live from london. this is bbc news. cheering. indian scientists successfully [and a spacecraft on the moon — the first ever touch down at the lunar south pole. this success belongs to all of humanity! andrew tate prosecution files reveal graphic claims of coercion ahead of his trial. zimbabweans head to the polls in parliamentary and presidential elections, after a campaign dominated by soaring inflation. the director of the british museum speaks out, saying it's frustrating the person who raised concerns about missing artefacts did not reveal they had more in their possession.

hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. we start this hour on the moon! india is the first country in the world to land a spacecraft near the moon's south pole. it was a tense last six minutes. remember, this is an uncrewed mission, everything was controlled here in the control room, there was no one on board. just so you know, the prime minister of india was not there, he was being beamed in, and watch the moment. —— watched. we there, he was being beamed in, and watch the moment. -- watched. we are minutes away — watch the moment. -- watched. we are minutes away from _ watch the moment. -- watched. we are minutes away from the _ watch the moment. -- watched. we are minutes away from the start _ watch the moment. -- watched. we are minutes away from the start of - minutes away from the start of our

descent _ minutes away from the start of our descent. . ., , ., ., , ., descent. that was the moment and you can see the celebrations _ descent. that was the moment and you can see the celebrations there, - can see the celebrations there, india just the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon. these pictures are posted just recently by the india space research organisation. they were posted on x, formerly known as twitter. it has said, these are images from the lander, a horizontal velocity camera, taken during the descent. these are the first time i'm seeing these pictures as well, quite remarkable pictures and quite quickly released by the space agency. now let's take a listen to the indian prime minister, what he said. india's successful moon mission is notjust india's alone.

this is a year in which the world is witnessing india's 620 presidency. our approach of one family, one future is resonating across the globe. our correspondent archana shukla, who's at the planetarium in mumbai, told me it was quite a moment for the country. it's certainly a very proud moment for people here in india, as the country created history to be the first one to land on the south pole of the moon — and contribute to the global space research with such important aspects. this is important and there were scenes ofjubilation, people chanting patriotic slogans, hugging, distributing sweets, because it's a moment ofjoy and a moment of pride for everybody around. it also brings india up

on the ladder to be part of the elite club ofjust four countries to have made a soft landing on the moon. and also gives it a credible approach and a credible push to the space positive industry that india has been doing, engineering. after the failure in 2019, it was a really important attempt position itself. we're already seeing the start—ups coming into this space, double in just three years' time. that is the kind of interest that coming in. when we were talking to people, especially audiences over here, younger audiences, to watch the live screening, they were all talking about the prospects this builds for india, to grow in the space

economy, to build on from here, and also to build morejobs around the space sector, for youth coming in. on a lot of accounts, this is a historic moment for india, and for the world, and india's contribution into the space research. huge achievements, landing in this part of the moon. near the south pole because it is so much harder to land there, than near the equator, as has been done before. and it is not over, because the landing has taken place, but the next step is the rover rolling out, on its wheels, then going out on an explore, that is what is coming next? absolutely. the lander and the rover is going to spend one lunar day, which is equal to 14 earth days, on the south pole, collecting data

from the surface, and evidence, looking at the craters, and the moon quakes, gathering information and also looking for water on the lunar surface, especially in the south pole, which is considered by scientists as one of the most valuable assets on the moon because that, scientists say, will pave the way for human habitation on the moon, in future and it will also support more lunar explorations and mission sin the future. one thing to be pointed out, the last mission in 2019 was focused on success, and this mission was focused on failure, so it was a failure—orientated mission, meaning they had built in for all the failures that could come. that has added to the success and this is also what will support the exploration in the coming days, with the instruments that

