sushmita. documentary. this is g w news live from berlin there's a part of the moon you haven't seen this close up until today and these are images of the surface of the moon's dark sun the one that can't be seen from our planet they were taken by a spacecraft sent there by china for the mission is being hailed as a milestone in nuclear exploration. also coming up u.s.

democrats take over the house of representatives today allowing them to block much of the president's agenda so what does that mean for donald trump our current government shutdown and. toss cleaning up india's beaches in the coastal communities they're trying to tackle them and the problem of plastic trash. i'm sorry some was going to go out to have you with us a chinese spacecraft has made the first successful landing on the far side of the moon now this year is a close up look at the part of moon that can never be seen from our planet the mission is believed to be key to china's ambitions to become a space superpower the lunar probes equipped with a rover and measuring devices that will carry out experiments. this animation shows the first ever soft landing on the far side of the moon. and the probe was not sent by the u.s.

or russia but china state media was proud to announce its touchdown at ten twenty six beijing time. by god the whole process was as expected the result was precise and the landing stable the current landing location is our ideal landing place in other words we are right on target. the progress carrying instruments to map the regions geology is also carrying seeds for an experiment in cultivating vegetables in a closed environment this is the first picture from the surface sent by the chiang efore lunar probe. it's unexplored territory. but the noise has one side not facing us the moon itself is an obstacle so the back of the moon is a blind spot for the transmission of information between us and the mean this sincerely. the dark side of the moon it's rather an unseen side than one lacking

light it's because the moon takes just as long to rotate on its own axis as it takes to complete one orbit of earth. the mission is part of a larger chinese program of lunar exploration but the landing on the dark side is one of the country's biggest leaps forward and its space race ambitions let's bring in five inch mix from d.w. science for more on the story hi fabio good to see you put this into context for us how significant is this scientifically. i think it's a serious genuine scientific experiment it's one that compares to other propes that you saw on nasa would have done the payloads on board these two are all these actually surreal for instruments are. are in international corporations or there are instruments from saudi arabia from sweden from germany

and from the netherlands on it too and the whole purpose of it's the outline and the design of these experiments is really one of basic research so finding out what's going on there and cooperating with universities and so on so it is a genuine scientific. undertaking and china shows that it is able to do so what has made it so hard to land a problem the far side of the moon until now. it's not so much that it's so difficult but what really was a challenge here was the radio communication to the other side of the moon because basically the moon was in the middle and blocks as a radio waves so what they had to do was put up a relay satellite something called a long point l two which is a fixed point on the other side of the moon out in the space in which basically geostationary in relation to both the moon and the earth and that point in all

that satellite has two tasks one is relaying the radio information back to z. to the land rovers are two instruments a rover and the lander and and also looking into the other direction to outer space and getting. radio. radio astronomy doing some radio astronomy in the other direction so that kind of satellite has two purposes too so if idea what is this mission now set to do tell us about the experiments that are going to be carried out. yes there are numerous experiments are going to collect rocks they're going to have this interesting little box was plant seeds potato seeds and suke worm in it and they're going to see how these seeds and plants and the soup worm grew up together and how they can live under lesser gravity is a normal right safavian does this really cement china's place as us base superpower

. yeah i wouldn't call it a superpower yet but basically china shows that it has grown up it's an adult space power or will be one they certainly have plans to do manned spaceflight and also to the moon and i think it's going to be interesting to see where it leads they want to do most of the things themselves but we see there is international cooperation albeit not as compared to the international space station ok five internet from d.w. science thank you so much for your insight. america's space agency is also achieved a space exploration milestone this one billions of kilometers from the sun now says new horizons probe sent the first detail images of the space rocket ultimate tool the pictures show what looks like a giant snowman nasa described as an entirely new kind of world a frozen rock at the edge of our solar system is the most distant object ever explored by humankind. let's catch up not some other stories making news around the

world south korea's spy agency says north korea's top diplomat in italy has gone into hiding acting ambassador joe song and his wife are said to have disappeared from north korea's rome embassy in november south korean lawmakers say they were informed of the story on thursday. eleven men accused of murdering the saudi journalist have attended an initial court hearing in riyadh saudi prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for at least five of the accuse the prosecutor say they need some evidence from turkey kushnick she was killed in october in the saudi consulate in istanbul. protests have erupted in the indian state of carolina after two women defied a centuries old taboo an end to the hindu temple one protester died in clashes last year india's supreme court revoked the ban on women entering the military will the traditional us have prevented them from doing so. the u.n.

