welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is lewis vaughanjones. our top stories — a former russian spy lies critically ill in a british hospital, apparently overcome by a mystery substance. workers cut short their mission to the besieged syrian enclave of eastern ghouta after repeated shelling. britain's most decorated olympian, sir bradley wiggins, says he's not a drugs cheat after mps accuse the cyclist of crossing "an ethical line." this whole thing has been a complete mass of innuendo and rumour and nothing has been substantiated and i had to deal with the - of a former russian double agent

is critically ill in hospital in britain after apparently being overcome by an unknown substance. sergei skripal was found unconscious on a bench alongside a woman in salisbury. police declared a major incident and a local restaurant was closed as a precaution. mark urban has more. passers—by noticed two people apparently unconscious on a bench in salisbury. the area was investigated by people in protective suits, as suspicions built that the two victims had been poisoned. they were in salisbury hospital tonight, described as critically ill. we are unable to ascertain as to whether or not a crime has taken place.

a major incident, however, has been declared today, and a multi—agency response has been co—ordinated. the bbc established that the man being treated is sergei skripal. he was convicted by a court in moscow in 2006 of being a spy for british intelligence. he was sent from the court to the gulag where he languished for four years. it was in 2010 that the arrest of a network of russian agents in the united states provided an opportunity for mi6 to repay its debt to skripal. the uk asked for his name to be added to a list of prisoners the cia was putting together, and injuly of that year, skripal and three others were put on a jet from moscow to vienna. the ten accused by the us of espionage, among them, anna chapman, were flown from america, and in the best cold war traditions, the two parties of spies crossed on the tarmac in austria.

asked about who might have betrayed this american spy ring, president putin vented his fury publicly. translation: traitors will kick the bucket, trust me. these people betrayed their friends, their brothers—in—arms. whatever they got in exchange for it, those 30 pieces of silver they were given, they will choke on them. as for skripal, he flew from vienna to britain, where he began a life in exile. police were today securing the house in salisbury where the former russian intelligence officer has lived in recent years. mark urban reporting. dr michael carpenter is former deputy assistant secretary of defense with responsibility for russia and was also director for russia at the national security council. he joins me from washington. the police here in the uk not giving

many details, at an extraordinary set of circumstances. what is your reaction? this is chilling news. 0bviously, russia has violated international norms across the board over the last several years, both in ukraine and georgia and also in terms of its act of measures, and its toolkit has included, among other things, as fascinations. for example, the president in the ukraine has talked about political terrorism against a former member who was assassinated in broad daylight on the streets. we have seen russia undertake these actions before. we don't do exactly what happened in this case, we don't even know for sure if it was a poisoning. the message is certainly chilling in terms of the implications, the possible implications. people touring inevitably parallels with another case here. is that fair? again, it is early, they will have

to bea again, it is early, they will have to be a thorough and much more aggressive investigation this time then there was with listening to, as you recall, the public enquiry took about a decade until it finally established its conclusions in that case. hopefully we will have evidence and information coming forward more quickly. 0bviously, evidence and information coming forward more quickly. obviously, the parallels are there for the blues to see. if those parallels tearout, what should be the response from countries like the us and the uk to russia's haiti? again, this is a violation of norms. this is a very interesting incident in that there is an unwritten rule that when you are at strange espionage agents between two countries, that you don't then target them in the future. this would be a violation of both an unwritten rule, but it is also and a violation of uk law. the hope that if it is proven, and that isa hope that if it is proven, and that is a big if at this point, but if it