are already on board the lander, that will be collecting the matter and the data, not only for india, but also for the world. let's cross to montgomery in alabama and speak to dr namrata goswami, who's an independent scholar on space policy. thank you very much a coming on the programme. on a mac thank you for having me. we should emphasise, it is very easy, after the fact, that this was not always going to happen, was it? ., , , this was not always going to happen, wasit? ., , , ~ ., was it? no, because as we know, india attempted _ was it? no, because as we know, india attempted in _ was it? no, because as we know, india attempted in 2019 - was it? no, because as we know, india attempted in 2019 to - was it? no, because as we know, india attempted in 2019 to land . was it? no, because as we know, j india attempted in 2019 to land in the south pole and failed in the last few seconds, russia also failed just this week. that actually added to the drama, and increased the stakes for the india's landing being more successful. i think the south pole landing is being more difficult because we do not have a very good terrain knowledge, as yet, and so the amount centre —— senses might miscalculate the mountain, so the

fact that india succeeded, now builds on its successful missions in the future. �* , . ~ builds on its successful missions in the future. �*, ., ~ ., ., the future. let's talk about what ha--ens the future. let's talk about what happens next. — the future. let's talk about what happens next, how— the future. let's talk about what happens next, how important i the future. let's talk about what happens next, how important is| the future. let's talk about what - happens next, how important is this rover, the smaller vehicle on wheels, goes out from the spacecraft and goes off to explore? it is extremely — and goes off to explore? it is extremely important - and goes off to explore? it 3 extremely important because firstly, this will be the first time indio would send out a rover on a celestial body, never before has it done it, so that would be an achievement. —— india. the rover also has a particular experiment, reconfirming the presence of water ice, for example, important for oxygen, human habitation, turning into rocket fuel, but also elements like titanium, iron, silicon... given the fact that india has signed the artemis accord, with the united states, hoping to establish a

permanent presence on the moon in the next ten years, the data that the next ten years, the data that the indian rover is going to collect is going to be extremely critical for the subsequent missions. find is going to be extremely critical for the subsequent missions. and the remarkable thing, _ for the subsequent missions. and the remarkable thing, lots _ for the subsequent missions. and the remarkable thing, lots of— for the subsequent missions. and the remarkable thing, lots of people - for the subsequent missions. and the remarkable thing, lots of people are l remarkable thing, lots of people are talking about the cost, the fact that... of course, these are huge sums of money, but india's managed to do it relatively cheaply. yes. to do it relatively cheaply. yes, even if you _ to do it relatively cheaply. yes, even if you compare _ to do it relatively cheaply. yes, even if you compare with - to do it relatively cheaply. yes, even if you compare with the i to do it relatively cheaply. yes even if you compare with the us, the artemis programme, just one launch cost about $4 billion, just for the launch system, which is the space launch system, which is the space launch system, which is the space launch system, the sls. compared to that, the indian launch, orbiter, lander, rover, costabout that, the indian launch, orbiter, lander, rover, cost about 75 million. there is a huge difference in cost effectiveness. also the artemis programme for the next ten years will cost about 94 billion, so the fact that india could do it full so much cheaper, will be part of the initial calculus, how to bring down

the cost of such missions and make them sustainable. i think that is going to have an impact, even in terms of the idea of commercialisation of the lunar resources. commercialisation of the lunar resources-_ commercialisation of the lunar resources. . . resources. fascinating. thank you very much — resources. fascinating. thank you very much for— resources. fascinating. thank you very much for your _ resources. fascinating. thank you very much for your time, - resources. fascinating. thank you very much for your time, doctor. | very much for your time, doctor. thank you for having me. next, details of graphic evidence compiled by romanian prosecutors, alleging that andrew tate coerced women into sexual acts, have been seen by the bbc. both andrew tate and his brother are facing trial in romania for human trafficking and forming an organised criminal group with two other defendants. andrew tate is also facing a charge of rape. they deny all the charges against them. here's lucy williamson. over hundreds of pages, romanian prosecutors outlined the testimony and the evidence they say they've gathered against andrew tate. it includes transcripts of what the prosecution says are text and audio messages, appearing to show how the alleged

