this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lewis vaughan jones. touchdown confirmed — perserverance is safely on the surface of mars. this is the moment, the perseverance rover — nasa's most ambitious mission to mars — landed successfully on the red planet after a seven—monthjourney from earth. to work through all the adversity that goes, and all the challenges that go with landing a rover on mars, plus the challenges of covid — and just an amazing accomplishment. within minutes, the first image was beamed back by the rover — its shadow clearly seen — as it tweets, "i'm safe on mars. perseverance will get you anywhere." millions of texans are without power for a fourth day, after gas pipelines and wind turbines freeze over in a winter storm.

as texas froze, ted cruz flew to mexico. has the state's republican senator left his reputation out in the cold? and facebook unfriends australia — the social networking giant blocks access to news media on its site in a row over paying for content. hello, welcome to the programme. we start on another planet — mars, where the nasa perseverance rover has safely touched down. it has already started sending back messages from its new home, and will now set about the business of trying to find signs that mars was once — and could even still be — a planet where life took hold. here's our science correspondent rebecca morelle.

and a warning — her report contains some flashing images. perseverance is going about one kilometre per second. a nerve—racking wait at mission control. perseverance has landed safely, on the surface of mars! cheering then celebrations as a signal is received from mars. it's touchdown for nasa's perseverance rover. and these are its first images — a view of its landing site before it starts to explore. the rover has even started tweeting, too... what an amazing team. to work through all the adversity and challenges that goes with landing a rover on mars, plus the challenges of covid, it'sjust an amazing accomplishment. it survived a fiendishly difficult landing, burning through the atmosphere at 12,000 mph before a complex landing system brought it down,

in an area with some of the oldest rocks on mars. it's amongst the most ancient crust on the surface of mars, capturing that period of time between 3.5—4 billion years old which isn't a period of time that is particularly well—preserved in rocks on earth, so we have a chance to find out about a period of the solar system that we have never studied before. this mission is all about finding signs of life — and the best place to do that is here, the jezero crater. today, it's dry and dusty, but billions of years ago it was a huge lake — and you can clearly see a river running into it. this gives you an idea of what it would have looked like. if we zoom in a bit more, these green areas on the edge of the crater were once beaches on the lake shore. and the hope is any microscopic creatures that once lived there are still preserved. perseverance is the most advanced rover that nasa has ever built, and it's jam—packed with instruments.

its robotic arm is equipped with a drill to collect rock samples. so what forms of life could they contain? i am not talking about martian little green men, probably not even fish. we're looking for microbial life, or maybe microbes that have made a little mat or a slime of sorts that you might find on the bottom of a pond. those are the types of things that are likely to... well, they did exist on earth 3.5 billion years ago. the question is, did they exist on mars at the bottom of lakes? for the first time, nasa will also be testing a mini mars helicopter to provide a new bird's—eye view of the planet. and back on the ground, the rover will store some of the rocks — a future mission will bring them back to earth, and some will be heading to the uk. these will be the most precious samples that we have on earth, the most exciting, and scientists around the world will be absolutely fighting and clamouring to study them. getting to the red planet is just the start.

now the hard work begins. this is nasa's most ambitious mission and our best ever chance to know where life ever existed on mars. rebecca morelle, bbc news. emily lakdawalla is a solar system expert and she's in los angeles. thank you very much for coming on the programme. it’s thank you very much for coming on the programme.— on the programme. it's my pleasure- _ on the programme. it's my pleasure. so _ on the programme. it's my pleasure. so how- on the programme. it's my pleasure. so how nervous. on the programme. it's my - pleasure. so how nervous were ou pleasure. so how nervous were you when _ pleasure. so how nervous were you when we — pleasure. so how nervous were you when we were _ pleasure. so how nervous were you when we were waiting - pleasure. so how nervous were you when we were waiting to i you when we were waiting to hear that it had all gone 0k? hear that it had all gone ok? if i'm honest, i'lladmit hear that it had all gone ok? if i'm honest, i'll admit i never believed it would work until it works, so it is such a relief when it does and we actually hear those relieved words of "touchdown nominal, tv nominal post go and see the celebration of mission control. lovely scenes of celebration, now the hard work starts. it has to go around and collect these rocks, what will it be doing? these rocks, what will it be doinu ? ~ ., ., these rocks, what will it be doinu ? ~ . ., _, , these rocks, what will it be doinu? ~ . ., , ., doing? well, after a couple of months of _ doing? well, after a couple of months of check _ doing? well, after a couple of months of check out - doing? well, after a couple of months of check out where i doing? well, after a couple of. months of check out where they will make sure all instruments

