welcome to bbc news, i'm lewis vaughanjones. our top stories... touchdown confirmed — perserverance is safely on the surface of mars. the moment the perseverance rover, nasa's most ambitious mission to mars, lands successfully on the red planet. 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. and 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. 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. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america, and around the globe. we start on another planet — mars, where the nasa perseverance rover has safely touched down. it's already sending back messages from its new home and will now try to find signs of life on the planet. 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. we can now speak to nasa's dr peter willis. peter is a member of the perseverance mission science team who will be working with instruments on the rover that will collect samples from mars. angers crossed. thanks for coming on the programme. it’s coming on the programme. it's wonderful— coming on the programme. it's wonderful to _ coming on the programme. it�*s wonderful to be here, thanks for your invitation. it’s wonderfulto be here, thanks for your invitation.— for your invitation. it's an amazing _ for your invitation. it's an amazing moment - for your invitation. it's an amazing moment and - for your invitation. it's an amazing moment and i'm for your invitation. it's an - amazing moment and i'm sure you and your colleagues are relieved that everything quite well. but secretly you are pretty nervous as well, because now it's over to you — your and your teams are in charge of the instruments on board the river, so the pressure is on you now? exactly. and we are grateful and indebted to the hard work of the people that placed — well, first that built the rover, then placed it so gracefully on the surface of another place. it's an incredible accomplishment from

teams of people and their families too, during a really difficult time. we came up with the name at perseverance before the name at perseverance before the whole covid thing hit, so it was such a prescient title. but the ball is in our court now. ~ . , , but the ball is in our court now. ~ ., , , ., now. what instruments aboard the rover _ now. what instruments aboard the rover will _ now. what instruments aboard the rover will try _ now. what instruments aboard the rover will try to _ now. what instruments aboard the rover will try to do - now. what instruments aboard the rover will try to do what? | the rover will try to do what? they were selected specifically to determine the very most promising samples to return to earth. so the instruments we can use on earth are doing —— that are doing really detailed analyses are more advanced than the ones on earth. there are two instruments on the mast, like et�*s had, and the our cameras. then there's another set of instruments that are actually located on the mobile arm, the turret that can actually take and put them very close to samples and analyse

them really up close. and with them really up close. and with the combination of both those measurements, we can determine the most interesting things to the most interesting things to the ends dashed to then sample it and return to earth at a later date.— it and return to earth at a later date. �* ., ., later date. and how will that actually be _ later date. and how will that actually be done? _ later date. and how will that actually be done? will - later date. and how will that actually be done? will that l later date. and how will that l actually be done? will that be controlled by people on earth, or will it be automated, looking around and picking up and grabbing these samples? film. and grabbing these samples? 0h, it'll be a human _ and grabbing these samples? oi it'll be a human endeavour. it's all human. there's a whole group of people here including myself and my family that are about to go on mars time. the mars day is a0 minutes longer than the earth day, so we will wake up and follow the sun on mars, and each day will receive information and we will make decisions on what precisely to do that day, then we follow that each day for the next three years. so it is — this is our avatar on the surface of mars, but the science that needs to be done, it does. and

as you said, it's a big job to as you said, it's a big job to a efficiently use it. it’s as you said, it's a big “0b to a efficiently use it._ bi a efficiently use it. it's a big job. _ a efficiently use it. it's a big job. how _ a efficiently use it. it's a big job, how confident l a efficiently use it. it's a i big job, how confident are a efficiently use it. it's a - big job, how confident are you that you will find the right samples which could then lead you to extraterrestrial life? well, i'll tell you that i do think, and this represents the view of scientists internationally, that this is the best location to look for signs of extraterrestrial life. so i think when we start going up so i think when we start going up the devil tongue, and even before when we reach these co—ordinates deposited on the edge of the ancient lake, we have a very promising chance to find something that is truly astonishing, and that's what we are all hoping for. band are all hoping for. and finally. _ are all hoping for. and finally, there's - are all hoping for. and finally, there's a - are all hoping for. and finally, there's a bit i are all hoping for. and finally, there's a bit ofi are all hoping for. and i finally, there's a bit of a delay because although the work will take a while up there, it's even more years before scientists on earth will get their hands on it? we scientists on earth will get their hands on it?- scientists on earth will get their hands on it? we can still find things — their hands on it? we can still find things during _ their hands on it? we can still find things during the - their hands on it? we can still find things during the course l find things during the course of the mission that are still

so compelling that you need to convince people we found life, and may be there's things that lends us to believe life is there during the course of this mission. , . .,,, ., mission. fingers crossed for that. thank _ mission. fingers crossed for that. thank you _ mission. fingers crossed for that. thank you so - mission. fingers crossed for that. thank you so much, i that. thank you so much, doctor, great to have you with us. . ~' doctor, great to have you with us. . ~ , ., 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. the decision was tone—deaf. it was obviously a mistake and, in hindsight, i wouldn't have done it. i was trying to be a dad. and all of us have made decisions... when you've got two girls who have been cold 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." ted cruz there. 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. a belarus court has jailed two tv journalists for two years on charges of fomenting protests, forfilming a rally against the country's leader. katerina andreyeva and daria chultsova were arrested in a minsk apartment block in november while live—streaming an unauthorised protest. they are with

poland—based belsat tv. 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". stay with us on bbc news. still to come: welcome to the red planet — after a seven month journey from earth, nasa's most ambitious mission to mars, lands succesfully. 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 eruption 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 news, the main story this hour... 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.