is a big if at this point, but if it is proven that the russian state is behind this murder, the uk and the western world will look at a series of asymmetric responses to make it clear to russia that this sort of behaviour is absolutely unacceptable. briefly, finally, there have been calls in the uk already that if this is proven, but somehow, more security needs to be given to people in this situation who are given refuge by countries like the us cave —— uk and the us. asa like the us cave —— uk and the us. as a practical? well, it is necessary , as a practical? well, it is necessary, it is of course difficult because the russian intelligence service is our very widespread, they are world—class, they have all kinds of capabilities, and so it is difficult, but it is not impossible and it is absolutely necessary this, as you have indicated, this is proven to be an act of russian state terrorism or assassination. thank you very much for your expertise. shellfire in eastern ghouta in syria has forced a un convoy to cut short its mission bringing

vital humanitarian aid. earlier, the red cross said nine hours' worth of deliveries had eased some people's suffering, though one convoy wasn't enough. 0ur middle east editorjeremy bowen was with the convoy as it set off for eastern ghouta, and sent this report. 46 lorries moved through some of the most dangerous territory around damascus to get into eastern ghouta. the syrians refused to let them take in some surgical and trauma kits, but they carried food and medical supplies for 27,500 people. it was a start. we need to be sending gordon — — c0 nvoys start. we need to be sending gordon —— convoys at least three times a week to areas like eastern ghouta where there are serious shortages of medical equipment, supplies, food, nutrition for nearly 400,000 people

trapped on the inside. the lorries moved through the final syrian army checkpoint on the edge of eastern ghouta. the fact this convoy is moving at all is a sign of resident assad's confidence. syrian armed forces are pressing ahead into eastern ghouta, that way will stop of course, with their russian allies. and if they win, and at the moment, that is the way it appears to be, resident assad will have scored a very significant it it, because for the first time since the war started, it will have secured his capital. the enclave has been controlled by islamist militias since 2012. some militias are negotiating and various talk a deal, but not yet. the un has called for a ceasefire but it has been ignored. syria's resident says the west is

lying about the humanitarian crisis. the un secretary general calls eastern ghouta hell on earth. casualties go to a network of underground clinics. a doctor working in one of them didn't think the convoy would change anything. small convoy help us, can benefit us, including some food. it doesn't do enough. maybe for a few days. it isa do enough. maybe for a few days. it is a densely populated area where there is no escape from the grown—ups war. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. north korea's leader, kimjong—un, is reported to have told

a delegation of south korean officials he is ready to "write a new history of national reunification" during their visit to pyongyang. the north's official news agency said kim jong—un exchanged views and made a satisfactory agreement with the delegation from seoul without detailing what that agreement was. unicef has welcomed a drop in child marriages globally. it believes that since 2008, 25 million under—age marriages have been prevented. unicef says south asian countries have seen the biggest reduction. britain's most decorated 0lympian, the cyclist sir bradley wiggins, has told the bbc that he is categorically not a drugs cheat. he and his former employers, team sky, have been accused of "crossing an ethical line" by british politicians. a parliamentary report claims the tour de france winner, used drugs, allowed under anti—doping rules, to enhance

performance, instead of just for medical need. sir bradley has been speaking with our sports editor, dan roan, in this exclusive interview. he's britain's most decorated 0lympian, but today, sir bradley wiggins was effectively accused of cheating. mps alleging the country's first tour de france winner used asthma drugs to boost performance and notjust for medical need. but today, in his first interview for 18 months, wiggins came out fighting, telling me he'd done nothing wrong. the report by the dcms select committee says that you crossed the ethical line — is that fair, did you? no, we didn't. not at any time during my career did we cross the ethical line. as i've said before, i had a medical condition that i went to a doctor. this has been treated since back in 2003 when i was diagnosed with it through the doctors at british cycling at the time. this was the treatment that i'd been prescribed

for that particular occasion, which was what, seven years ago now. and under specialist supervision as well, and in place of the rules of that time, which you were allowed to apply for use of this medication. this wasn't a medication that was abused in order to gain an advantage. that's not what your former coach, shane sutton, says. he says your use of that drug was "unethical". yeah, that hurts me, actually. shane knows around that time exactly what and why i was taking that medication. the revelation wiggins used medical exemptions or tues for a powerful banned steroid called triamcinolone before three major races triggered this saga. mps today suggesting he came to rely on it to shed weight without losing power. so only one other time did you use triamcinolone other than the three tues we know about? yes. but the report says, they suggest you may have taken it nine times in four years?

