this programme contains scenes of repetitive flashing images (e.g strobe lighting). tonight at six — calls for an apology from the eu president after hisjibe about uk's brexiteers. donald tusk took aim at the politicians who backed the leave campaign in the 2016 referendum. by the way, i've been wondering what the special place in hell looks like for those who promoted brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it safely. i think it was deliberately provocative, i have to say, very disrespectful to those of us who voted to leave the european union. he should reflect on what he had to say. we'll be asking what mr tusk was up to at such a sensitive time in the negotiations. also tonight: molly russell's father and his search for answers — apple says it can't show him what she was looking at on her phone before taking her own life. we need to find out what it was that drove her to make that

final decision, that encouraged her to take her life at the end. you weren't supposed to do that! a rare moment of unity in a divided america — congress celebrates a record number of women in national politics. a new report on climate change and extreme weather — we're likely to experience things we've not seen since records began. coming up on sportsday later in the hour on bbc news, a threat of legal action over the transfer fee for emiliano sala, whose body still hasn't been recovered after a plane crash. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six.

less than 2a hours before theresa may returns to brussels for negotiations over brexit, the president of the european council stands accused of insulting british politicians. earlier today, donald tusk said there was a "special place in hell" for leave—supporting politicians — those were his words. as our political editor laura kuenssberg reports from brussels, the remarks raise the temperature in what are already high stakes negotiations — not least over the vexed question of the so—called backstop designed to prevent a hard border between ireland and northern ireland. what's coming into view? a bunch, a move, a sign of compromise? t—shirt, good morning, would you be willing to budge on the backstop? not so fast. hardly hidden fury from the eu

president after claiming he wants to make peace. i've been wondering what the special place in hell looks like for those who promoted brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it safely. but looking under that obvious anger at leave campaigners, an invitation to the uk single —— come forward with a solution for the so—called backstop, the guarantee against a hard irish border. give a believable guarantee for peace in northern ireland, and the uk will leave the eu as a trusted friend. i strongly believe that a common solution is possible. but he must have known full well, as the irish leaderjoked. there would be terrible trouble over his condemnation of the brexit campaign. you bet there was. i hope i'm not

going to hell, but if i do, that is a decision for the lord almighty and not for the president of the european council. the man has no manners. it's extremely regrettable, not at all helpful, but it's a matter for him. they thought they had us skewered on their trident with the former withdrawal agreement. that has now been voted down by parliament and other eu are facing that. the prime minister ought to capitalise on that frustration. but the prime minister has to wind her way through, and the argument start and end in belfast. mps rejected her brexiteer because they hate a nugget of it, the backstop. but if there was no trade deal than in backstop. but if there was no trade dealthan in time, backstop. but if there was no trade deal than in time, northern ireland would stay much more closely tied to the eu. the prime minister has promised she will get a change, and the allies she needs in parliament demanded. the backstop needs to be replaced, and that is her mandate and that is what i expect her to ta ke to and that is what i expect her to take to brussels. but on the other side of the deep divide here, others angrily adamant that the backstop has to stay. the british prime

minister has come here empty—handed, with the same old rhetoric, with no plan, no credibility and frankly, no honour. but with all those rival tribes around the continent, opening up tribes around the continent, opening upa tribes around the continent, opening up a path to agreement in brussels seems far away. the prime minister will be the one walking into this tomorrow. at a time of hot tempers, it is cool compromise that is needed if she is to find a way through belfast, the demands of the brexiteers and brussels. and remember, theresa may has promised a relu cta nt remember, theresa may has promised a reluctant parliament that she can persuade this pair are firm friends to change their minds, but... i'm repeating myself by saying we are sticking to the line. the withdrawal agreement is already a compromise. it's been agreed by 28 governments including the uk government, and we stand by it. do you agree with donald tusk that there is a special place in hell for brexiteers who

