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A Japanese robot has successfully touched down on the Moon but problems with its solar power system mean the mission may live for just a few hours.

The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) put itself gently on the lunar surface near an equatorial crater.

The feat made the Asian nation only the fifth country to soft-land on Earth’s natural satellite, after the US, the Soviet Union, China and India.

Engineers are now battling to save the mission, however.

For reasons not yet fully understood, the craft’s solar cells will not generate electricity.

This leaves Slim totally reliant on its batteries and these will eventually discharge. When they do, the craft will go silent. It won’t receive commands and it won’t be able to talk to Earth.

Engineers are currently prioritising activities.

They’ve turned off heaters and are pulling down pictures from the craft. They’re also retrieving data that will tell them how well the landing software worked.

Japanese space agency (Jaxa) officials will not immediately give up on Slim if it does fall silent. It’s always possible the solar cells have somehow become oriented in a way that prevents them from seeing the Sun.

As light angles change on the Moon, it was possible Slim could come back to life, the officials said.

Asked at a news conference whether Japan could justifiably claim a soft landing, Jaxa vice president, Hitoshi Kuninaka, said it could.

“If powered descent wasn’t successful, then there would have been a collision with the surface at a very high speed and spacecraft function would have been completely lost,” he told reporters.

“But it is still sending data properly to us, which means our original objective of a soft landing was successful.”

Slim was carrying two small rovers and telemetry indicates it managed to eject these as planned just before touchdown.

The craft, which carries an infrared camera, was to spend the next fortnight studying the local geology. How much of this investigation can be achieved in the time available is uncertain.

Statistically, it’s proven very hard to land on the Moon. Only about a half of all attempts have succeeded.

Jaxa put its faith in new precision-navigation technologies.

The lander’s onboard computer used rapid image processing and crater mapping to avoid hazards to reach its touchdown point.

Engineers had wanted to get within 100m (330ft) of their targeted location and will now be studying data to see how well Slim performed. But the early indications are that the technologies worked as designed.

“Looking at the trace data, I believe that Slim most certainly achieved a pinpoint landing with 100m accuracy. Of course, as we informed you in advance, it would take about a month to analyse the information accurately,” Mr Kuninaka said.

Slim began its descent manoeuvres from an altitude of 15km (9 miles) at midnight into Saturday, Japan Standard Time (15:00 GMT, Friday). Touchdown occurred just after 15:20 GMT.

The landing location, near Shioli Crater, is currently bathed in sunlight but the darkness of lunar night will return there at the end of the month.

When that happens, temperatures will plummet to levels that are very capable of breaking electronic circuit boards.

Jaxa has twice landed robots on asteroids, so this Moon touchdown is another feather in its cap.

It will be playing significant roles in the US space agency’s (Nasa) Artemis programme, which seeks to put humans back on the lunar surface after a gap of more than half a century.

Last year, a private Japanese company, iSpace, had a go at landing. Its Hakuto-R craft crashed when the onboard computer became confused about its altitude above the Moon.

On Thursday, the private American company Astrobotic disposed of its Peregrine landing craft in Earth’s atmosphere. A propulsion fault prevented it from even trying to make a touchdown attempt.

Dr Simeon Barber from the UK’s Open University had instrumentation on Peregrine.

He saluted the Japanese effort.

“For me, this was all about precision landing. That’s a huge Success. I’d be really happy if I was them,” he told BBC News.

“We’re in an era of a lot of lunar missions happening with lots of different players. If we collate all this knowledge, that all these players are gaining through these attempts – whether successful or not – then we learn as a community how to put missions together more successfully in the future.”

Likewise, Dr Emma Gatti, from the digital magazine SpaceWatch Global, said Japan had much to celebrate: “It’s historic for them; it is a matter of prestige. It is important for Japan as a country; it’s important for all the investment they have made – proof that it can be done by a country not as big as China or US.”

Seoul’s chief of police has been charged with negligence more than a year after a Halloween crush left 159 young people dead in South Korea.

Kim Kwang-ho is the highest-ranking police official to be charged in relation to the tragedy, according to local media reports.

He is accused of failing to ensure there were enough officers in Itaewon, central Seoul, on 29 October 2022.

More than 100,000 people had gathered in the area that night.

Some of the victims’ relatives have welcomed the charge, but said it should have happened earlier.

Mr Kim, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, was off duty and at home on 29 October when the tragedy unfolded.

According to authorities, some 137 officers had been deployed on the ground at Itaewon that night.

The officers were vastly outnumbered by the tens of thousands of, mainly young, people who had gathered in the narrow alleyways of the Itaewon entertainment district.

The first indication something was wrong back in 2022 came just after 18:30 local time, several hours before the deadly crush took place in an alley off the main road.

Most of the people who lost their lives that night were in their 20s.

A report released in January 2023 said local municipal and emergency service officials were responsible for weak planning and a poor emergency response.

It found that no preventive measures were taken in advance, and appropriate measures were not taken after emergency calls for help were received.

Investigators also said incorrect assessments of the situation led to a delay in relaying information and lack of cooperation among organisations.

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province and although it has more resources than other provinces, it is the least developed.

The name Balochistan can also be used to refer to a wider area that includes land in Iran and Afghanistan. In the past week, both Iran and Pakistan have launched strikes across each other’s borders targeting militants in the region.

To understand the escalation in fighting, here’s a closer look at Balochistan, which has a distinct cultural and historical identity.

The largest part of Balochistan is in south-western Pakistan. The Pakistani province covers nearly 44% of the country’s total land but is home to only 6% of the country’s 241 million people. Its history is marred by insurgency, militancy, and human rights violations.

