Alexander Litvinenko

[Eve]

Just heard he's died.

Are they any clearer about what happened to him?

[LazyGun]

Not from what I heard. Seem even less sure now about what happened than just a few days ago.

[fairkatrina]

They reckon it's radiation poisoning, not thalium now, but won't know for certain until the post mortem is finished. As tragic as it is that someone has died, does anyone else think it's very fitting that it's happened when the James Bond franchise has been reinvented? It's just the sort of thing MI6 would send their best agent to investigate...

[andy-hughes]

I heard on the news that x-rays had revealed some foreign objects in his intestine and small bowel which had been ingested - according to their position this can be determined. Now they'll be able to post mortem and find out what they are, and if they contributed to his death.

fairkatrina - what a bizarre mental link to make. 'Fitting' - hardly! The man is dead - how does this connect to a film? What a weird way your mind appears to work!

[youngmafbog]

HAve to wait until they spice and dice him. If there is any shadow of KGB watch it suddenly drop out the news.

[lauraking72]

just heard on the news that the police are checking areas for radioactive presence, the health advisors are doing a statement on the news at 3pm GMT.

[joko]

mmm...yes, perhaps its just a publicity stunt to get people all excited about the new bond film...mmmm...

[sandyg2244]

apparently they have found traces of a radioactive substance in the restaurant he ate in.it's really like something out of a film.these russians dont do it by halves.instead of a car bomb or being shot at point blank range you get a slow lingering death!

[fat rascal]

can't add anything, but poor bloke what an awful way to die.

[NH]

He was killed by a dose of Polonium-210; apparently the investigation has discovered traces of it in the sushi bar he was supposed to have been poisoned in.

This is all according to Reuters, anyway.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Awful way to go. The Beeb mentioned that the Russian parliament had passed a law last year that gave the go-ahead to kill people that might be a threat. I'd never heard of this last year, and I'm totally certain it would have made headlines, so I'm not sure if this is just propoganda - anyone?

Love the Bond idea. I thought I was bad. Here's an example....

Is it possible he's murdered himself to discredit the Russian ruling establishment? I know it's a terrible death, but we all now know there are some mad suicidal extremists out there.

[NH]

Stories about Russia since the turn of the century have gotten seriously weird...remember the British spies with the rock cam? Seems like the second you sneak behind the former Iron Curtain things just get ever more freakier.

[fairkatrina]

Latest info on Polonium-210 is that it is 1 billion times more radioactive than uranium, 250 billion times more poisonous than cyanide, was discovered by Marie Currie and named after her homeland of Poland, is made in a particle accelerator (each reaction creates only enough to fit onto the head of a pin), it's only known use (apart from as a poison, although this case is - as far as we know - unprecidented) is as an accelerator in nuclear reactors, a speck smaller than the eye could see would be enough to kill him instantly, so imagine how small a dose he has been given, it is carried in bodily fluids, especially saliva and sweat, and something like 100 people are believed to have been affected by the radiation he emmited in hospital, especially his wife and young son. Also, it has been available recently on the British black market. Be afraid...be very afraid.