didn't have a plan? i believe in heaven, and i have never seen hell. at the time, i was doing myjob here. it's a heaven. it will not be funny for either side if there is no way to agree. was it appropriate for donald tusk to use the tone he did to talk about british politicians? we are due to leave the european union in 50 days, with or without a deal. and the prime minister has a parliament to convince, a policy to try to change and promises, big and serious promises, she needs to keep. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, brussels. our europe editor katya adler is in brussels for us. katty, people will buy wondering what on earth mr tusk was playing at, especially at such a sensitive time. yes, george. let me introduce you to donald tusk. he's the president of the european council, which means that here in brussels, he represents all the 27 eu countries, although he doesn't have much influence over them. he

certainly wasn't speaking for all of the eu today. he is here in brussels as an emotional politician, someone who enjoys public attention and who occasionally has a tendency to seriously misjudge his words. musing ata seriously misjudge his words. musing at a press conference about the architects of brexit going to hell certainly because his judgment into question, and there are concerns in europe this evening of the possible consequences of his statement, certainly on the eve of the prime minister's arrival here in brussels, and considering the delicate political dance she is trying to pull off at home, it wasn't helpful. that said, eu leaders are frustrated with the brexit process. ask angela merkel or emmanuel macron, and they think the uk voted for brexit and has since looked here to brussels to make its departure workable and painless. but george, they are absolutely committed to try and find absolutely committed to try and find a brexit agreement because the alternative would be costly for them, politically and economically.

so those inflammatory comments of donald tusk aside, the intended eu message to the prime minister tonight, ahead of her arrival in brussels, is, our doors are open and we are in listening mode. but there is already a negotiated brexit deal on the table. if you want to make changes to it, it's up to you to make those changes palatable to us in the eu and also to the majority of your mps. cathy adler, many thanks. the father of molly russell has hit a roadblock in his quest to find out why the 14—year—old took her own life in 2017. ian russell wants access to molly's phone and social media accounts, in the hope it might provide answers. but apple says it's unable to unlock her phone and social media companies say they have to wait for a formal legal request from the coroner. angus crawford reports. when a child dies, what happens to their online life, their messages, posts and pictures, their most personal data ? that's an agonising question for molly russell's dad, ian. there's data on her electronic

devices that we can't access. it won't do any good in molly's case, but of course, we might learn lessons that might help other people. i'm sure there's something on her instagram account... the family know she had at least one account on instagram, but there may be others. she used pinterest too. a month after her death, automated e—mails were still suggesting more accounts to follow. in law, that data belongs to the tech companies, not the family. but we now believe that the coroner is writing to instagram, pinterest, youtube and apple, demanding that they hand over anything they know about what molly did online. so why youtube? here's why. within a couple of clicks, we find videos about self—harm. many are meant to be positive, posted by people trying to help. but some of the images

are graphic and disturbing. and look — the same kind of bleak cartoons we know molly liked on instagram. then there's her phone. ian wants to know what's in it, but it's locked. apple says it would help, but their encryption means it's impossible to open. if you were to look in molly's phone, there may be key evidence. the only thing that provided that last final straw must have come through her phone or her ipod touch. we need to find out what it was that drove her to make that final decision that encouraged her to take her life at the end. it seems to me that the data on molly's phone should have become her parents‘ property. she died without a will. she was 14. and everything else quite naturally returns to us as her parents, and so should her data. in germany, it's different. in 2012, a 15—year—old girl fell

in front of an underground train at the station. it wasn't clear whether she had ta ken her own life. her parents wanted answers, and had to take facebook to court to get access to her account. i think it's very important that there are laws orjudgments, anything that would help families, in this case, to get hold of the data, to retrieve the data, because it's personal. it's not data which belongs to facebook or instagram or google, for instance. molly's family are left with videos, pictures, memories. what they need are answers and for now, those remain out of reach. angus crawford, bbc news. what do we do about the enormous commercial power and influence wielded by tech giants like facebook and google?

