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               French Prosecutors Open Probe Into Arafat's Death

   by VOA News

   French prosecutors have opened a probe into the death of Palestinian
   leader Yasser Arafat eight years ago.

   Judicial sources say the probe was launched following a complaint last
   month from Arafat's widow, Suha Arafat, that he may have died from
   polonium poisoning.

   The complaint was filed after a Swiss physics institute said it found
   abnormal traces of polonium, a radioactive substance, on Arafat's
   belongings.

   Palestinian officials welcomed the decision to open the probe.

   Arafat died at age 75 at a military hospital near Paris in 2004. He had
   been taken there after falling ill at his compound in the West Bank
   town of Ramallah. Doctors who treated him at the hospital said they
   could not establish a cause of death.

   Polonium is a toxic substance rarely found outside military and
   scientific areas. It was used to kill former Russian spy Alexander
   Litvinenko in London in 2006.
   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/french-prosecutors-launch-probe-into-
   arafat-death/1497389.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/french-prosecutors-launch-probe-into-arafat-death/1497389.html