welcome to bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: touchdown confirmed. perserverence has touched down on the surface of mars. the moment the perseverance rover, nasa's most ambitious mission to mars, lands successfully on the red planet. it worked through all the adversity 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. the united states says

it's ready to hold talks with iran and european powers about reviving a deal to stop tehran building nuclear weapons. and, facebook unfriends australia — the social networking giant blocks access to news media on its site in a row over paying for content. 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's just 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, thejezero 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. chance to know where life ever existed on mars. rebecca morelle, bbc news. we can now speak to

nasa's adam steltzner, who is the chief engineer on the perseverance mars rover mission. adam helped to design the sky crane landing system used in both the curiosity and perseverance missions. thank you so much for coming on the programme. thank you so much for coming on the programme-— the programme. thank you for havin: the programme. thank you for having me- — the programme. thank you for having me. many _ the programme. thank you for having me. many nervous - the programme. thank you for i having me. many nervous people as it approached _ having me. many nervous people as it approached mars, _ having me. many nervous people as it approached mars, hoping i as it approached mars, hoping it would go 0k, as it approached mars, hoping it would go ok, i imagine not many people more nervous than you, this is your whole system being put to the test again! yes, yes. 0ne being put to the test again! yes, yes. one of the co—authors of the landing system, a good friend of mine, texted me this morning and said he wished me luck and i replied" slightly sarcastically but also truthfully, maybe it will work again? " we had some wonder as to whether this kind of crazy system we developed would really be a thing or whether we

have just been lucky in 2012 and it looks like it is a bit of a thing. and it looks like it is a bit of a thing-— of a thing. and we can hepefully _ of a thing. and we can hopefully see - of a thing. and we can hopefully see some i of a thing. and we can - hopefully see some pictures again, an amazing system, a remarkable piece of engineering to get the rover onto the surface of mars there safely. the crucial thing for me there is that you only had one shot at this, didn't you? it took me two attempts to park my car at the office earlier, but you only had one go at this? that is true, only had one go at this? that is true. a _ only had one go at this? that is true, a do-or-die - only had one go at this? that is true, a do-or-die my - only had one go at this? twat is true, a do—or—die my mentor, but thankfully, thousands of engineers from around the world, worked on this mission to get it right. so although the moment was singular, the effort was not. and it was a collection of, really a community of humans, and it came through in the end by now we are on the surface, the rover is ready to go, how significant in the history of

space engineering, space travel, and the history of human knowledge in this area, how significant is this? quite significant. we have to remember that perserverence is the first leg in a three leg mars sample return effort. this is a robotic 0dyssey, the likes of which humans are never engaged in, to take samples from the surface of another planet and bring the back to earth. so, it is very ambitious, it is a partnership with european space agency at nasa and perserverence is the first of that. and as so far is that, she is opening a new chapter, a new book, an exploration of the solar system. exploration of the solar system-— exploration of the solar s stem. ., . , , system. how much help will this be, this mission, _ system. how much help will this be, this mission, this _ system. how much help will this be, this mission, this aim, - system. how much help will this be, this mission, this aim, of. be, this mission, this aim, of humans on mars? we be, this mission, this aim, of humans on mars?— humans on mars? we took a coule humans on mars? we took a coume of — couple of items thickly to help humans prepare —— specifically for humans to help prepare for mars. we took a technology

demonstration of moxie, which takes a carbon dioxide atmosphere of mars, breaks up the carbon dioxide, and creates oxygen, oxygen that astronauts can breed and oxygen that can be rocket fuel for the return flight to home, to earth, back from the surface of mars. we also have a section of astronaut space that we are taking without and looking at how it survives, breaks down and whether in intense radiation, winds, dust and son, on the surface of mars. so, although we are a robotic mission for robotic sample return, we are paving the way for future human exploration of the red planet.— the red planet. that is absolutely _ the red planet. that is absolutely fascinating! | the red planet. that is i absolutely fascinating! as the red planet. that is - absolutely fascinating! as you said, the main mission is to search for signs of life, ancient life there. what are your thoughts on whether that will be successful?—

will be successful? well, we know that 3-15 _ will be successful? well, we know that 3-15 billion - will be successful? well, we| know that 3-15 billion years know that 3—15 billion years ago, when i wasjust getting started on earth, the conditions to support life were ripe on the surface of mars. so an intriguing question, did life happen on both planets simultaneously? didn't happen on one of the other? is life something that occurs whenever the circumstances are beneficial to work or is it something very, very rare? if fundamentally gets to the question which we have been asking as humans since the dawn of our self—awareness, are we alone? are we alone in the universe? in the solar system? could one of our nearest neighbours harbour life? some big questions. _ neighbours harbour life? some big questions, i— neighbours harbour life? some big questions, i cannot - neighbours harbour life? some big questions, i cannot match. big questions, i cannot match those that we believe that there! thank you so much for coming on and to us.- there! thank you so much for coming on and to us. thank you for having _ coming on and to us. thank you for having me. _