and mechanisms work properly, they fly that helicopter a little ways across the martian surface, then they start actually doing geology. and they'll do the same geology that curiosity did where they look at different rocks and examine the context between different rocks, figure out the story of the different rocks are telling them about the history of this particular crater which had a river running into it, creating a crater lake and probably depositing lots of sediments which, if we are extraordinarily lucky, we will find evidence of microbial life on mars. but what perseverance will do is gather samples that will do is gather samples that will eventually be picked up by a european built rover, returned to an american belt lander, launched into orbit, gather and return to earth... sorry, ijust want gather and return to earth... sorry, i just want to get gather and return to earth... sorry, ijust want to get more detail on that because we will have to wait quite a while. and i wondered, how will these rocks get back to earth? is a rocks get back to earth? is a lona rocks get back to earth? is a long process _ rocks get back to earth? is —. long process involving three very big missions and very

large collaborations between nasa and the european space agency. perseverance is the first step, the sample gathering and documenting. they'll take pictures, they'll do ground penetrating radar surveys all around where the rocks are being gathered, and they'll use all that science to figure out what the best samples are to bring back to earth. it'll be a mix of the delta rocks, the materials deposited into this crater lake as well as possible volcanic rocks and other recent materials i can always tell the history of this location on mars. two missions will be launched simultaneously. 0ne launched simultaneously. one will land a lander on the surface, an american belt lander that will go collect although samples that perseverance has dropped, bring them back to the lander, put them back to the lander, put them in an american belt rocket and launch them into orbit. the third mission will enter orbit, and european built orbiter with and european built orbiter with an american device that will

snatch the capsule into orbit and bring it back to the european built orbiter which will leave mars and return the samples to earth. it's very ambitious and i'm very looking forward to it. but mech that is fantastic, that's the first time i've heard of that proper exolanation _ time i've heard of that proper explanation of _ time i've heard of that proper explanation of how— time i've heard of that proper explanation of how we - time i've heard of that proper explanation of how we get. time i've heard of that proper. explanation of how we get those vital samples back. in a couple sentences, how likely are we to actually find these signs of life that we are after? well, ou life that we are after? well, you know. _ life that we are after? well, you know, i'll— life that we are after? well, you know, i'll always - life that we are after? well, you know, i'll always be - life that we are after? well, you know, i'll always be a l you know, i'll always be a sceptic, i'll be doubtful until we see it. but we will never find these things if we don't look. as far as how likely it is, i don't know. this is really ancient history, its 4 billion years old and it seems like if life began on earth at that time under virtually identical conditions to mars, it should've happened on mars but we just don't know. so that's why we're looking. great to have you _ that's why we're looking. great to have you on, _ that's why we're looking. great to have you on, thank- that's why we're looking. great to have you on, thank you. - to have you on, thank you. you're very welcome. let's get some of the other main stories. the uk has announced asset freezes and travel bans on three generals in myanmar

over the military coup earlier this month. foreign secretary dominic raab said the sanctions would "hold the myanmar military to account for their violations of human rights". the uk will also put in place new measures to prevent uk aid indirectly helping the military regime. life expectancy in the united states fell by a whole year during the first half of 2020 to 77.8 years — its greatest fall since world war two. provisional government data showed that minorities had suffered most, with black americans losing nearly three years, and hispanics two years of life expectancy. the duke of edinburgh is to spend a third night in hospital in london, after being admitted as a precaution after feeling unwell for a few days. prince philip, who will be 100 injune, is said to be in "good spirits". a blast of arctic weather has brought with it blizzards

and record low temperatures across the united states, including to many southern states unused to such weather. in texas it has sparked an energy crisis — at one point, more than four million households were without power. our us correspondent lebo diseko reports from houston. this is one of the richest states in one of the richest countries in the world. drinking water and food supplies are running dangerously low, and homes are flooding because pipes, once frozen, have now burst. last night, we got power after two days. and we didn't have water. but finally, we got water. now we have water everywhere. texas would normally be around 15 celsius at this time of year. as temperatures hit —18 in some parts this week, the state wasn't able to cope. many here are dealing with a fourth day without electricity after the power grid failed. state governor greg abbott has been criticised after blaming frozen wind turbines

for the collapse of the electricity grid. today, power was restored for some — but officials are warning that progress will be slow. that said, i also want to be clear with texans, because you need to know. there will be more cold temperatures in various regions across the state of texas tonight. many scientists say this is the impact of a changing climate — warm air moving up to the arctic, forcing cold air down to states like this one. it was colder in texas this week than in alaska. in the midst of this crisis, kindness. these sea turtles would've frozen to death had it not been for volunteers braving the weather to rescue them. it's forecast to be dangerously cold once again tonight, and texans are being told to make a plan to keep their families warm as the threat of power outages looms once more. lebo diseko, bbc news, houston, texas.

