POLONIUM 210

Polonium 210 has been found on the belongings, including the toothbrush, of former Chairman of the PLO Yasser Arafat.

More importantly, tests reveal that Arafat’s final personal belongings – his clothes, his toothbrush, even his iconic kaffiyeh – contained abnormal levels of polonium, a rare, highly radioactive element. Those personal effects, which were analyzed at the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland, were variously stained with Arafat’s blood, sweat, saliva and urine. The tests carried out on those samples suggested that there was a high level of polonium inside his body when he died.

“I can confirm to you that we measured an unexplained, elevated amount of unsupported polonium-210 in the belongings of Mr. Arafat that contained stains of biological fluids,” said Dr. Francois Bochud, the director of the institute.

The findings have led Suha Arafat, his widow, to ask the Palestinian Authority to exhume her late husband’s body from its grave in Ramallah. If tests show that Arafat’s bones contain high levels of polonium, it would be more conclusive proof that he was poisoned, doctors say.

[source : Arafat's widow calls to exhume his body , Al Jazeera, http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/whatkilledarafat/2012/07/20127383653774794.html, 04/07/2012]

Meanwhile MI5 is spending millions of taxpayer money to stop the release of some documents requested by Dr Andrew Reid, the Coroner in charge of the inquest into the death of Alexander Litvinenko.

The cost of murdered spy Alexander Litvinenko’s inquest has spiralled to £4 million.

The bill for the taxpayer-funded inquiry has soared during long negotiations between St Pancras coroner Dr Andrew Reid and MI5, as government lawyers fight to prevent disclosure of secret documents.

Dr Reid has requested classified documents to check whether the former KGB agent was murdered on the orders of Moscow while working for the British security services.

He has agreed to consider claims that Mr Litvinenko was killed because of his outspoken criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Lawyers are preparing for “the mother of all bunfights” over what can be released, according to a source. The spy’s widow Marina will be legally represented and the prime suspect, Russian Andrei Lugovoi, has hired a London lawyer to appear at the inquest.

Mr Lugovoi denies any involvement in the death of Mr Litvinenko, 43, alleged to have suffered radioactive Polonium-210 poisoning after drinking spiked tea while meeting former KGB contacts at a Mayfair hotel in 2006.

The inquest cost — of which details were obtained by the investigative website Exaro — is set to outstrip those into the deaths of Princess Diana and Jean Charles de Menezes, beaten only by the £4.6 million hearing into the July 7 bombings.

The bill should fall on Camden, Islington, Tower Hamlets and Hackney councils, which fund St Pancras coroner’s court. But the Ministry of Justice is considering a request for central funding from the councils and the coroner.

[source : Taxpayers face a £4m bill for inquest into spy Alexander Litvinenko's London murder, London Evening Standard, http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/taxpayers-face-a-4m-bill-for-inquest-into-spy-alexander-litvinenkos-london-murder-7876148.html, 22/06/2012]