Sharing a volatile border with Iran and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, Balochistan also boasts a vast coastline along the Arabian Sea.

The region derives its name from the Baloch tribe, which has resided here for centuries. Balochs remain the largest ethnic group, followed by the Pashtuns. Many Baloch people also live in the neighbouring Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan, as well as in Afghanistan.

Balochistan stands out as the richest Pakistani province in terms of natural resources, including gas and minerals and is a crucial part of a multi-billion dollar project funded by China called the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The project is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, with the deep-sea port in the city of Gwadar, near the Gulf of Oman, seen as a vital checkpoint.

China is also involved in mining projects here and the construction of an international airport in Gwadar, which insurgent groups in Pakistan fiercely oppose.

A Canadian mining company, Barrick Gold, holds a 50% stake in a Balochistan mine called Reko Diq, which is considered to be one of the world’s largest underdeveloped sites for copper and gold.

Local groups in both Pakistan and Iran are part of a decades-long struggle for greater autonomy in Balochistan.

Recent cross-border tensions escalated with Iran’s attack on Pakistan on 16 January, which Pakistan said killed two children. Pakistan retaliated with a missile strike inside Iranian territory, which Iran says killed nine people.

Iran claimed it was targeting Jaish al-Adl, a militant group active against Iran, while Pakistan said it was aiming at the “hideouts” of two militant groups inside Iran, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF).

Pakistan’s strikes were the first external land attack on Iran since the 1980s. It comes as tensions in the Middle East are high with the Gaza war intensifying. Iran also attacked targets in Iraq and Syria in the same week it attacked Pakistan.

The Pakistani province of Balochistan has long grappled with extensive exploitation of its resources and this has been a major catalyst for insurgency and unrest. Locals, particularly the Balochs, have blamed governments for exploiting and profiting from Balochistan’s resources while neglecting the development of the region itself.

Resistance against the Pakistani government and the militant insurgency advocating for an independent state for the Baloch people began in 1948, after Pakistan’s independence from the British Indian Empire.

Resistance continued in phases through the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. After a relatively quiet period, insurgent activities increased significantly from 2003 during the era of military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf. He launched several counter-insurgency operations in Balochistan and a famous Baloch leader, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, was killed in one of the most controversial ones.

Bloody counter-insurgency operations and a crackdown in the province by Pakistan’s army and intelligence agencies have reportedly seen tens of thousands of people disappear, allegedly picked up, tortured and killed with impunity by Pakistani security forces. Pakistan strongly denies these accusations.

According to the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), there are more than 7,000 people missing from Balochistan. But the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances says there are just 454 active cases from Balochistan as of October 2023.

Pakistan’s interim prime minister recently said in an interview with the BBC that the number was “exaggerated”, claiming there are only 50 missing people in Balochistan.

Some of these cases are with the Supreme Court and a large group of women and family members have been protesting in Islamabad, demanding people are returned and an end to kidnappings and killings in the region.

Various militant groups have operated in the province but two remain highly active in the region – the BLF and BLA. These groups operate against Pakistan inside Pakistani territory although Pakistan claims they maintain hideouts primarily in Iran and sometimes in Afghanistan too.

Pakistan accuses the Iranian government of offering safe havens to the leaders and militants of these groups, which Iran denies. Pakistan also claims that India financially supports some factions in Balochistan – allegations India denies.

In the past two years, the Pakistani government has expressed heightened concern over reports of joint attacks by the BLA and the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), an umbrella organisation of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan-Pakistani border.

The BLA stands out as the militant group challenging the authority of Pakistan the most. Several Western countries, including the UK and US, have designated this group as a global terrorist organisation.

In recent years, the BLA has intensified its attacks, shifting from primarily targeting Pakistan’s security forces in Balochistan to focusing on Chinese nationals involved in projects in the region.

Similar to other insurgent groups, the BLF frequently targets gas projects, infrastructure, and security posts in Balochistan. Since 2011, the group has actively carried out attacks against Pakistani security forces, foreign workers, government affiliates, and journalists.

Established in Syria in 1964, the BLF initially joined the Iranian Baloch Revolt, an insurgency of Baloch groups against the Iranian government. After five years of conflict, the group negotiated an end to the fight with the Shah of Iran. Subsequently, the BLF, along with other Baloch groups, turned against the Pakistani state, taking refuge in Afghanistan in the 1970s.

Pakistan has expressed its willingness to work with Iran on “all issues” in a call between their foreign ministers.

It comes after both countries exchanged drone and missile strikes on militant bases on each other’s territory.

Iran said Thursday’s strikes killed nine people in a border village on its territory, including four children. Pakistan said an Iranian attack on Tuesday killed two children.

There has been no immediate comment from Iran on the talks.

On Friday, Pakistan said a telephone conversation was held between Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

“Foreign Minister Jilani expressed Pakistan’s readiness to work with Iran on all issues based on spirit of mutual trust and cooperation,” the statement said.

“They also agreed to de-escalate the situation. The return of ambassadors of the two countries to their respective capitals was also discussed.”

The reciprocal attacks came as tensions in the Middle East are high with several overlapping crises.

Israel is fighting the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza and exchanging fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria are targeting US forces, and the US and UK have struck the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, who have been attacking shipping.

On Thursday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said its strikes around the Iranian city of Saravan had come in light of “credible intelligence of impending large-scale terrorist activities”.

The ministry added it “fully respects” Iran’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

Pakistan’s army said the “precision strikes” were conducted with drones, rockets and long-range missiles and targeted the Balochistan Liberation Army and the Balochistan Liberation Front.

Both groups are part of a decades-long struggle for greater autonomy in Balochistan, a remote region in south-western Pakistan.