now this, i don't know where that's come from. i really would like to know. this is an anonymous source, this is an anonymous person that has said this. doesn't mean it's wrong, though. you are saying this is a lie? absolutely, i refute that 100%. this is malicious, this. this is a direct... this is someone trying to smear me. so sitting here now, sir brad, you can categorically say that you didn't cheat? 100%. you didn't abuse the tue system? never throughout my career, no. i haven't worked and had the passion i've had for this sport for 15, 20 years, to do that to the sport. i mean, it'sjustabsurd. these allegations, it's the worst thing to be accused of, i've said that before. but it's also the hardest thing to prove you haven't done. because we're not dealing in a legal system. i'd have had more rights if i'd murdered someone in this process. i've been gagged for the last 18 months because there was a legal investigation going on,

so i couldn't say anything. then they were still waiting on this dcms report. i've never been asked, or these allegations have never been put to me before until now. i've only found out today what i'm actually being you choose to. —— being accused of. i mean, the whole jiffy bag thing was just a shambles. the jiffy bag was a mystery medical delivery to wiggins in 2011. a lack of record—keeping and contradictory explanations adding to the suspicion. wiggins insists he only had a legal decongestant that day. what was in the jiffy bag? god knows. your guess is as good as mine. it doesn't look good, does it? no, of course it doesn't, it's ludicrous. isn't that because it was triamcinolone and you were injected with it that evening? not on me. at the end of the day, the buck stops with me. we travelled six hours later on a training camp at high altitude where the doctor came and i was treated that evening with fluimucil in a nebuliser. the report's criticism has also raised questions over the future of wiggins' former boss,

sir dave brailsford, who launched team sky promising to be whiter than white. but despite denials of any wrongdoing, he's now embroiled in cycling's grey areas. i think once things are substantiated and if proven, then maybe he should go. but until that is, we can'tjust take this report as that's it, it's set in concrete. so how much of a toll has all this taken on wiggins? i'm trying to be in retirement and do other things with my life and i'm having... the effect it's had, the widespread effect on the family, it's horrific and i don't know how i'm going to pick the pieces up with the kids and stuff. i'm left to do that, as well as try and salvage my reputation from this. i mean, it'sjust...| wouldn't wish it upon anyone. for the mps' report is felt well beyond cycling, poor record—keeping regarding an injection of an illegal substance given to sir mo farah sees uk athletics criticised. the most powerful figure in track and field, lord coe, accused of misleading parliament

about when he first knew about corruption allegations — a claim he denies. this, a chastening day for some british sport's biggest reputations. dan roan, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come — tributes to the inventor trevor baylis the inventor of the plot with radio, tribute to trevor bayliss who has died at the age of 80. first, the plates slipped gently off the restaurant tables, then suddenly the tables, the chairs and people crashed sideways and downwards, and it was just a matter of seconds as the ferry lurched on to her side. the hydrogen bomb. on a remote pacific atoll, the americans have successfully tested a weapon whose explosive force dwarfed that of the bomb dropped on hiroshima. i heard the news earlier and so my heart went bang, bang!