trafficking operation was managed, and the apparent coercion, control and abuse of women by andrew tate and his co—defendants. in one transcribed exchange, andrew tate appears to coerce an alleged victim into group sex, using abusive language. his brother triston is also quoted in prosecution transcripts, allegedly talking about "slaving" women for "ten to 12 hours a day". the bbc can't verify whether these transcripts are accurate because the original evidence is not included in the 300—page summary that we've seen. in that summary, the prosecution also says that women were forced to make pornographic content online and alleges that some women did not control the money they made and were fined for crying on camera orfor not working hard enough. a spokeswoman for the tate brothers said they vehemently denied the serious allegations against them and accused the bbc of lacking

impartiality, but she didn't provide any detail or respond to the specific allegations we raised. defence lawyers are expected to challenge the prosecution evidence in a pre—trial hearing later this month. next to zimbabwe... voting is under way in zimbabwe for closely watched presidential and legislative elections. not everyone is voting, but i will come back to that in a moment, these are images of president mnangagwa casting his vote. there had been concerns about the ruling zanu—pf party, but if they could conduct a fair election. nelson chamisa of the accc party is a strong opponent there. we have been getting reports of some polling stations that have not opened, or that there were delays in opening them. —— the

-- the ccc —— the ccc party. live now to shingai nyoka in harare, the capital of zimbabwe. hello. what do we know about polling stations opening? irate hello. what do we know about polling stations opening?— hello. what do we know about polling stations opening? we understand from the electoral commission _ stations opening? we understand from the electoral commission that - stations opening? we understand from the electoral commission that many i the electoral commission that many of the 12,000 polling stations around the country opened on time, or close to the official opening time, which was 7am, local time, or close to the official opening time, which was 7am, localtime, but we went around in harare to some of the other polling stations and they were yet to open, some as late as the tpm in the afternoon. we are told by the electoral commission that it told by the electoral commission thatitis told by the electoral commission that it is because they had delays in printing the ballot papers for the council elections, as a result of legal challenges by particular candidates. —— tpm. there was a lot of frustration when we're on the ground and that frustration is increased because there is a perception the electoral body was

specifically targeting urban areas which are oppositions that my opposition strongholds. from what i understand, the one station that we went to, where people had been waiting for about eight hours, and the ballot papers did finally arrive at about 3:30pm at local time, so people were able to vote. the electoral commission has asked people to remain patient, ballot papers are still being posted to the various polling stations and it says that everyone who wants to vote will still be given a 12 hours, that stipulated period by the law, and we expect the process to keep going on into the hours of the night and into the early hours of the morning in some cases. the early hours of the morning in some cam-— the early hours of the morning in some cases. thank you very much for that mediate — earlier i spoke to dr knox chitiyo, an associate fellow at the london

thinktank chatham house who gave his assessment on the election. as ever, it's a very important election, we have a record number of voters registered, more than 6.5 million, and it is likely that most of them will come out to vote, and again, it is a head—to—head, really, between president mnangagwa and nelson chamisa. the issue, really, is around the economy. people are really going to vote on whether they feel enough has been done, in terms of the economy of the past five years, that they can vote for the government to continue and complete the job, or whether they feel that not enough has been done and zimbabwe needs a change of management, so that is the key issue. there are other things, but that really is the key issue. and doctor chitiyo, there were reports earlier about voting stations, polling booths, not being open on time, hours and hours of delay. we don't have the specific reasons for that, but do you think that undermines the credibility in any

way of what is going on? this has been fairly common in zimbabwe's elections, and the zimbabwe electoral commission actually issued an update saying that those stations which have not opened on time will be allowed to stay open a little bit longer, so that people can cast their vote. so certainly it is an issue, but i am not sure it is an issue which totally undermines the election. it is certainly something that the zimbabwe electoral commission is addressing and hopefully everyone will be able to cast their vote. and just let us know what happens next, what can we expect and when can we expect a result? constitutionally, the commission has to announce the results within the next five days. we can expect the results within five days, but i don't see any reason that they would go over that time limit. again, the chances

