On Saturday The Times reported that police may have worked out who was responsible for the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko:
The suspected killer was captured on cameras at Heathrow as he flew into Britain to carry out the murder. Friends of the ex-spy say that the man was a hired killer, sent by the Kremlin, who vanished hours after administering a deadly dose of radioactive polonium-210 to Litvinenko. He arrived in London on a forged EU passport and reportedly slipped the poison into a cup of tea he made for Litvinenko in a London hotel room. Litvinenko was reportedly able to give vital details of his suspected killer in a bedside interview with detectives just days before he died on November 23 at University College Hospital.
This doesn't mean the spy ring style intrigue looks set to end anytime soon though, especially now that the mystery assassin has a name: Vladislav.
We also found out that radioactive isotopes are the perfect way to bring lukewarm tea back up to a drinkable, if lethal, temperature:
“His belief is that the water from the kettle was only lukewarm and that the polonium-210 was added, which heated the drink through radiation so he had a hot cup of tea. The poison would have showed up in a cold drink,”... The hotel room where Litvinenko thought he was poisoned remains sealed off. This room reportedly showed the heaviest concentration of polonium-210 found at a dozen locations across London
Best to read the full article as there's also a reference to renewed cases of mercury poisoning in connection to the investigation...
