this is bbc news i'm simon mccoy. the headlines at 3. three men have been found guilty of the murder of five people who died after an explosion in a shop in leicester in february. the music retailer hmv is being put into administration placing more than 2000 jobs at risk. after a surge in the number of migrants crossing from france — calls to step up patrols in the english channel. potholes are getting worse — more than half a million were reported for repair last year, according to research. and coming up — one of the rarest birds in the world — the madagascar pochard — gets a new home. a british team of conservationists have released a small group of the birds at a lake in the north of madagascar. agony for ascoli as one of the ‘goals of the season‘ is scored by the italian side's goalie — into their own net. and in 100 women — kirsty wark speaks to acclaimed chilean author isabel allende about her life and work. three men have been found guilty

of murdering five people in an explosion which destroyed a shop and a flat in leicester. the three planned the blast in february, so they could make an insurance claim. 0ur correspondent kathryn stanczyszyn is in leicesterfor us now. a massive explosion shatters a quiet sunday evening. shortly after 7pm on the 25th of february, this building on one of leicester's main roads was completely destroyed, leaving five dead. mary ragoobar, two of her teenage sons — sean and shane, and his girlfriend, leah reek, had been spending an evening together in their flat. the light went out of our world on that terrible night,

and it is so difficult to put into words how much we miss leah. she was an amazing, inspirational young lady, who was just starting out on her life adventure. leah made a lasting impression on everybody lucky enough to know her. she was beautiful inside and out and she truly shone when she entered a room. she was never aware of the impact that she had on so many just by smiling at them. we will always miss that smile, her laughter and those beautiful curls. also killed — in the polish store below it — shop worker 22—year—old viktorija ijevleva. she'd been conspiring with three men — hawkar hassan, arkan ali and aram kurd. they deliberately caused the fire as part of a fraudulent insurance claim, hoping to make at least £300,000. this cctv footage shows them buying more than 20 litres of petrol the day before the explosion. they also bought other flammable materials to intensify the fire. i think there was clearly the element of planning, the greed,

financial gain took over from anything else, and they were callous really as to whether human life was affected by what they did. aram kurd ran the polish supermarket. prior to the explosion, he moved the cctv camera outside the shop, to obscure the view. here he is at the scene, just seconds afterwards. he'd been in the basement when it happened, then an hour later, talking to police. just go through, then, how it all come about. i don't want to talk about it. the bbc spoke to him the day afterwards, when it was unclear he was responsible. and how are you feeling at the moment? i don't know how to tell you. never, i feel how i am now. this was a cynically planned fraud with deadly consequences — the threat to people's lives callously disregarded. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news, leicester. the music and film retailer hmv

is going into administration. the store has beeen struggling with competition from online retailers and streaming services. it's the second time in five years that hmv has hit serious financial trouble — in 2013 it was rescued and restructured. our business correspondent theo leggett has the details. hmv is one of the oldest and best—known names on the british high street, but now the future of more than 120 stores and 2,200 employees is looking deeply uncertain. founded in the 1920s, it grew to become a retail giant, selling music, videos and computer games. but now, like other traditional store chains, it's struggling to cope with growing competition from online retailers. but that isn't the only problem hmv is facing. it still has a large number of physical stores like this one on the high street but, increasingly, consumers are moving online. and that's not the only issue. streaming services are becoming more and more popular, which means many consumers don't

even bother to buy dvds or cds any more. this has already been a dreadful year for traditional store chains. big names such as toys "r" us, maplin and poundworld have disappeared, while others have closed shops. and in this harsh environment, hmv is struggling to sell its products. with netflix or spotify, i don't ever buy anything. no, i don't buy any, i download everything. very rarely. i stream, of course. and, quite honestly, they clutter up the house. so, no. this isn't the first time hmv‘s been in trouble. it went into administration back in 2013, before being bought by its current owner, hilco. this time, however, a rescue might be more difficult. i don't think there is a future for this business as a growing concern with the current amount of stores that it holds. another investor could come in, maybe keep that hmv brand with a much smaller store estate and manage to run that for a number of years but i think that's the most optimistic outcome we can expect.