are that the results, whoever wins the presidential, parliamentary and council, we can expect some contestation of the results. so we can expect some court cases, probably, given part electoral experiences, we can expect the results will be contested. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. ministers have defended their record on stopping small boats crossing the channel, even though nearly 2,000 migrants have made the journey in the last week. the government says the numbers arriving in the uk have fallen this year, but labour attributes the fall to last month's unusually poor weather. the uk's biggest mortgage lender, the halifax, says housing is now more affordable than a year ago. it said a typical home cost 6.7 times the average annual earnings of a full—time worker,

down from 7.3 times last year. but a typical home is still less affordable than it was near the start of the pandemic. the former boss of natwest is to receive a £2.4 million pay package this year, despite having quit in disgrace over her handling of the closure of nigel farage's bank account. dame alison rose resigned from the bank last month after admitting to being the source of an inaccurate news story. you're live with bbc news. the british museum's director hartwig fischer said it is "frustrating" that the person who raised concerns about missing items at the institution did not reveal they had more artefacts in their possession. items including gold, jewellery and semi—precious gemstones are among those missing. i spoke to our correspondent lizo mzimba who told us more about what's been happening. well, it's not exactly clear.

we had this statement from the director of the british museum, hartwig fischer, as you pick out, at one point he says, "concerns were only raised about a small number of items, and our investigation concluded that those items were all accounted for. we now have reason to believe that the individual who raised concerns had many more items in his possession, and it's frustrating that that was not revealed to us, as it would have aided our investigations". now, of course, the bbc has seen a number of e—mails from someone who raised concerns with the british museum, but it's not absolutely clear at this point whether that's the person that they were talking about. those e—mails also initially refer to somebody else making an initial complaint to the british museum. now, if it is the person who's written the emails that the bbc has had access to, to be fair, in those e—mails they talk about a number,

a small number, one or two specific items, which they say there appears to be strong evidence that they were stolen, or should have been in the british museum, but were appearing on sites like ebay. but also referring to a number of other items which they say they'd acquired from the same seller. so if that is the case that this is the person that the british museum is referring to, and they have actually refuted — if it's aimed at them — what the british museum have said, saying that they laid out the landscape as they saw it very, very clearly, and they do, if these e—mails are accurate, do appear to say that there are one or two items which appear to very strongly look like they should belong in the british museum, rather than being sold independently outside. but there are also a number of gems, which also they had doubts about. so at the moment, we're just waiting for clarity on a statement from the british museum that we did

receive in the last hour or so, where, as we say, they did say it was frustrating that an individual did, they believe, have more items in their possession and that if they had revealed that, it would have aided their investigations. but, of course, it doesn't take away from the main facts of the case. if it's true that items from the british museum did end up being sold independently, outside museum, how did that happen, what's the security like at the british museum, and also, just as crucially, did the british museum respond to initial complaints and allegations put to it in a timely and proportionate manner? now, there's a police investigation under way and the british museum has also commissioned an independent review of everything that's gone on, so i suspect for a lot of that, we won't find the answers to those questions for rather a long time. we've been hearing from the russian president, vladimir putin, again

blaming the west for the war forthe war in for the war in ukraine. he was speaking at a brics summit, that stands for brazil, russia, india, china and south africa. here he is attending the summit injohannesburg by video link. he can't attend due to his international arrest warrant issued over alleged crimes committed in ukraine. he criticsed the power of countries in the west. our correspondent injohannesburg, nomsa maseko, told me what we've been hearing from the brics summit. well, there has been a lot of talk, particularly by all the leaders of the brics nations — starting off with the leader of russia, vladimir putin, who spoke via video—link, saying that his country was committed to a peaceful and just solution to the war in the ukraine. and also reiterated

that the conflict in the ukraine was as a result of the war that he says was unleashed by the west and its allies. and we also heard from president of china, president xi jinping, who spoke positively about the possible expansion of the brics bloc, saying that more countries needed to join the bloc to ensure that there is much more influence that the bloc currently enjoys. next... police in pakistan have arrested the owner and the operator of a cable car in which eight people were trapped on tuesday. they're being investigated for not having a permit, endangering lives, and negligence. one of those stuck in the cable car was rescued by helicopter, whilst the other seven were saved by local people. our correpondent aziz—ullah khan sent this update. this is the area where a cable car