it's one of the great questions of our time. today labour has been talking about what it would like to do. its deputy leader tom watson accused social media companies of choosing "to profit from children, rather than protect them". he said a labour government would create a regulator with the power to break up tech firms. our media editor amol rajan is here to look at how this might work. as angus s report made clear, to look at how this might work. to be much easierfor users to access information after a tragedy. but there's also the wider issue of how you shift the power from big tech companies back to citizens. the challenge here is, we are in very new territory. new laws tend to use old laws as a starting point; but it s not clear that old laws are much use when it comes to the digital revolution. today, are much use when it comes identified three areas that could be explored. first, competition law. this is about the concentration of economic power. could existing, or new, competition laws be used to break up monopolies, or stop acquisitions such

as facebook s purchase of instagram and whatsapp? second, data. it s too crude, as it were, but it is the most powerful commodity on earth today. could europe s new data rules, known as gdpr, be extended, to give citizens greater control and ownership of the digital trails they leave online? some policymakers, for instance, think tech companies should pay us for our data. finally, free speech and libel laws. this is about the limits of liberalism. what is it permissible to publish online ? and who should be responsible? in germany, they ve modified existing hate speech laws to fine tech companies for leaving harmful content online too long. any new regulation will be need to be international, and armies of lobbyists are being paid to resist it. but the world has changed. today s public square is digital, and it is now a question of when, not if, new rules are created to govern it. thank you, amol.

if you're distressed about any of the issues raised in molly‘s story and would like details of organisations which offer advice and support, go online to bbc.co.uk/actionline or you can call for free at any time to hear recorded information on 0800 066 066. president trump was finally able to deliver his annual state of the union address last night after it was delayed because of the us government shutdown. the president spoke of unity and co—operation, but also brought up some of the big issues that divide america, like immigration and abortion. 0ur correspondent nick bryant watched the speech and joins us now. george, this was the state of the union address that almost didn't happen, and donald trump made news by announcing he will meet north

korean leader kim jong—un by announcing he will meet north korean leader kimjong—un in by announcing he will meet north korean leader kim jong—un in vietnam for their second summit later in the month, but there's still no sign of political peace raking out at home. —— breaking out. madam speaker, the president of the united states! it was republican hands that reached out to greet him, but this, for the first time in his presidency, is a chamber dominated by democrats. last november's elections made congress look more like america, and donald trump acknowledged the history of this moment. exactly one century after congress passed the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote, we also have more women serving in congress than at any time before. most of the democratic women were dressed in suffragette white. many had entered politics as an act of resistance against him. the state of the union is like a television infomercial, and donald trump seemed to be selling a new product, a softer and more presidential

version of himself, the polariser as unifier. we must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good. that got a rather quizzical response from the democratic house speaker, nancy pelosi. what looked like mocking applause, a shot that instantly went viral. usa! republicans loved this speech. their patriotic chant sounding distinctly partisan. after appeals from the president for unity, words that could have come from his twitter feed, a swipe at the russian collusion probe. an economic miracle is taking place in the united states, and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous, partisan investigations. # happy birthday to you...

congress did come together to sing happy birthday to an 81—year—old holocaust survivor, judah samet, who lived through last year's pittsburgh's synagogue shooting. in america these days, moments of harmony are rare. they wouldn't do that for me, judah. nick bryant, bbc news, washington. our top story this evening. brexit—supporting poiliticians lash out at the eu's president after he said there was a special place in hell for them. and coming up... the hotel booking sites and their misleading sales tactics — the official watchdog tells them to change their ways. coming up in the sport in the next 15 minutes on bbc news, manchester city can move to the top