whatever happens to hmv itself, the chill economic wind blowing down the high street means it's unlikely to be the last major retailer to feel the cold, in what may well be a bleak new year. theo leggett, bbc news. well theo leggett is with me now. so what are hmv thing at the moment? they're saying that the decision to call in the ministry dues has been taken because the company suffered an extremely weak period in the run—up to christmas and it has seen a steep fall in sales of dvds and cds. that is a big problem for hmv cause it dominates the market for physical music and that market as a whole has declined by a third train the christmas period compared to a year ago. although hmv said it has not done better than that, further falls in the market are expected next year and that is simply unsustainable when the retail sector is struggling as a whole. it is

struggling with the same pressures as other retailers but having to cope with high business rates. that is grim news the staff who are hoping that one might comment and ta ke hoping that one might comment and take it over. the point of an station is to find out if there is a business to run. demonstrators will not look and see if the whole of the business can be made viable in some way or part of it. if so that could be thought of silicon well happen that some stores continued to trade. all of them will trade in the short—term but it could beat this could be reduced business by selling under the same brand. could hmv could've seen her christmas went before the make bids decision?” think a lot of retailers were bidding this and i don't think they will be the owner went, and the new year and say unfortunately things have not worked out. because this period is that it's important for a

lot of retailers. people use to buy dvds and cds as christmas presents. what is the last cd you bought‘s i did buy one in the run—up to christmas but i had to shop around because i struggled to find somewhere which but the studio wanted. which was? it was for my partner and it was the soundtrack of a star is born, the lady guy that movie. —— dagger movie. a star is born, the lady guy that movie. -- dagger movie. nowl know. the government is facing calls to step up patrols in the english channel, after a rise in the number of migrants trying to make the journey from france over the christmas period. 66 people have reached the uk in the past 3 days. butjust one of the five boats operated by the border force is currently patrolling the channel, as anisa kadri reports. on a mission for a better life, they risk their lives crossing the busiest shipping lane in the world. more than 60 migrants have arrived over the last few days, in small boats.

now the government's facing calls to step up patrols in the channel. one of five cutters run by the border force is patrolling the area, but some want more resources in place to help migrants and prevent any deaths. we only have a small number of cutters, we have a small number of patrol vessels but, within the force itself, there is not a huge capability to interdict on the english channel. so i would be looking, myself, for more resources — if i was commanding this situation — to other agencies such as the coast guard, the police, potentially even defence. the government says deployments are under constant review, but it's concerned that increasing patrols could encourage more migrants to try to reach the uk from france. 23 migrants reached kent on thursday. that's in addition to a0 on christmas day. in total, at least 209 have arrived in small boats since november. the mild weather is one of the potential reasons

for the surge in arrivals. another possible reason is brexit, with people smugglers understood to be telling migrants that borders will become more difficult to cross when britain leaves the eu. well, really, what we need to do is to stop people making these journeys in the first place. so, more patrol boats is part of the answer, but it's also having the resources on the ground we need, working in partnership with the french to identify the gangs, to stop them making the crossings in the first place. many of these migrants have escaped difficult circumstances, but the worry is that if these journeys continue, its only a matter of time before there are fatalities. anisa kadri, bbc news. the number of illegal knives seized at the uk's borders has more than doubled in a year. official figures show officers took possesion of more than 7,600 blades during the 12 months to september. it comes as knife crime in england and wales reaches an eight year high. a man has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, after arriving on an inbound flight

at luton airport. the 32—year—old is in custody at a bedfordshire police station, on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism. police say his arrest is syria—related, and not to do with any offences at luton airport. the investigation is being led by the metropolitan police's counter terror command. the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, has urged the prime minister to cut short mps' christmas break to allow for an earlier vote on her brexit deal. mps are due back in the commons on the 7th of january, and theresa may has said the vote on the eu withdrawal agreement will take place the following week. however, mr corbyn said it must happen "as soon as possible". more prisoners will be allowed to make phone calls from the cells under government plans to tackle violence and reoffending. kirtley barry prisons —— some prisons audie have phoned in cells. £10 million will be spent extending the scheme

