you are watching bbc news, and clive myrie. the top stories... the head of the european commission says a renegotiation of theresa may plasma brexit deal will not happen despite a mandate from the commons for changes to provisions on the so—called irish backstop. changes to provisions on the so-called irish backstop. the withdrawal agreement remains the best and only deal possible. the european union said so in november. we said so in december. meanwhile, labour leaderjeremy corbyn has met the prime ministerfor brexit labour leaderjeremy corbyn has met the prime minister for brexit talks, described as a useful exchange of views. they have had two one half years to negotiate this, they had to light debate after debate, decision after decision. two collisions washed up on the french coast are thought to the aeroplane following the footballer emiliano sullo which went missing over the channel —— two cushions. the growing number of children and young people with special needs has

led to counsels overspending on budgets by hundreds of millions of p. and the arctic freeze has brought severely cold temperatures to parts of the us, with the mercury falling to -30 of the us, with the mercury falling to —30 celsius. ina in a moment it will be time for sportsday, but first we will show you what else is coming up. at age 20 pmb will be getting the reaction on the brexit talks from around europe. we will be finding out more about the polar vortex bringing snow to america's mid west. and we will speak to a friends fanatic about why the 90s us sitcom is still number one with today's youngsters. but now it is time for sportsday. hello, and welcome to sportsday. i'm katherine downes. tonight... all eyes on anfield — liverpool could move closer

to the premier league title with a win against leicester tonight. so far it is a very, very positive season. so far it is a very, very positive season. unbelievably positive. 0nly the scheduled negativity is only inside because people say maybe you will not do it the end. neil lennon leaves hibernian — his suspension on friday becomes a permanent departure. and the giants of northern hemisphere rugby are stirring into action. the countdown to the six nations begins — wales name their squad to face france on friday. hello and welcome to sportsday, i'm katherine downes. a snowy evening in many parts of the country tonight. so stay inside and enjoy the drama unfolding in the premier

league, because liverpool could go seven points clear at the top of the premier league later if they beat leicester — and it's all thanks to their former manager. fans have been saying rafa benitez deserves a winners medal if liverpool take the title — after all, he masterminded a win for newcastle over manchester city yesterday — and that could well turn out to be a pivotal moment in the title race. patrick gearey reports. this might be among the most important single clicks of the season. important single clicks of the season. with a stroke of his vote, matt ritchie sent a wave ofjoy from the north sea shore to the irish seashore, bypassing manchester. its winner against city revive newcastle's hopes of avoiding relegation and sent momentum in the title race to liverpool. in the middle, beloved of both, rafa benitez, the newcastle manager did his old club a big favour. 0bviously, his old club a big favour. obviously, i am closer than anyone to liverpool, my former club. but i'm therapy is because newcastle

united won, that is the main thing. but i do not want to offend the manchester city fans or the club. he was playing it straight for the gathered media but on social media there was less reserve, liverpool fa ns there was less reserve, liverpool fans tweeting their love for a man who led them to the champions get before twitter was invented. he missed out on the league trophy but the table shows what an opportunity liverpool have. if they beat leicester tonight they are seven points clear at the top. the pressure changes the higher you climb qualified years ago liverpool stumbled on the final ascent but now they have a manager who neither twelves on the personal worries about the future. at the moment it is unbelievably positive, only the shadow of negativity because people say maybe you will not do it at the end. we will see at the end, i never understand that you think about a real problem before you have it. tonight's opponent showed the way.

in 2016 leicester were expected to fade but became bolder and brighter. at that title win was so exceptional as to be impossible to copy. club and company want to do things their own way, a new liverpool helped along by an old one. —— klopp and company. the full interview with jurgen company. the full interview withjurgen klopp it's on the bbc iplayer if you want to watch that. so the pressure has swung onto liverpool after manchester city buckled last night. can they seize the advantage? conor mcnamara is at anfield for us. last night's result at newcastle with manchester city losing means there is a real excitement around anfield tonight. to put in context how well liverpool are playing this season, if they win tonight they move to 63 points. last season if you finish the premier league campaign on 63 points, that was good enough to get into the top six. we are barely over halfway and it shows how high liverpool are achieving, a winter night moves them seven points

clear over manchester city, which at this stage in the season feels ominous. leicester have lost their last three games and straight, they have lost four out of their last five but they tend to raise their game against the big name teams. they beat chelsea and manchester city only last month, so who knows? they might have a trickle two up their sleeves. liverpool against leicester is on bbc radio 5 live, i will be with dion dublin, kick—off is at apm. tottenham haven't counted themselves out of the title race yet — even though they had a dismal week in cup competitions. they're nine points off liverpool as it stands, and host watford tonight. good news for them — heung—min son could be back in the line—up after he returned from asian cup duty. today was good. maybe after he fell empty, because he