was struck yesterday. i talked to some of the students and an elder who was stuck in the cable car and they say they have seen the death, their grave, in front of their eyes. translation: it seemed as if we were standing - near to our graves. we were praying to god and thought that we will not survive this. they said that they cried over there and says that there was no way that they could be rescued. but later in the night, they were rescued with a zip line. local people say that they depend on this locally made cable car for travelling between the two mountains. they lack all the facilities — there's no bridge, no road and no other way that they could connect to the mainstream cities or the mainstream areas of this town. the government temporarily imposed a ban on such cable cars and say that until or unless all these kind

of cable cars are not maintained and not mechanically prepared, they would not be allowed to work over here. but the local people say that if this is not allowed for the long period, that they will have to face a lot of problems. thanks to our correspondent for that. and finally, the rolling stones may have just revealed the title of their new album. this advert, which appeared in the hackney gazette, a local paper, referenced several of the band's best—known songs. the fictional repair business, hackney diamonds, is old east london slang phrase for broken glass. while the advert does use the same font as the band's 1978 album, some girls, the rolling stones have yet to confirm the existence of their 31st studio album. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello there. we have seen some cloudier weather pushing in towards parts of the uk today, and over the coming days, it will be a little bit on the unsettled side — in fact, right through the coming weekend. sunshine and showers for many and also turning cooler, especially towards the south—east of england. we've seen that cloud drifting in from the atlantic and today it has been producing some wet weather, especially for western areas of scotland. further south, producing the odd scattered shower, but a lot of dry weather, albeit cloudy for many. towards the south—east of england, warm in the sunshine, temperatures reaching 26 degrees, but that sunshine turning a little bit hazy. further north, temperatures have been in and around average for the time of year — 18 degrees in glasgow, 19 degrees in belfast. as we make our way through this evening, low pressure towards the north—west of the uk will bring some windier conditions, outbreaks of rain for parts of northern ireland into northern england and through scotland. some of that quite heavy

as it drifts eastwards. some heavy showers beginning to develop too, across the south of england, which could be thundery. but a mild night for most of us. temperatures ranging between 11 and 15 degrees. low pressure dominates through the day tomorrow. it means it's going to be a little bit unsettled. it's not going to be a wash—out, but there will be some heavy rain, especially towards the south—east of england at first tomorrow. some of this could be torrential with thunder, could cause a few issues. further north, drier. some scattered showers, though, coming in on a westerly wind for parts of scotland and northern ireland. temperatures dropping by a few degrees for parts of england. further north and west, in and around average for the time of year. low pressure continues to dominate it as we make our way into friday, but it will drift eastwards towards the continent. as it does so, it will open the door behind it to some cooler and fresher conditions. northerly winds making it feel cool and fresh towards the north and the west of the uk, producing some scattered showers as well.

but all in all, to begin with, on friday, a largely dry start with some sunshine. as the showers get going, though, some of those will be heavy, potentially with thunder and lightning mixed in as well, but largely dry towards the south—east where temperatures will fall back to about 21 degrees, for example, in london. over the coming weekend, it is set to stay unsettled. there will be showers, some of them likely to be heavy with some thunder. temperatures for most will be in and around average, but it will feel much cooler towards the south—east of england.

this is bbc news, the headlines... india celebrates a bit of history made — it becomes the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the moon's south pole. republican candidates gear up for the first debate of the 2024 presidential nomination campaign — but rival donald trump opts out, saying he'll share his own interview at the same time. and surgeons carry out the first successful womb transplant in the uk. she's doing really, really well. she has started having menstrual periods and that means her prospects of having a baby are very high. time for a look at the business news now with ben thompson. thanks very much. we start with that slump in uk

economic activity in august, as higher interest rates hit demand.