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 to protesters for filming a rally against the leader of the country. the journalists were arrested in a minx apartment block while live streaming and

arthur rise protest. —— and unauthorised protest. 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. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: as texas froze, ted cruz flew to mexico — has the state's republican senator left his reputation out in the cold? 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 affect on the morale of the people. i'm terrified of the repercussions on the streets, one wonders who is next. gunfire. as the airlift got under

way, there was no letup in the eruption itself. lava streams from a vent low the crater flowed down to the sea the east of the island, 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 called it 'mir' — the russian for peace. this is bbc news. iam i am lewis vaughanjones. the latest headlines: nasa's most ambitious mission to mars has landed successfully 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. well, as texans continues to struggle with sub—zero temperatures and

widespread power cuts, the high—profile republican senator for 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. resign! resign, ted cruz! this was the scene outside mr cruz�*s house in houston, where protesters gathered outside for his arrival home. and speaking to reporters, senator cruz expressed regret. ...whether the decision to go was tone—deaf. it was obviously a mistake and, in hindsight, and people i was trying to be a dad. and all of us have

made decisions... when you've got girls who have been cold for two days and they're saying, "look, we don't have school, why don't we go, 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 really second—guessing that decision, saying, "look, i know why we're doing this, but i've also got responsibilities." let's get more on this now from alana rocha, who is a reporter at the texas tribune. thank you very much for coming on the programme.— thank you very much for coming on the programme. thank you for havin: on the programme. thank you for having me- _ on the programme. thank you for having me. that _ on the programme. thank you for having me. that start _ on the programme. thank you for having me. that start with - on the programme. thank you for having me. that start with ted i having me. that start with ted cruz. having me. that start with ted cruz this _ having me. that start with ted cruz. this seems _ having me. that start with ted cruz. this seems like - having me. that start with ted cruz. this seems like ms - cruz. this seems like ms entirely of his own making? yeah, i mean, we learnt that he changed his return flight at 6am this morning to come back today, this is coming back over the weekend, you know, he says it was a mistake, he owned up to it kind of after he was the

target of internet fury erupting overnight into today, a lot of people are struggling study i is appearing here at home have both of my children, mole children at home, we have power, luckily, but no water. it didn't sit well with a lot of people, you know, we would have liked to pick up their children and go to a warmer climate, or one with all the basic amenities, so it is not going well. he took hours to issue a statement and speak with reporters, as you showed there. he with reporters, as you showed there. , ., , with reporters, as you showed there. , .,, ., with reporters, as you showed there. , ., ., there. he says he has to ask there. he says he has to ask the question _ there. he says he has to ask the question of— there. he says he has to ask the question of what - there. he says he has to ask the question of what has - there. he says he has to ask i the question of what has gone so badly wrong here in the state? do we have any idea of what has gone so wrong? it is a coule what has gone so wrong? it is a counle of _ what has gone so wrong? it is a couple of things. _ what has gone so wrong? it is a couple of things. years - what has gone so wrong? it is a couple of things. years of - couple of things. years of deregulation and letting these companies decide whether or not they want to read otherwise the parts and pipes —— weatherise

the parts and pipes that pump out natural gas from this basin, unlike other states we do not have a lot of reserves because it is right deep beneath the service. if those components are freezing, not only can it not get out of the ground, it cannot go to operators or homes. not preparing the equipment, although they had warnings and learn somewhat of a less ten years ago, they chose not to do it. that is mainly how we got here. we learn today from the grid operator saying they intended to do rolling blackouts but what they saw, several parts of the grid were going off—line because they were freezing, they had to make those outages longer. it is were freezing, they had to make those outages longer.— those outages longer. it is an extraordinary _ those outages longer. it is an extraordinary situation. - extraordinary situation. lastly, on the people affected, do we have any accurate idea now of numbers of people affected and what exactly people are going through? well, as of today _ people are going through? well, as of today or — people are going through? well, as of today or as _ people are going through? well, as of today or as of _ people are going through? well, as of today or as of this - as of today or as of this evening here in the state we saw about 300,000 texans still