to 50 prisons in early 2020. for years, the authorities have struggled to stop illicit mobile phones making their way into prisons. along with drugs, they are big business behind bars because they allow some offenders to maintain contact with criminal associates. some gangs have resorted to using drones to deliver them over prison walls. stamping out their use has been a priority. hello... but now, the government says that thousands of prisoners will, in future, be able to make calls on landlines from their own cells. the scheme has already been tried at 20 prisons in england and wales, like here, at 0akwood prison. that number will rise to 50 by march 2020. the government says it's vital that prisoners maintain contact with those most able to support their rehabilitation — theirfamilies. one of the things that helps reduce re—offending is maintaining family ties. and i think it is really important that we allow prisoners the opportunity to maintain those family ties, maintain links

with their loved ones, because when they are released, those relationships are going to be really important in keeping them on the straight and narrow. but the idea of making prison life more comfortable has been criticised by the conservative mp and former shadow home affairs minister andrew rosindell, who tweeted he thought "the idea of being sent to jail was to punish criminals and take away their freedom and creature comforts. " his comments, though, have been challenged by the prison governors association. we would disagree with prison being a place of punishment. the fact that you are sent to prison is the punishment. we shouldn't further punish people whilst in prison. 0ur role is to reduce re—offending, so that when they go back into the community, they're able to integrate and there is less chance of them re—offending. the authorities say that prisoners will only be able to call a few approved numbers, and conversations can be monitored at any time. it's hoped that violence within prisons will also fall — a problem the government's

been struggling with. john mcmanus, bbc news. two british women and a killed when a car crashed in iceland. the vehicle contained two brothers torturing the country with a family. for seriously injured. —— during the country. 20—year—old aaron soft from sutherland was working on a cruise ship when he disappeared. he failed to turn up for work and the alarm was not raised until much later. the headlines on bbc news... three men have been found guilty of the murder of five people who died after an explosion in a shop in leicester in february. the music retailer hmv is being put into administration placing more than two thousand jobs at risk. after a surge in the number

of migrants crossing from france — calls to step up patrols in the english channel. time for sport. good afternoon. 0le gunnar solksjaer has asked romelu lukaku and alexis sanchez to follow the example of paul pogba at manchester united by stepping up their game. both players have struggled for form this season and their new caretaker manager couldn't say if either will go straight back into the side once they're fit. united's next game in the prmier league is on sunday the premier league is on sunday against bournemouth. i cannot do anything for their performances on the pitch. paul has done it himself, the players have done the performances. my chats with anthony, romelu, alexis, they'd not felt they could produce the best football. i am here to guide them, help them on the path and it's up to them to do it on the pitch. arsenal's former long—standing chairman peter hill—wood who presided over the

appointments of george graham and arsene wenger, has died at the age of 82. he became chairman in 1982 and was instrumental in the move from highbury to the emirates stadium. he stepped down from the role five years ago because of ill health. brendan rodgers says it might not help rangers to have restricted the amount of celtic fans at tomorrow's old firm at ibrox. the scottish premiership leaders will have just 750 fans after their allocation was cut from the normal 7,000. but rodgers claims that could backfire on their rivals. it can work against you as a home tea m it can work against you as a home team in that situation. i think when you have predominantly the support of the crowd, like i say, it can add something to the players, either a positive or a negative but we just have to approach the game in how we

a lwa ys have to approach the game in how we always do which is to look at our own way of working, respect that rangers are a good team with some good results this year and like i say, we will give them the respect they deserve like we do every team and then look to focus on our own game and looks to play well and get the win. russia's anti—doping agency has appealed to president vladimir putin to help them avoid being suspended again by the world anti—doping agency. a wada inspection team was denied full access to a moscow anti—doping laboratory last week. russia must transfer athletes‘ sample data by monday or risk being banned again from international events. despite a late collapse on a day when 15 wickets fell, india are in a dominant position after three days of the third test against australia in melbourne. pat cummins took four of them forjust 10 runs. giving the home side hope after being bowled out forjust 151 in theirfirst innings. one of those to go today was india‘s captain virat kohli for a duck, as the tourists ended