was so disappointed. that here he is happy and there was very good energy today. we will decide if he will play from the beginning, maybe he will be on the bench, but i'm very optimistic because today he showed very good energy on the training session. and this is the scene at bournemouth, who are preparing to host chelsea — kick off at quarter to eight. a tough assignment on a chilly evening for bournemouth — they've already lost to chelsea twice this season. while there's another london team heading to the south coast tonight, because crystal palace travel to southampton. palace on the back of that fa cup fourth round win over tottenham, and southampton finding some rhythmn under ralph hasenhuttl. but palace are in 16th, saints in 17th — they're both just hovering above the relegation zone. he has neither been dismissed, nor resigned — but neil lennon's departure from hibernian has been confirmed this afternoon. the club say its by mutual consent, after he was suspended on friday following what was described as an exchange with

several club employees. kheredine idessane reports. his last game as a manager of hibs, a 1—0 defeat at motherwell and weak ago, the follow from which resulted in suspension, before the statement was released by the club late this afternoon. it's cloudy. i mean, what does the statement tell us? if i was a

hibernian supporter i would be quite frustrated with the statement from the board. neil lennon has neither been sacked nor resigned, so why has he left the club? it leaves more questions than answers, that statement. the base he took over at hibs in the summer of 2016 when the clu b hibs in the summer of 2016 when the club within the championship, making an immediate impact. promotion to the premiership in his first season. restored to the top flight he secured european football by finishing fourth. he was never far from the headlines, his run—ins with the authorities resulted in touchline bans. he was the victim of a coin throwing incident in the edinburgh derby at tynecastle. results this season had dipped, with hits currently outside the top six following a poor recent run of form. after confronting players about the drop in standards, lennon was suspended and has amicably left, leaving a managerial vacancy sure to be popular. indeed

his predecessor, alan stubbs, who masterminded the club's famous scottish cup win, has already told the bbc he would be very interested in a second spell at easter road. and there's one fixture in the scottish premiership this evening — celtic looking to extend their lead at the top, when they take on stjohnstone. celtic have won on the last eight occasions these two met. rangers are away at league 2 side cowdenbeath in the fourth round of the scottish cup. a quick look at some of the other sports news... arsenal have signed barcelona midfielder denis suarez on loan til the end of the season, with an option to buy him in the summer. the spaniard previously played under manager unai emery at sevilla. manchester united will face a paris saint—germain side without neymar in the champions league in a fortnight‘s time. the world's most expensive player is out for ten weeks with a foot injury. kent batsmanjoe denly will make his england test debut against west indies

in antigua tomorrow. he comes in for keatonjennings who's been dropped from the squad. there's also a change in spinner — jack leach replaces adil rashid. and super league champions wigan warriors will begin their title defence on thursday against st helens on minus two points after being found guilty of breaching salary cap rules in 2017. the six nations begins this weekend — champions ireland face england on saturday, but the action begins in paris on friday night, when wales travel to take on france. and it'll be a big occasion for tomos williams — at 2a, he'll be making his six nations debut. for more on that and the rest of the latest news from the wales camp, here's tomos dafydd. he will get his first taste of senior six nations rugby in france on friday. thomas williams featured in six tests last year and is preferred to gareth davies at scrum—half for the game in

paris. not the biggest man in the world but competitive. we feel he is a player of the future, he still has things to work on on his game, he knows that from a defensive point of view, but he got some lovely touches and a bit of x factor about him. the face he will play alongside his blues team—mate and skin at fly—half, with dan biggar on the bench. hadleigh parkes and jonathan davies continue their midfield partnership, despite earlier concerns, saracens full—back liam williams and was doing josh adams of age, with george north on the other wing. friday in france will be an unforgettable moment for ken 0wens, winning his 61st cap for his country, surpassing matthew rees‘s appearance record for a hooker. he will bejoined by rob evans and tomas francis. captain alun wyn jones the only survivor from warren gatland's first game in charge 11 yea rs gatland's first game in charge 11 years ago, he is alongside adam

beard. josh navidi returns on the back row after missing the entire autumn series, despite not playing since the middle of december because of concussion, ross moriarty starts at eight. wales know they will not have to face this man, mathieu bastareaud has been left out of the france team. but there will be a debut for 119—year—old, the teenager from toulouse taking to the field a quarter of the century after his father made his test debut against wales. he has turned extremely well at under 20 and is doing extremely well for toulouse. he is an exciting player with a big future but if we can hopefully use it to our advantage we will do that. the team travelled to paris tonight knowing a win would extend their unbeaten run to ten games. some good news for england women — record point scorer emily scarratt has recovered from a hamstring injury in time for friday's women's six nations opener against ireland. it'll be the centre's first

appearance for the 15—a—side team since leaving the england 75 programme at the end of last year. 100 million people are expected to tune in on sunday, and a 30 second advertising slot costs five million dollars. it can only be super bowl time — the new england patriots in their third consecutive super bowl, against the los angeles rams. it all takes place in atlanta — and our reporter seth bennett is there. 0ver over to you. it's going to be really interesting to see exactly what happens here. it is freezing killed in atlanta, not what everybody anticipates that this