let's have more on our main story. keith cowing used to work for nasa and is the editor of two websites astrobiology.com and nasawatch.com. he's in reston, virginia just outside of washington, dc. thanks outside of washington, dc. so much for coming on the thanks so much for coming on the programme. mt; thanks so much for coming on the programme.— the programme. my pleasure. what do you _ the programme. my pleasure. what do you make _ the programme. my pleasure. what do you make of - the programme. my pleasure. what do you make of what's l the programme. my pleasure. - what do you make of what's been happening over the last few hours? ~' , ., , �* hours? like everyone else, i'm excited because _ hours? like everyone else, i'm excited because i'm _ hours? like everyone else, i'm excited because i'm a - hours? like everyone else, i'm excited because i'm a space . excited because i'm a space quy' excited because i'm a space guy, and this is in essence a mobile astrobiologist, which is my first love. so i'm doubly happy in this regard.- my first love. so i'm doubly happy in this regard. we've got those images _ happy in this regard. we've got those images back _ happy in this regard. we've got those images back almost - those images back almost immediately, remarkably quickly. what are we expecting out over the last few hours? the pictures you saw are actually through a lens cap with dust on it. so those lens caps can actually be popped off and some additional pictures have been taken since the landing and they're waiting for

several spacecrafts to orbit overhead. so we may see much better images tonight, at least ljy better images tonight, at least by tomorrow. we better images tonight, at least by tomorrow— better images tonight, at least by tomorrow. better images tonight, at least b tomorrow. ~ ., , ., by tomorrow. we have them up on the screen — by tomorrow. we have them up on the screen now, _ by tomorrow. we have them up on the screen now, they're _ by tomorrow. we have them up on the screen now, they're quite - the screen now, they're quite grey. some people in social media have said they were expecting it to be a bit more red, obviously the more tongue—in—cheek. how much better we expecting these images to get?— better we expecting these images to get? vastly better. vastly better. _ images to get? vastly better. vastly better. again, - images to get? vastly better. vastly better. again, you're l vastly better. again, you're looking through a cheap plastic lens cap covered with dust stirred up from the landing. that'll be popped off and the rover has a dozen cameras. a mask will go up at some point and take panoramic images —— a mast. people will be stunned by the clarity of these images. beyond the images, what else is exciting you about where we are now? . exciting you about where we are now? , ., ., , , now? first of all, this is sort of an interesting _ now? first of all, this is sort of an interesting mission. if| of an interesting mission. if you look at this rover in the curiosity rover which we sent to mars a decade ago, they may look similar, but it's like an

austin mini from 20 years ago and one you can buy today. it's larger, it has more doors and a newer hood, more capability. this is a rather heavy beast. the rocket that launched it, think company that launched this vehicle actually showed the ability of this rocket to launch, showing how many whales it could launch. this is quite a large vehicle, and it's got quite a wide array of imaging capabilities and scientific imaging that allow the rover to drive over the surface of mars, examine rocks, drill holes, fire laser beams and collect a lot of information. but the most important part... clearly caettin most important part... clearly getting to _ most important part... clearly getting to the _ most important part... clearly getting to the surface - most important part... clearly getting to the surface itself i getting to the surface itself was obviously incredibly hard and a massive success. but there are still risks and dangers now as it moves around? yes, and of course they did this once before but it was dangerous then, and it was

dangerous then, and it was dangerous this time. the only differences they've done it once before. but now the rover is kind of safe, it seems to be in good condition. and over the next few days, it'll start turning all his instruments on, and at some point it has a helicopter that weighs a couple kilos that will be able to take off and survey the area around. but after that's done, the rover will continue for the better part of two earth years to drill and collect samples. they will then leave them in a location for a future spacecraft to pick up and come back to earth.— back to earth. great to have ou back to earth. great to have you on. _ back to earth. great to have you on, thanks _ back to earth. great to have you on, thanks so _ back to earth. great to have you on, thanks so much i back to earth. great to have you on, thanks so much for| you on, thanks so much for talking to us. mt; you on, thanks so much for talking to us.— 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, after being accused, of having links to a campaign led by an exiled oligarch. sarah rainsford reports. anastasia was so sure she's going to prison, she packed a bag to take to court. a few basics for life behind bars. the opposition activist has been under house arrest for two years — but the prosecutor wanted her jailed forfive more. so she told her son

she'd left him a voice message to remind him that she loved him. but anastasia told me she struggles to explain why she's been prosecuted for her politics. the debates, the seminars, and the political rallies is our right to express our opinions. i don't know where i committed a crime, because i really didn't. they treat me like a very dangerous person. this protest 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 has linked her to a pro—democracy group based in britain that russia has banned as "subversive". inside, herwhole family had gathered. thejudge mumbled through her summing—up for several hours, as misha struggled to stay on his feet and his mother braced for the worst.

thejudge's position was clear from the start — anastasia's political activism is a crime. well, anastasia shevchenko has just been declared guilty. the court has found her a threat to national security. but the sentence she's been given is a suspended one — four years suspended. and of course, that's an enormous relief for her family. anastasia's case comes just after the jailing of alexei navalny, president 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. if you have a different opinion from the opinion of the authorities, you can go to jailjust for your opinion. previously they needed at least something to fabricate criminal cases. now they don't need anything — literally, nothing. anastasia has been spared prison, and her long

house arrest is over. but she doesn't feel like celebrating. i'm still not free. she's not been cleared. but misha is just overjoyed that his mum is coming home. sarah rainsford, bbc news. the us singer dolly parton says she isn't ready to have a statue erected in her likeness yet. she donated $1 million to covid—19 vaccine research but has now asked her home state of tennessee to halt the statue plans in the grounds of nashville's state capitol government building. the country music star tweeted to say that with everything going on in the world, putting her on a pedestal was not appropriate at this time. but, the 75—year—old did say that if in the future, her fans wanted to immortalise her with a lasting monument she "will stand proud as a grateful tennessean". that's it from me. 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—1a 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 7—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'.