the day on 54—5. but that‘s still a lead of 346. the series is currently tied at 1—1 with just the sydney test to go next week. if i don‘t believe in myself, who else will? i always try to back myself in any situation that i go. yes, the start has been good, played in england, south africa, three different kinds of conditions. whenever you go to different countries, it‘s a different experience, new learning that you take away from every country. i‘m really happy with the start. let‘s see how it goes. staying in australia... and another big innings by england wicket keeperjos buttler wasn‘t enough to save sydney thunder from their first defeat in this season‘s big bash. buttler cleared the boundary four times on his way to 89 in the match against hobart hurricanes. his team mate and england captain joe root didn‘t fare so well, only managing 17 runs before he was out. matthew wade and d‘arcy short‘s

partnership of 119 was key to hurricanes‘ seven wicket victory. and finally, how‘s this for a late contender for own goal of 2018? it isa it is a award that they are all desperate to win. it happened in italy during a second division match there after a back pass to the goalkeeper. ascoli‘s filippo perucchini then dribbled the ball into his own net. it didn‘t end well — his side lost to palermo. not entirely sure how impressed we should be by that but burn—out that is the sport. impressed enough to see can we see that again? what on earth was he thinking? i mean what is he trying to do? it is all the rage for goalkeepers

these days. they have to be progressive and on the ball, not just bluetit. they have to do short passes but he did into the net. it was a great goal. it was a great goal. it may be the first of his career, i don‘t know the did it before. someone says they can score a goal they should be on the italian national side. that is for you to repeat and not for us. thank you. you are watching bbc news. more than half a million potholes reported by mothers of the public to uk authorities according to new research. the rac says this proves that those conditions are worsening. the government pledge money to tackle the problem. they‘re a hazard, sometimes huge, almost impossible to count. so, this is a typically damaged wheel. we see no less than six a day.

sometimes as many as ten cars a day, which are only here because of pothole damage. just one garage, in one area. for the last two or three years it has been getting worse and worse. the scale of the problem nationwide, it must run into millions and millions in terms of the cost of damage to the road user at the moment, it is really, really scary. and today we have new figures confirming a big rise in potholes on our roads. the number of potholes reported by people in 150 local authorities in england, scotland and wales rose by a whopping 44% in two years. this guy feels potholes are his calling. he argues that real investment in repairing road surfaces, instead of patching potholes up, would ultimately save money. if you did a proper investment plan, changed the culture, training, contracts, supervision, the right quality of materials, 95% of potholes could be eradicated from ever appearing on our road network. the rac says councils don‘t have the money

and the government needs to act. what we require is a long—term funding mechanism whereby local authorities can plan ahead and actually deal with the specific issue of the structural defects, rather than simply filling in potholes. the government says it‘s giving councils an extra £400 million for local road repairs this year, and funding trials to identify potential potholes so roads can be repaired before they form. a light -- a light —— this fisherman managed to cling to his net for five a light —— this fisherman managed to cling to his net forfive miles a light —— this fisherman managed to cling to his net for five miles and was treated for hypothermia and is 110w was treated for hypothermia and is now recovering at home. i spoke to the coxswain pat harvey who has

pleaded crucial role in this incident. we recalled out half an hour before this incident and it was unable to get in. were recalled out to do this and then on the way back we got alerted about the fisherman that was in the water. when you got to his vessel what sort of state was he in? luckily there was another fishing vessel that saw him and he actually got there and held onto the fisherman until we arrived but when we arrived and got him out of the water we realised that he was epidemic but we could not understand why because we do not realise at the time that you been holding on for the boat for over an hour. wejust thought he had fallen over arguments before so we regret shocked only heard the full story —— we got it fallen over just heard the full story —— we got it fallen overjust a few minutes before. you was in there for over an

hour? yes, how he held onto those conditions were so long i do not know. he was able to cling onto the net and fortunately it was heading in the right direction. yes, if the boat was heading in a different direction he probably would not be here now so here‘s very fortunate. he is now back at home butjust explain, if you have been at what about that length of time and in that temperature, you said he was hypodermic. how does that manifest? hejust hypodermic. how does that manifest? he just looked great and very cold, his beach was slurry so we just knew straightaway that he was really called —— polled so we wrapped up in bla nkets called —— polled so we wrapped up in blankets and vitamin oxygen and we rang an ambulance who were quick to arrive. he was on the anglers for about an hour before they took him to hospital so he must‘ve been severely hypothermia. this man who is telling the story now on at the