of the premier league for the first time in two months. we'll have the latest from goodison park ahead of their match against everton. the earth could now be in its warmest period since records began some 150 years ago — that's according to forecasts by the met office. climate scientists say we could start to see weather events on a scale we've never experienced before. the report also says there's a risk that global temperatures could rise by 1.5 celsius over pre—industrial levels — a tipping point after which there could be rapid and far—reaching changes for our planet. here's our science correspondent, rebecca morelle. from the devastating flooding that's inundating australia, forcing thousands from their homes, to the deadly forest fires that raged across the united states last year and the record—breaking temperatures seen here and across europe over the summer, it's been a year of extremes,

and now scientists warn that there could be more to come. long—term projections say... at the met office, researchers have been tracking global temperatures, and their new forecasts suggest we could be in the middle of the warmest decade since records began. this is worrying because this is a new level of temperature extreme, and the regional impacts of that are likely to be unprecedented in some regions. so we're likely to see things that we have not seen in over the 100 years of observational records. a temperature rise of 1.5 celsius above preindustrial levels is set as a threshold by un scientists. anything more could lead to dangerous global impacts. have a look at this graph. the red area shows the predictions the met office has made over the years, and the black lines show the actual temperatures they recorded. there is a close match.

the last four years were the hottest on record. this blue area is their forecast for the next five years. it suggests that the warming trend will continue, with a small chance that temperatures could temporarily exceed 1.5 degrees. the main driver for all this is the greenhouse gas emissions we are producing. we are still too reliant on fossil fuels like coal and globally, levels of carbon dioxide are at a record high. we've got to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases. we've got to reduce concentrations because, if we don't, we are looking at really big changes in the climate. we're going into territory that we've never been in before. we haven't experienced this, so we don't know precisely what is going to happen. all eyes will now be watching to see if this forecast plays out. scientists warn that the time to act is running out fast. rebecca morelle, bbc news. the former club of missing footballer emiliano sala has threatened legal action if it does not receive part of his transfer fee within the next ten days.

french side nantes agreed a fee of £15 million with cardiff city last month. but the plane transporting sala from france to cardiff crashed before he could play a single game. sian lloyd is in guernsey for us now — sian. this is an unseemly row, given the tragic circumstances. george, attem pts tragic circumstances. george, atte m pts to tragic circumstances. george, attempts to recover the wreckage of the aeroplane and a body that has been identified as still being on board have indeed been continuing out at sea today, but there is this development between the two football clu bs development between the two football clubs who were involved with emiliano sala. you may remember he was cardiff city's star striker, on his way from nantes in france to cardiff when the plane lost radar

contact. cardiff when the plane lost radar co nta ct. we cardiff when the plane lost radar contact. we have learned that nantes have made a demand overpayment of the transfer fee to cardiff city, and cardiff city had not yet made the first scheduled payment, because they say they are unhappy with the documentation and they need further clarification. it is also understood that nantes have threatened legal action against cardiff city unless payment is made within ten days. the bbc have approached nantes for comment, but that yet hasn't been forthcoming, but amidst this legal wrangle, this wrangle over money, you have to remember tonight that there two families, that of emiliano sala, and the pilot, david ibbotson, still waiting desperately for news. the hillsborough trial has been told that, as the disaster was unfolding, the match commander david duckenfield said "a gate had been forced" and "there had been an inrush of liverpool supporters". glen kirton, who was in charge of media relations for the fa during the 1989 fa cup semifinal, said he overheard the remark.

the match was stopped after six minutes when overcrowding on the terraces caused a fatal crush that killed 96 liverpool fans. strike action on arriva rail north over the issue of guards on trains has been suspended after what's called "substa ntial progress" during talks. the unions have taken 47 days of industrial action over the past two years and more walk—outs had been planned for this weekend. john humphrys, the today programme's longest serving presenter, has announced that he will be stepping down later this year, after almost a third of a century. the veteran broadcaster joined today in 1987. the 75—year—old will continue to present mastermind. six of the biggest hotel booking websites have agreed to make major changes to end misleading sales tactics and hidden charges. it follows an investigation by the competition watchdog which found bad practices including giving a false impression