well, texas continues to struggle with sub—zero temperatures and widespread power cuts. but the high—profile republican senatorfor the state, ted cruz, has run into some stormy weather of his own — by flying to a mexican holiday resort. 0nce news of his trip became public, it attracted a barrage of criticism on social media — and he has now returned to his home state. he says he was simply escorting his children on holiday — who had wanted to escape the cold weather — and conceded that after the outcry, he cut his trip short. protesting this was the scene outside mr cruz�*s house in houston, where protestors gathered outside for his arrival home. speaking to reporters, senator cruz expressed regret. it was obviously a mistake in hindsight, and people were

dying. i was trying to be a dad, and all of us have made decisions that back when you've got girls who have been called for two days and they're saying, "look, we don't have school, let's get out of here," i think there are a lot of parents that would be like, if i can do that, great. that's what i wanted to do. as i said, really from the moment i sat on the plane, i began to really second—guess that decision, saying, "look, i know why we're doing this, but i've also got responsibilities." stay with us on bbc news. key players in the gamestop trading frenzy defend themselvs against accusations of market rigging. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home.

the withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered. that has a terrible effect for the morale of the people. i'm terrified of the repercussions in the streets. one wonders who is next? as the airlift got under way, there was no let up in the erruption itself. lava streams from a vent low in the crater flow down to the sea on the east of the islands, away from the town for the time being. it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded - their new generation space station with a spectacular night launch. _ they've called it mir, . the russian for "peace". this is bbc world news,

the latest headlines... nasa's most ambitious mission to mars has landed succesfully on the red planet to look for signs of life, after a seven—month journey from earth. millions of texans are still without power, after gas pipelines and wind turbines freeze over in a winter storm. politicians in the us have been questioning key players in last month's frenzied trading of gamestop shares. independent traders swapping tips on social media forums sent the gaming chain's stock price soaring. some major wall street investors, who had bet that gamestop's share price would go down, lost hundreds of millions of dollars. at the hearing, vlad tenev, the head of the robinhood trading platform, apologised to customers after curbing the purchase of shares in gamestop and other companies.

look, i'm sorry for what happened. i apologise. look, i'm sorry for what happened. iapologise. and i'm not going to say that robinhood did everything perfect, and that we haven't made mistakes in the past. but what i commit to is making sure that we improve from this, we learn from it, and we don't make the same mistakes in the future. joining me now from pittsburgh, pennsylvannia is tyler gee lash, who is a capital markets policy expert. he heads healthy markets, an investor—focused trade group. thank you very much for coming on the programme.— on the programme. thank you, aood to on the programme. thank you, good to be _ on the programme. thank you, good to be here. _ on the programme. thank you, good to be here. so _ on the programme. thank you, good to be here. so what - on the programme. thank you, j good to be here. so what stood out to you _ good to be here. so what stood out to you from _ good to be here. so what stood out to you from the _ good to be here. so what stood out to you from the hearings i out to you from the hearings today? out to you from the hearings toda ? ~ . out to you from the hearings toda ? . ., . ., , out to you from the hearings toda ? ~ ., _, , , today? well, a couple things. one, we have _ today? well, a couple things. one, we have to _ today? well, a couple things. one, we have to ask - today? well, a couple things. l one, we have to ask ourselves, 0ne, we have to ask ourselves, why do capital markets exist? we can get lost in the weeds avoided this particular stock price go to the moon and why is it crashing down now? but we have a really big x essential question, which is our capital markets, we are trying to say they exist to fund companies and give people savings for retirement. that's not what

we're seeing — what we are seeing is something that looks more like a football match, with teams assembling, cheering sections and trading based on that. and when you have a situation like that, you have a lot of complex issues, and we've started to see it. but i count it's 27 different topics raised in today's hearing —— i counted. there'll be lots more to unpack in the months and years to come then in today. so do ou years to come then in today. so do you favour similar regulation then, to stop that frenzy that happened with gamestop? what are you after? welcome a couple things. 0n gamestop? what are you after? welcome a couple things. on a very basic level, regulators and policymakers should be asking two simple questions. 0ne, asking two simple questions. one, is this manipulation? it clearly looks like these prices are not reflective of what you think gamestop should be worth. but we've seen this before. last year, hurts stock as the company was going into bankruptcy, robinhood users went into the thousands and bid