the constitutional rights of these marchers are their rights as citizens of the united states, and they should be protected, even in the right to test them out, so they don't get their heads broken and are sent to hospital. this religious controversy, i know you don't want to say too much about it, but does it worry you that it's going to boil up when you get to the states? well, it worries me, yes, but i hope everything will be all right in the end, as they say. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: a former russian spy, is critically ill in a british hospital after being exposed to an mystery substance in a shopping mall. shelling has forced a un convoy to cut short a mission to deliver aid to the besieged syrian enclave of eastern ghouta. two anti—establishment parties in italy have each claimed they've won the right to govern the country following

yesterday's general election. the far—right anti immigration league party and the populist five star movement are the third and first largest parties respectively. 0ur europe editor katya adler's report contains flash photography. luigi di maio's populist party has turned italian politics on its head. now, he can't walk up on stage without getting crushed. what a scrum — the press are hungry for him. before the elections, luigi di maio and the five star movement were dismissed by the italian establishment as naive, populist shambles. now, he's the man and they're the party of the moment. looking like he couldn't quite believe what's just happened, the 31—year—old declared a new italian republic — of the people, for the people. five star's leaders

have holed up in this rome hotel, planning their next move. but are they really ready to govern? translation: this is a revolution. italians understood they can't trust the old politicians. it's time for us to work on serious issues. but here's the dampener on those plans — five star hasn't won an absolute majority. just look at this map. italy is divided. five star support is in the south, highlighted in orange, while a group of right—wing parties dominates the north, led now by this man, another italian populist, but this time, of the anti—immigration eurosceptic kind. translation: in brussels, some people are worried. they are wrong. with the italian vote, the people of europe have taken a step towards liberation from rules and regulation that bring

about poverty and insecurity. now, behind guarded doors, the political horse trading begins. it'll be weeks before italians know which populist politicians make it into government and whether they keep their promises. the inventor of the wind—up radio, trevor baylis, has died after a long illness at the age of eighty. the british scientist invented more than 200 and 50 products, including a shoe that can charge a phone battery and a self weighing suitcase for airline passengers. lebo diseko looks back at his life. that is how i wound it up... it is the invention that sir trevor bayliss was perhaps best known for. he cannot with the idea for the windup radio after watching a documentary about aids in africa. it said that health information was getting through to people because they couldn't afford the batteries

for their radios. most people in africa didn't have electricity and the only other form of electricity was in the form of batteries, which we re was in the form of batteries, which were horrendously expensive. i thought myself, hang on, all those yea rs thought myself, hang on, all those years ago i could see myself with an old—fashioned gramophone and i thought, we wind this ring up and that produces that volume of sound, so that produces that volume of sound, so there must be enough energy in that spring to drive a small dynamo, which in turn would drive a small radio. at first he found it difficult to drum up interest in his radio, but then it was featured in the bbc‘s tomorrow's world programme, it was then developed and produced by a south african company that employed disabled workers to make it. the device won him awards and honours, including a meeting nelson mandela. born in london in 1937, bayliss left school with

little formal qualifications. he was an excellent swimmer and worked as a stuntman an excellent swimmer and worked as a stu ntman and and an excellent swimmer and worked as a stuntman and and an aquatic sherman, even selling swimming pools at one point. but his true passion was inventing and from the more whimsical contractions, like this one to help wheelchair users like a pipe while birdwatching, to the more practical, like this one, to charge a phone battery as you walk. it seemed there was one common theme, sir trevor bayliss wanted to help others. it's the morning after the night before in los angeles where tv executives are scratching their heads after the oscars attracted their smallest us audience ever. the event built on the socially conscious tone of its past few years with themes of female empowerment and activism but lacked any shocking moments like last year's best picture mix—up. we can go live now to our correspondent peter bowes

in los angeles. the lowest ratings in history, how worried are people? it is the lowest since they started keeping records, in1970. since they started keeping records, in 1970. ebay are quite worried to have a 20% drop on last year. as you said, they are scratching their heads at little bit. —— they are. these oscars were very predictable, no surprises in any other categories andi no surprises in any other categories and i think some people might have felt that they had seen it all before at the previous award shows over the last few months, so there wasn't too much suspense. also, it wasn't too much suspense. also, it was very strongly billed as an award show that would be a little bit different because it highlighted the issue of sexual harassment, the metoo movement and the time's up movement, looking at social media in the past few days i saw a lot of people saying we want the awards show to be about film and honouring the actors and actresses and perhaps