time of year. —— it is freezing cold. they expected a warm super bowl where people could be outside having fun. the fans who have come here already trying to find things inside to get out of the cold. as you can see the olympic rings behind me, this is an olympic city. are used to hosting large events, this is arguably the biggest since the 0lympics is arguably the biggest since the olympics in 1996. they have a great new stadium to host the event. i went there earlier to find her preparations were getting on. this is one of the newest stadiums in north america, now it gets to host one of the biggest events in sport. a sell—out crowd of over 75,000 people are looking forward to the showpiece event at atalanta's showpiece venue. you look up at this halo board, it isa you look up at this halo board, it is a unique, special feature, the only one in the world with that in place in that way. we will definitely take full advantage of that and many other features in

this building. it is state—of—the—art in every way and we are excited to showcase it to the rest of the world. whilst much of the focus is on what will happen on the field, organisers are working closely with the authorities to make sure there are no safety issues. security is tight, with every single vehicle entering the area around the stadium being checked. officers are looking for anomalies, they have the paperwork from a driver which says maybe this is a truckload of paper towels, the office rs truckload of paper towels, the officers know we are looking for paper towels on the back of this track, if they see anything else, that will cause them to say there is something we need to look at. for gerald everett of the la rams, the super bowl need to return home. he was born in race 15 minutes from the stadium and believes atlanta hosting such a big event will be a force for good —— he was born and raised.

i definitely do. compared to when i was growing up, and fell before my time, it is great to see how they came offered can unify so many people. i am glad i came offered can unify so many people. lam glad i have came offered can unify so many people. i am glad i have even a little influence. putting on a show of this magnitude a lwa ys putting on a show of this magnitude always brings challenges for the organisers, this is no different. we feel confident we will get everything turn and have everything in place. will it go to the 11th hour? absolutely. will people notice? hopefully hour? absolutely. will people notice ? hopefully not. hour? absolutely. will people notice? hopefully not. ourjob is to get it to an end we feel confident we will. with over 110 million people expected to watch the game on television in the us alone and tens of millions more around the world, preparations will continue right up to kick—off to ensure that the city shows the world its best side. all the fans will arrive over the next 48—hour is, most of them will be supporting the new england

patriots, it is not a massive drive down here from boston. you look at the los angeles rams, they will fa ncy the los angeles rams, they will fancy their chances. they really wa nt to fancy their chances. they really want to be the party poopers. although the weather is cold, things are finally starting to heat up in atla nta a head are finally starting to heat up in atlanta ahead of what should be a terrific super bowl on sunday. thank you very much and enjoy the build—up. what a great cake that is. some winter sports to finish. menna fitzpatrick and her guide jen kehoe have become the first british skiers to win both paralympic and world titles. the pair took gold today in the women's downhill for visually impaired skiers at the world para—skiing championships in italy, to add to their gold medals at the winter games in pyeongchang last year. silver went to kelly gallagher, who won britian's first ever paralympic gold medal at sochi in 2014, and her guide, gary smith. when the world freestlye ski and snowboard championships begin on thursday in park city, usa, there will be plenty of attention on charlotte bankes. she's a snowboard cross athlete — she was born in britain but grew up in france and competed for them at the last two olympic games. but she's now switched

great britain and will make her major event debut for gb this week. she's amongst the favourites to secure a world medal. bbc 0lympic sports reporter nick hope has been to meet her. i was born in the uk, my parents are british. the whole family moved into france when i was four because we love being in the mountains. france when i was four because we love being in the mountainsm france when i was four because we love being in the mountains. it is a stunning backdrop in the french alps, what was it like growing up? must have been amazing? alps, what was it like growing up? must have been amazing7m alps, what was it like growing up? must have been amazing? it was pretty amazing, never really spent much time inside, always trying to follow my brothers and keep up with them. her older brothers both raced internationally but charlotte would reach the olympics and four years after her debut she entered pyung 2018 as a medal contender. she was left frustrated

after a crash but also by the french team, who had been unable to help her recover from a serious injury sustained earlier in her career. i worked my pelvis eight years ago and since then i have been in pain and since then i have been in pain and struggling. we hadn't found a solution in france. i was thinking, july continue snowboarding or give 7 july continue snowboarding or give d july continue snowboarding or give up? and then it was like, if i want to continue, no way i can with the french. how difficult was it to break the news to the french team that she wa nted news to the french team that she wanted to switch to gb?” news to the french team that she wanted to switch to gb? i don't think they really believed it would happen at the start. they were like, we can do this and this, but at the time when i was thinking, should i stop or what? i didn't have much support. then afterwards i was like, it is too late. her full-time switch to gb was