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Hello, I'm Mary Marshall with the BBC News.

The BBC understands that the Russian man who was convicted of spying for Britain is critically ill in hospital after being exposed to an unknown substance. A woman is also seriously ill. The man is believed to be Sergei Skripal who was convicted of high treason in Russia in 2006. Danny Abraham reports.

The man and woman were taken to hospital on Sunday after falling ill in the shopping centre in the sub English city of Salisbury. The authority suspect they were exposed to a harmful substance, but it's not clear what. Teams in protective gear were sent in to decontaminate parts of the city. Sergei Skripal settled in Britain in 2010 after he was freed as part of a swap for a group of Russia agents arrested in the United States. He had served 4 of 13-year sentence after being found guilty of passing information to the British secret service.

The Syrian government has continued its air and ground assault on eastern Ghouta, even there is an aid convoy was finally able to deliver humanitarian supplies to the besieged rebel enclave. Activists say that at least 40 more people were killed and almost 200 wounded. The food parcels and medical supplies were unloaded in the main town of Douma. The International Red Cross said the deliveries would lessen the immediate suffering but one convoy would never be enough.

A former spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reported to have signed a deal to testify as a prosecution witness in one of the corruption cases against the Israeli leader. The report said Nir Hefetz who himself is a suspect in the alleged bribery case had agreed to give evidence on Sunday. Mr. Netanyahu and his wife Sara denied any wrongdoing. From Jerusalem, here is Tom Bakerman.

Nir Hefetz was a close confidant of the Israeli Prime Minister and now become his third former aid to agree to give evidence to investigators. The latest police probe involves claims Mr. Netanyahu intervene with Israeli regulators to help the telecoms giant Bezeq in return for favorable news coverage about him on one of the firm's websites. On Friday, Mr. Netanyahu and his wife Sara were questioned in separate locations for several hours.

World News from the BBC.