some people have become a bitjaded by that topic, even though it is pretty important. talking about those films, mexico have been claiming victory on the film front? the best director for the shape of water, the first time in five years —— fourth. he made a lot of that in his acceptance speech, paying tribute to mexico, to immigrant and as he put it, to borderless world of filmmakers. he accepted his oscar and went on to say that i think the greatest thing that our art does is erased the lines in the sand, we should continue to do that when the world tells us to make them deeper. quite a political edge to his a cce pta nce quite a political edge to his acceptance speech. there were overt latin america successes as well, the film a fantastical woman was the

winner of the best foreign film. and cocoa, the great animated feature by a little boy who was to become a musician and it is built on the mexican day of the dead. finally, briefly, on this stolen oscar issue, is this seen as serious or as a bit ofa is this seen as serious or as a bit of a prank? it is not serious for the individual, who has now been charged with grand theft, 47—year—old terry bryant, accused of walking away with francis mcdormand's oscar, the good news is that she got it back and as you implied, maybe it wasn't that serious. thanks very much for that. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter, i'm @lvaughanjones. hello there.

temperatures continue to gradually rise, that means any snow confined to the high ground in scotland and communities that have been hard hit by the severe fall of snow continue to dig out as the snow gradually melts away. but it is going to be a long road. looking at the weather picture for the next few days. the jet stream is well to the south of the uk and that means is there's nothing to move this area of low pressure along, so instead it will set, spinning around over the top of the uk and there will be some fronts around the low, bringing spells of rain and hill snow. for the early risers, tuesday morning, it will be a wintry start of the day across higher parts of scotland. you can see some white here on the charts as the rain moves into the high ground and turns to snow. quite a chilly start to the day as well, some pockets of frost out and about, so prepare yourself for a futures of ice first thing

in the morning. looking at the weather on tuesday, the most severe weather will be a cross higher parts of scotland, if we zoom in and focused on this area, we are looking at around a 200 metre elevation for the worst, we could get around 5—10 centimetres but that means some of the higher scottish routes will be affected and could well be disruptive due to the weather. towards the coast and low down as well, it is rain that will be falling, but the rain combined with melting snow could bring a problem of some surface water flooding across low—levels of eastern scotland as well. elsewhere the weather is quite quiet, a few showers across western areas, spells in the south—east where temperatures reached 12 degrees but snow still coming down on the high ground in scotland. most of the snow will tend to ease off as we go into tuesday night into wednesday, but another front will sneak across the english channel and curling back along south—east england and east anglia, so on wednesday morning it looks like it could be a wet start to the day. the rain will ease and we will see some brighter skies working in, again and number of showers across the west and showers still wintry across

the highest parts of scotland but the temperatures recovering, looking at highs of six in edinburgh. a quiet day for most areas on thursday, a few mist and fog patches and an area of rain not far from the south coast of england, some wet weather here but otherwise, many areas will stay largely dry with some bright or sunny spells at temperatures between six and nine degrees celsius. things will stay on the cool side on the whole of a northern half of the uk but it will be relatively mild in the south in the run—up to the weekend. that is your weather. this is bbc news. the headlines — a russian man convicted of spying for britain is critically ill in england after being exposed to an unknown substance. sergei skripal has been living in the uk since a prisoner swap between russian and the us in 2010.

he's being treated in salisbury in the south of england. a united nation convoy in eastern ghouta has cut short its mission to bring humanitarian aid to the besieged syrian enclave after repeated shelling. earlier, the red cross said nine hours' worth of deliveries had eased some people's suffering, though one convoy wasn't enough. britain's most decorated olympian, the cyclist sir bradley wiggins, has been accused in a parliamentary report of using drugs, allowed under anti—doping rules, to enhance his performance, instead ofjust for medical need. the tour de france winner "strongly refutes" the allegations. now on bbc news, monday in parliament.