of a room's popularity and not displaying the full cost upfront. here's tom burridge. if you've booked a hotel on these websites, have you got the best deal or have you been pressured by misleading information? i was looking for a room in manchester, just for an evening. i've booked for wales, london, manchester, but when i'm booking i see things like, oh, there's only one of them left or today is the cheapest price. you feel quite rushed, as though you have to book now. otherwise you will miss out on the best offer. it probably does subconsciously play on my mind a bit, that i should probably book it. here on booking.com it says there are only five rooms left at a hotel on its site, but the competition and markets authority says that type of claim often isn't what it seems. you might see a message telling you there's only two rooms left. very often that will mean there's only two rooms left to book on that site at that time, but there may be other rooms available through other sites or from the hotel itself. you might also see messages saying,

there are 15 people looking at this room right now, but actually those people might not be looking at the same dates as you and right now might not mean right now. it might mean in the last 30 minutes. their investigation found that lots of websites have been making hotel rooms seem more popular than they are, and the full cost is not always displayed upfront. booking.com says this hotel is in high demand — 26 bookings today and only one room left tonight. both expedia and hotels.com say there are only two rooms left at this hotel. there's no suggestion that the hotels have done anything wrong but the websites stand accused of pressuring us into clicking and buying. 0ne consumer group says the tactics used to tempt us are sometimes false. you will find a much better price if you phone the hotel directly, tell them the price you have found with the online travel agent and they will match it, beat it, or something in forfree. booking.com says it will ensure it's more transparent. expedia says it's been working to improve standards

across the industry. the six big hotel booking websites have all promised to adhere to better practices. the competition watchdog says not all of them have been misleading consumers. tom burridge, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's nick miller. bright and breezy today, that several spells of stronger winds to come in the next few days, the first of them tonight, along with wet weather spreading east. a bit more snow on the heels of northern ireland, northern england and scotland, but the wind strengthening particularly in parts of england and wales, with some of the coast of wales, with some of the coast of wales in south—west england up to 70 mph. elsewhere, 50 to 60 mph gusts, and it looks like those very strong winds will be across parts of eastern england tomorrow morning, eventually clearing away and easing a bit. it stays blustery and we

start tomorrow with cloud and outbreaks of rain, still a bit of hill snow, but that clears away eastward and we brighten up in the afternoon, with some scattered showers in the south and west. temperatures not quite as high as today, and then there's another weather system coming our way going into friday, another deep area of low pressure. that means we are in for wet and windy weather, and this chart tells that story. rain sweeping north and east across the country, the wind strengthening and gales developing, gusts up to 60 mph quite widely, and maybe a bit higher on closed and hills. wet and windy. another look at that area of low pressure going into the weekend, at the start of the weekend that will still have very strong winds in scotla nd still have very strong winds in scotland for time, with rain and hill snow and maybe a risk of flooding where it is particularly wet. the winds ease a bit, but it

turns colder for part two of the weekend. strong winds that time, there could be some disruption, and their details online. that's all from the bbc news at six, so it's goodbye from me. 0n bbc one, we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: downing street has rebuked the european council president donald tusk after he suggested there was a "special place in hell" for those who promoted brexit without a plan of how to carry it out safely. theresa may is in brussels for further talks tomorrow. mr tusk was meeting the irish leader leo varadkar today. what a special place in hell looks like for those who promoted brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out. you were not supposed to do that! a rare moment of unity in a divided america —

congress celebrates a record number of women in national politics — during president trump's state of the union address. the parents of molly russell — who took her own life in 2017 — have been unsuccessful in their attempts to access her social media data, which they believe could help them to understand her suicide. there's a warning on global warming, as the met office predicts we are in the middle of what is likely to be the hottest decade since records began. the french club nantes has demanded payment from cardiff city over the £15 million transfer of emiliano sala. mr sala's body has still not been recovered after his plane crashed into the sea near guernsey last month. in a moment, it will be time for sportsday but first a look