree on budgets the key government departments. museums and national parks are closed, manyjobs going on and on. 800,000 federal employees are also going without paycheques. at the heart of the stand—off is president tom's demand for $5 billion towards its border wall. something democrats are the time being at least reject out of hand. —— president from's. time being at least reject out of hand. -- president from's. we are talking about border sikora t. it's a wall. this is back and forth, no. but the president has invested huge

amounts of political capital into the wall and giving in would likely prove unpopular with those who voted for him. hello, everybody. and in an impromptu press conference, the president insisted he would push ahead with the wall. i have never had so much support as i have in the last week over my stamps for border security, for border control and for frankly the wall or the barrier. the split congress means legislative progress will be hard to come by but drama there will be, with democrats determined to make full use of their scrutiny bile —— powerless. 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, wiping more than £40 billion

pounds 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 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 headlines on bbc news: the first pictures from the far side of the moon, as china's successful mission marks a milestone in space exploration. the democrats assume control of the house of representatives in the us, promising to end the government shutdown, but refusing to support donald trump's plans for a border wall. the son of the banned radical cleric, abu hamza, appears in court charged with firearms offences. 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. 0ur 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 is just 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. 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. 0ur health correspondent catherine burns reports from cambridge. i will just fit this over your face... this looks very simple, and it is — a breath test. but it's also highly sensitive. 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 is 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, it will take just 15 minutes, will 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 gp 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. and 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. julia grant, who was

the subject of a high profile series of bbc documentaries about tra nsgender people, has died at the age of 64. ms grant, who was born george roberts, has been described as a pioneer who helped spark a change in public attitudes. mark edwardson reports (tx vt) iam more i am more lonely now than i was before i started. julia granat in 1979 when britain was a different, perhaps less accepting place for people coping or struggling with gender issues. from midnight tonight iam no gender issues. from midnight tonight i am no longer going to be known as george, i will be known asjulia. the bbc documentary at change of sex told the story ofjulia granat‘s transition. it was watched by 9 million people and more chapters followed. julia, you did it your way and, my god, you certainly made a difference. an influential moment and according to her friend john

barry, who alongsidejulia was instrumental in the now hugely successful manchester pride, she was courageous too. she became a figurehead actually for a lot of younger people who were considering transgender assignment, you know. she went through a lot, yeah. julian brandt was instrumental in the development of manchester's gay village. the building money was the sight of her club, the hollywood showdown. for me personally i knew that the place that she had created and the environment she created. that the place that she had created and the environment she createdlj think and the environment she created.” think it was one of the main venues he opened out here along with a couple of others, so everybody knew it and went there as well so it was really good. julian brandt was born george roberts impressed in 1954. she said she never felt at home in a male culture. she felt inside that she was a woman, but she was described by many as a pioneer.” honestly think a lot of the gains we have seen in the last 20—30 years

within the trans communities, we wouldn't have seen withoutjulia's work, so i'm honestly privileged to have neither. julian brandt worked at various points as a chef and nhs advisor and festival organiser. latterly she had a campaign to curb development in manchester's gay village, clearly no nonsense from julia. i do think anyone is an angel. i think we all have our own demons. i think it is a belief in everything she did that made her strong. julia granat remained active in the trans community for most of her life. she passed away yesterday after a short illness. and we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers jason beattie and owen bennett, that's coming up after the headlines at 11:30pm. now, it's time for the weather with ben rich. hello there. dry, but pretty cloudy,

chilly but not especially cold, you might feel the weather is somewhat lacking in drama at the moment. now the dramatic weather tends to be found to the north of the jet stream, particularly where we have these little dips. so one area of low pressure in the atlantic, another bringing rain and snow across eastern europe, but in between this bump in the jet stream, this ridge as we call it is housing this ridge as we call it is housing this area of high pressure, this high allowed to sit in place, keeping things dry but cloudy in many places. so many starting friday morning with a lot of cloud but for other spots where the cloud is clear it is fog causing one or two issues, quite dense and slow to clear in some places, but the fog most likely across parts of the midlands, east wales, southern england, equally around the areas of fog this is the pa rt around the areas of fog this is the part of a country where we are likely to see sunshine developing, north—east england eastern scotland

see sunny north—east england eastern scotland see sunny skies, cloud for the north—west and of us the temperatures struggling. the marvellous conditions across the north—west scotland because here we have an atlantic influence, some mild air pushing in fog we keep the feet of mild air here on friday night and saturday morning but elsewhere with light winds and more in the way of clear skies i think quite widely we will get down to freezing or a little bit below —— feed. so a cold start to the weekend, yes, but not traditionally dramatic because our friend, high pressure, is with us. this frontal system here will start to have more ofan system here will start to have more of an influence on the weather as the weekend wears on, but not initially, dense fog possible for central and southern areas, through the day more cloud into the west, the day more cloud into the west, the best sunshine in eastern areas and temperatures still languishing down in single digits. now remember the little frontal system? skip to sunday, by this stage it has moved into england, wales, starting to bend into northern ireland, much —— not more than a banner cloud, double digits in plymouth and cardiff,

single figures elsewhere. but remember the dramatic weather is to be found to the north of the jet stream. and as we go into monday the jet stream comes in a little bit closer. so this weather system, this area of low pressure, is allowed to have a bit more influence. it pushes in across northern ireland and scotla nd in across northern ireland and scotland through the day on monday. we will see some outbreaks of rain further south and east, closer to high pressure, should be largely dry and temperatures just a touch higher than they have been. now, on tuesday, the area of low pressure will be sliding to the east, and in its wake we will be left with a chilly northerly wind, some sunny spells, some showers too but potentially a slightly cold feel to the weather. so as we move into the middle of the week, low pressure to the east of us, but high—pressure returning from the west, and again thatis returning from the west, and again that is because of the jet stream. we get back into one of these ridges, these big bends in thejet strea m ridges, these big bends in thejet stream allowing high pressure to topple back in. now for a time we might allow some cold at across

south—eastern areas, but we don't expect anything particularly chilly as we head into the latter part of next week. now, whereas the high we have at the moment is stubborn, next week that one might be a bit more fickle, move southwards at times to allow low pressure close to the north of the uk. so, later next week, often dry and cloudy, potential for rain particularly in the north, fairly breezy, maybe overnight frost, but nothing particularly dramatic in the outlook. hello. this is bbc news with ben brown. we'll be taking a look at tomorrow mornings papers in a moment —