polonium 210

(Newser) - The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday blamed Russia for the killing of Alexander Litvinenko , who died in London in 2006 after drinking tea laced with a radioactive material. A former agent for the KGB and the successor agency FSB, Litvinenko defected from Russia in 2000 and fled to...

(Newser) - Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has given his permission for the exhumation of the remains of his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, a top aide said days after a Swiss institute reported finding elevated traces of a radioactive substance on the late leader's belongings. The findings were inconclusive, but revived speculation that...

(Newser) - Tobacco companies were well aware that their products contained radiation—and they discovered this decades ago, UCLA researchers studying 27 historical documents have found. The firms learned of the presence of polonium-210 in cigarettes in 1959, and they examined the radioactive material's effects during the 1960s, documents show. They...

(Newser) - Britain turned to its European allies for support in its diplomatic battle with Russia over a sensational radiation murder in London, but the response has been tepid, the Guardian reports. Only the French expressed support yesterday, as Germany, with powerful economic ties to Russia, suggested that the UK had overreacted,...