says more than twenty two hundred people died trying to cross the mediterranean sea to reach europe last year an estimated one hundred thousand successfully completed the trip both figures are down from the previous year and twenty seven thousand more than three thousand died making the dangerous journey. now to the u.s. where the democrats take control of the house of representatives today ending the republicans monopoly on power in washington under president donald trump so what is on their agenda while the most pressing issue will be trying to end the government shutdown over funding for president trump's border wall with mexico house democrats are also expected to defend the affordable care act also known as an obamacare and amid legal challenges that several republican led states are waging against the health care program they are also likely to launch their own investigations into the dealings of the trump white house and a russian interference in the twenty six thousand presidential election the democrats leader nancy pelosi is expected to be. elected speaker of the house today

and she will not have much time to settle it because the first contra confrontation with president trump is already in full swing. there's a showdown already well underway as congress begins its new term in the republic top democrats say the latest talks with the president reduced no hint that he will sign their bill to end a partial shutdown of government services everybody in the room neither side seems pretty to budge him because he says he won't sign it and use the government as hostage we should just give in the american people don't want that that's bad for our country and that's not the way to govern and you little value the biggest tax president trump initiated the government shutdown nearly two weeks ago. he refused to approve a budget deal because it did not include billions in funding for building a wall at the border with mexico. democrats sold the oppose his plans for the

barrier and the nearly six billion dollars he wants for it an open wound. this is the result of their dispute and end to government services such as some trash collection. no access to museums and other federally operated sites. and no pay for hundreds of thousands of federal workers. like you now the question is how long could the shutdown last as long as it takes i think the people of this country think i'm right again i could have done nothing i could have had a lot easier presidency by doing nothing but i'm here i want to do it right. it's a stormy start to a congressional term with huge potential for conflict. democrats say they want to use their new majority in the house to probe the president's finances and alleged abuses of power. but trump has warned against their plans and to assume

a war like posture if is opponents investigations go forward right. now plastic waste in the world's oceans is a huge problem there is still hope that we can clean it up but it's proving a difficult technical challenge a ship designed to start cleaning up the great pacific garbage patch is now being towed back to land the giant boom it uses to collect rubbish has broken and needs to be repaired ocean garbage is a particular problem for coastal communities in india civil society initiatives have been tackling it and the results are encouraging. it magically flip flops and not the ideal footwear for trudging through trash and sewage on the beach. but that now the ball that are for his crew. the mumbai lawyer began efforts to clean up his hometowns nineteen beaches and spy ring others to join him. when i stepped in the

first time this beach was a plastic graveyard of. the wasn't it looked like a landfill he asked for help on social media and doesn't follows him now they join him every sunday even when it's forty degrees celsius in the shade i will do something i will do something because he inspired me to come to this beach. the volunteers do their best to save india from the endless plastic trash food waste and much that washes ashore from the arabian sea. the fish is going to stick just before the killer this is no more garbage but it's a killer to the other species because the anchors there are just it's just india's battle with trash might seem to be a safina task especially in the metropolis of men by with its more than twenty million residents the government seems unable to conquer the problems so hardworking volunteers like shah and his crew are trying to make a difference. trash has become

a growing problem in india. to make a city like mumbai produce twelve thousand tons of it every day. and for this that's a blessing. every day we have says way through mumbai's gridlock on his my path. with a clean india picks up household trash from anyone to register. a couple pays hard cash for the recyclable material just a couple of rupees but it's an incentive rather than throwing out the trash it is gathered here and then sold the two founders of the business came up with the idea around three years ago. they now employ fifteen hundred trash curious. one of the material is recycled in different states and goes to maharashtra metal goes to good paper. and up in factories in gujarat. koppel is happy to be doing

something positive for his country and without wasting recycling he would hardly manage to make ends meet. dr low awful shock you not only became a beach super cleaner but also a distinguished celebrity when you went on it him with a prize for his initiative. to offer us the most memorable and moving moment happened this summer when tuttle's appeared on the beach. i run from their mouths. and their remedies their courageous coming to her supporters high their door back for her for three more she very very emotional moment. and i. have heard since i was crying that. people like tackling local problems in the media but they know that cleaning up irresponsible waste disposal is a member of the task on monday that might never be achieved. you're

watching news still to come a rare warning from apple sends european shares sliding is a plane's weak i phone sales in china. pencil and we'll have that story for you and more coming up in business. as long as. you know the banks. and so was the language of the bank. speaking the truth global news that matters g w made for mines.