time you can not tell you exactly what happened. we do not know for a good while what happened and the full story so we were just amazed and in shock really batted to tap and in shock really batted to tap and —— that it had happened. we actually passed on the way to the other fishing vessel. we do not know he was in trouble but we passed two miles further south on the way out to tug the other vessel in so it is a shame that we did not see him then. we could‘ve picked up a bit earlier. you heard the word lucky a lot but in this particular case? very, very lucky. we are glad that he is all right, he is very experienced. one of the words their risk heard, is basis of duck called the madagascar duck has been given a new home. it is a recovery of

species that was once thought to be extinct. 0n the brink of extinction. the madagascar pochard was thought to have been wiped out completely, but a tiny group of the birds was rediscovered just 12 years ago, at one remote lake. wetland habitats here have been so polluted and damaged that the birds were forced into a last untouched area. but as pristine as it looks, this final refuge is actually too deep and too cold for the pochards to thrive. they are clinging onto existence in a place that isn‘t really suited to them. the threats that they face across the rest of madagascar — which is why they‘ve been wiped out so extensively — are vast and range from sedimentation, invasive species, pollution, poor agricultural practices. a whole suite of different things that combine to make the perfect storm that really make it hard for a species like the madagascar pochard to survive. so conservationists embarked on a painstaking rescue mission. after bringing a few birds into captivity to start a breeding programme,

the researchers scoured madagascar for the best possible site to bring them back to the wild. lake sofia, in the north of madagascar, will be the pochards‘ new home. and for the world‘s rarest birds, the team has developed an extra level of protection. well, it might be bit of a different climate here in gloucestershire compared to madagascar, but the team at the wetlands here have been able to develop this floating aviary. the idea is, it‘ll keep the birds safe and get them accustomed to their new lake. there they go, swimming off, swimming off... the doors to their floating aviary have now been opened and the pochards are venturing out to explore. it‘s a small — but significant — step, conservationists say, in saving one species from extinction and in protecting madagascar‘s threatened wetlands. victoria gill, bbc news. royal mail has apologised over a stamp produced to commemorate the d—day landings which actually

showed us troops on a beach in asia. it was said to depict the normandy landings — but was actually taken in what is modern—day indonesia. the stamp was due to be released next year in a "best of british" collection. police in new york have sought to reassure residents after a bright blue light illuminated the night sky over the city. officials have explained the glow was not an otherworldly phenomenon but was caused by a transformer explosion — as rhodri davies reports. alien, the almighty, or apocalyptic? new yorkers were asking the question when the night sky turned blue on friday. it was freaky. it was like independence day, the movie, where you just look up and a weird blue colour that you haven‘t seen, lighting up the clouds in the sky. it looked like something was above the clouds. it stunned residents. 0n social media, one person spoke of a vibrating noise. another said she was shocked to the core.

another suggested the presence of ghostbusters, or extraterrestrial beings. the answer was far more down to earth. a hot electrical fire in the city‘s largest borough of queens in fact caused the cool blue shade that cut through the sky and disrupted some residents‘ plans. a surge at a local electric power plant set off the small fire and the blue sparks. it could‘ve been, since it was an electrical fire, that it caused arcing — a flash of power, so to speak. and that might have been what caused that large light. there were local outages. some city trains were stalled and flights at one of new york‘s majorairports, laguardia, were stopped for about half an hour. but there were no injuries and the city police department was intent on allaying any further fears, saying that the incident was the result of a transformer explosion and there was no evidence of extraterrestrial activity. they will hope that that

will be enough to put all suspicions to rest. rhodri davies, bbc news. we have had a fair amount of cloud today as you can see from this picture and he stings but elsewhere there has been sunny spells and that largely dry settled theme continues into the evening hours to. clear skies for a time across scotland and used are good too and we see some rain working in across northern ireland and scotland, pushing through very quickly and that ring tending to fizzle out as hands south into england. from us above this is a frost—free night but that could be the odd mistake