without power, down from a peak of 4 million people, so that is good news, but many people are still without water. we have seen big stress soars on the hospital system, of course that has already been taxed from months of fighting the pandemic —— stessors, patients have had to be answered, and deliveries of supplies have been affected. food shelves are empty, it is affecting every aspect of life here stop thank you very much for coming on, great to speak to you today. thank you. the united states has said it's prepared to hold talks with iran and european allies about a return to the iran nuclear deal. but not until iran stops violating the terms of the agreement. azaday moshiri reports. it was widely seen as the crowning achievement of the

0bama administration, but was the iran negotiations with the painstaking injuries along the way? three years later, another one wants one back in. it's a dizzying state of affairs, affecting one of the most volatile security concerns in the world, and leading some iran to act out. in response to the sanctions, it incrementally breached the terms of the deal. in its latest move, they run says it will dramatically scale back its cooperation with the us nuclear watchdog unless the sanctions, which are crippling iran's economy, are removed. translation:— iran's economy, are removed. translation: ~ ., , ., , , translation: words and promises are of no use. _ translation: words and promises are of no use, this _ translation: words and promises are of no use, this time, _ translation: words and promises are of no use, this time, only - are of no use, this time, only action, action! if we see action, action! if we see action from the opposite side, we will have, to study the islamic republic of iran be satisfied this time with words and promises that we will do this or that. it will not be like before.—

this or that. it will not be like before. on thursday, foreian like before. on thursday, foreign ministers - like before. on thursday, foreign ministers from i like before. on thursday, | foreign ministers from the united states, united kingdom, france and germany held a meeting. and out of that came an invitation. secretary of state antony blinken told his european allies that the us is willing to hold direct talks with iran about a return to the deal, but there is a caveat. iran must return to full compliance first.- iran must return to full compliance first. we are obviously _ compliance first. we are obviously concerned - compliance first. we are l obviously concerned about compliance first. we are - obviously concerned about the risk of further non—compliance by iran on thejcpoa, all the more reason to reactivate transatlantic diplomacy, which is lame here, but also speaking to antony blinken in the us, trying to reengage diplomatically in order to restrain iran but also bring it back into compliance on its nuclear obligations —— which is why i am here. it’s nuclear obligations -- which is why i am here.— why i am here. it's a delicate dance, why i am here. it's a delicate dance. so — why i am here. it's a delicate dance, so he _ why i am here. it's a delicate dance, so he will— why i am here. it's a delicate dance, so he will make - why i am here. it's a delicate dance, so he will make the l dance, so he will make the first move? a un nuclear

inspection is deviance tehran this weekend, but what happens in the coming will continue to comply or step up its nuclear activities. —— inspection team is due in tehran this weekend. 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 plan to force internet firms to pay for news shared on their platforms. our 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 aftershocks 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, advertiserfunded 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. hear, hear! 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 someonejust for linking to them reaches 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 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. l rajan, bbc news.

the us singer dolly parton says she isn't ready to have a statue erected in her likeness — just 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. a seabird has ended up in the middle of the desert after being caught up in the winter storms that have hit texas. this magnificent frigate is usually found in tropical ocean errors but ended up in texas after being blown off its normal course by the storms. a good samaritan to get to el pasoans do. it will be flown to florida once it is well enough to travel study that is it for

me. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones. iam i am lewis vaughanjones, and this is bbc news. bay by. —— 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 rainfor some for the next couple of days. but the wettest weather will always be over high ground — so the moors of south—west 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 north—east of scotland, and not a great deal of rain either across the midlands, east anglia, south—east 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. our 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 united states has said it is accepting an invitation from the european union for talks involving iran to revive a deal that would prevent tehran from building a nuclear weapon. the announcement came

after talks between the us, britain, france and germany on the 2015 nuclear accord. now on bbc news, panorama. with more than 15 million people now having their first jab, panorama investigates those trying to derail the vaccine roll—out. this is all a lie, this covid—19. from protesters on the streets... toxic dna—altering vaccine! ..to doctors on video... covid 19, the greatest hoax in history. i'm marianna spring, the bbc�*s specialist reporter on disinformation and social media. tonight, the video spreading fear... it sounded so real, and the people were so plausible.