up went into the thousands and bid up what should be used as company stock. 0ne up what should be used as company stock. one thing we need to think about is, is this manipulation? the other question is what rules should be changed? 0ne question is what rules should be changed? one is, is robinhood encouraging this behaviour? i can tell you they get paid more when people have greater leverage when they are trading in options. so robinhood is incentivizing that, the market makers make more money for that, and they pay robinhood more for that. people are more excited for that. but that adds a lot more leverage and risk of the system, which is how you see bigger rubes. system, which is how you see bigger ruhes-_ system, which is how you see bigger rubes-_ system, which is how you see bigger rubes— bigger rubes. just a “ump in their because h bigger rubes. just a “ump in their because even _ bigger rubes. just a jump in their because even if - bigger rubes. just a jump in| their because even if people agree with your overall reforms to regulations they are, there's an overall feeling, isn't there, that for a long time things have been rigged in favour of the big institutional investors? this is a chance finally for ordinary investors to have their say, and the market didn't work out in their

favour, the rules didn't help them. ~ ~ ., , them. well, i think actually them. well, i think actually the rules — them. well, i think actually the rules - _ them. well, i think actually the rules - it _ them. well, i think actually the rules - it was _ them. well, i think actually the rules - it was a - them. well, i think actually the rules - it was a really . the rules — it was a really interesting scenario, and we heard this from robinhood and citadel. first off, yes, the markets often times have been having retail customers have a been abused for years. but one of the things i think we saw is that why the customer trading got stopped was because it robinhood capital didn't have enough money to back its customers trading. it had so many customers treating so much money, it was itself at risk. so when they got a margin call, when the people who settle the trades basically said, "hey, robinhood, you have so many customers treating so much that we need you to be able to financially back that trading," robinhood didn't have enough money. that's another new rule. tyler, i'm afraid we must leave it there, but this is a

fascinating issue and we will have you back on.— fascinating issue and we will have you back on. thank you. appreciate — have you back on. thank you. appreciate it. _ have you back on. thank you. appreciate it, take _ have you back on. thank you. appreciate it, take care. - facebook is facing criticism from around the world after blocking people in australia from viewing news content on its site in protest at a proposed new law. the prime minister of australia, scott morrison, says he will not be intimidated by the social media company, amid a row over plans to force internet firms to pay for news shared on their platforms. 0ur media editor amol rajan reports. this is the internet, but not as we've known it. never before have a democracy and tech giant collided as they have in the past 36 hours — and the after—shocks are likely to spill out across the globe. australians woke up to a new world, unable to access news sources via facebook after the social media giant carried through on its threat to the government there. what's this all about? well, over the past two decades, two deep global trends have occurred simultaneously. first, advertiser—funded

facebook and google have become two of the richest companies in history. second, the business model of newspapers has collapsed. what connects these two trends is advertising. a generation ago, high—quality newspapers were largely funded by advertising. today, most advertising is online, and facebook and google account for around about 60% of all global digital advertising. that is a duopoly — and publishers want in on it. this is about who owes what and to whom. led by rupert murdoch, australia's newsrooms argue their expensive journalism makes these tech platforms more attractive and gives them credibility. australia's government agrees. this is an assault on a sovereign nation. it is an assault on people's freedom and in particular it is an utter abuse of big technology's market power and control over technology.

yet the data giants have strong counterarguments. publishers choose to be on facebook because they derive value from it, both reach and traffic that can be monetised. the tech giants have set up funds to invest heavily in journalism and, moreover, they say forcing anyone to pay someone just for linking to them breaches a fundamental principle of the web and privileges one category of information, news, over others. they want money so that people can link. now, this kind of breaks down the way that the world wide web has worked up until now, and it kind of sets a dangerous precedent. google has taken a different approach — signing a bespoke global deal with murdoch's company, news corp. that leaves facebook short of friends. amol rajan, bbc news. a russian anti—kremlin activist has been given a four year suspended sentence — after being found guilty by a russian court of carrying out activities on behalf of a banned pro—democracy group. anastasia shevchenko had been held under house arrest.

sarah rainsford reports. a few basics for life behind bars. the opposition activist has been under house arrest for two years, but the prosecutor wanted herjailed for five more. so she told her son she had left him a voice message that she loved him. but she told me she struggles to explain why she's been prosecuted for her politics. the debates, the seminars, and the political rallies are our right to express our opinions. i don't know why i committed a crime, because i really didn't. they treat me like an a very dangerous person.-

they treat me like an a very dangerous person. this protest was a key _ dangerous person. this protest was a key part _ dangerous person. this protest was a key part of— dangerous person. this protest was a key part of the _ dangerous person. this protest was a key part of the evidence. j was a key part of the evidence. the flag declares she's fed up with vladimir putin. so anastasia was worried on verdict day. the prosecutor linked her to a pro—democracy group based in britain that russia has banned as subversive. inside, herwhole subversive. inside, her whole family subversive. inside, herwhole family had gathered. thejudge mumbled through her summing up for several hours, as misha struggled to stay on his feet and anastasia feared the worst. the judge's and anastasia feared the worst. thejudge's point and anastasia feared the worst. the judge's point was clear from the start — anastasio's political activism is a crime. the court has found anastasia guilty and a threat to national security. but the sense she's been given is a suspended one, four years suspended, and that's an enormous relief for her family. that's an enormous relief for herfamily. anastasia's that's an enormous relief for her family. anastasia's case comes just after the jailing of alexei navalny, vladimir putin's greatest critic. his

arrest sparked mass protests and a tough response by riot police. tolerance of political dissent is shrinking here all the time secular if you have a different opinion from the opinion of authorities, you can go to jailjust for your opinion. previously they needed at least something to falsify criminal cases.— at least something to falsify criminal cases. now they don't need anything- _ criminal cases. now they don't need anything. literally - need anything. literally nothing. need anything. literally nothing-— need anything. literally nothin-.~ ., , nothing. anastasia has been s - ared nothing. anastasia has been spared prison, _ nothing. anastasia has been spared prison, and - nothing. anastasia has been spared prison, and her- nothing. anastasia has been spared prison, and her long| spared prison, and her long house arrest is over. but she doesn't feel like celebrating. i'm still not free.— i'm still not free. she's not been cleared. _ i'm still not free. she's not been cleared. but - i'm still not free. she's not been cleared. but misha i i'm still not free. she's not been cleared. but misha is| i'm still not free. she's not - been cleared. but misha isjust been cleared. but misha is just overjoyed that his mum is coming home. sarah rainsford, bbc news. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones. this is bbc news, bye—bye.

hello there. the weather is going to be turning increasingly wet across western areas of the uk, thanks to an area of low pressure. this area of low pressure, in fact. and this cloud you can see here associated with the low is a weather front, a particularly slow—moving front. it's going to be bringing rain for some for the next couple of days. rainfall totals building up, then, but the wettest weather will always be over high ground — so the moors of southwest england, the brecon beacons, snowdonia, the cumbrian fells, northern ireland generally, and across southern and western scotland, particularly the highlands and the southern uplands. so we could see some localised flooding building in. the rain is beginning to arrive right now and, along with the wet weather some strong winds, mild air. temperatures about 8—9 celsius as we start the day on friday. further east it is dry, but it's chillier. temperatures around 3 celsius, most places should be frost—free.

now for friday, it's a wet and windy starts the day across these western areas with gusts of wind potentially running into the low—60s of miles per hour or so in places. outbreaks of rain with many of you for much of the day. there won't be much rain, though, across the northeast of scotland, and not a great deal of rain either across the midlands, east anglia, southeast england. there will be quite large tracts of the day that stay dry and bright, even. whereas further west, the rain pretty relentless. temperatures on the mild side, looking at highs of around 10—12 celsius fairly widely. and then into the weekend — more wet and windy weather to come across western areas. the eastern side of the country brighter and drier and, for some, it could turn very mild indeed for a time. the reason the weather gets a bit milder is the winds are going to start to come from a southerly direction, dragging the air up from north africa, spain, france, and on into central and eastern parts of england in particular, though east scotland not doing badly in places. further west on saturday, well, it's a wet and windy day coming up with the rain again very

heavy and persistent at times. temperatures, well, around about 12—14 celsius across western areas — which is still mild, but across the east of england we could see temperatures go as high as 17 celsius in 1—2 spots. very mild indeed. 0ur weather front is still with us on sunday, but it is tending to fizzle, just a lump of cloud with a few patches of rain left on it by this stage. so more in the way of bright weather for scotland and northern ireland, a bit more sunshine here, temperatures around 10—11 celsius. eastern england still having the highest temperatures, perhaps up to 15—16.

this is bbc news, the headlines...

the american space agency, nasa, has successfully landed a rover vehicle on mars. after a seven—month journey from earth, the craft survived a high—speed plunge through the martian atmosphere, and tweeted a picture of the surface of the red planet. the perseverance mission will search for ancient signs of life. millions of people in the us state of texas remain without power — after gas pipelines and wind turbines froze in a winter storm. texans have been told to boil tap water — before drinking it — when the storm caused blackouts at treatment facilities. the us senator for texas, ted cruz, has defended taking a family holiday in mexico while some residents are struggling to access food and millions of people are still without water. mr cruz said he'd flown to the resort of cancun with his daughters because he wanted "to be a good dad." now on bbc news our world — human rights activist