Yasser Arafat

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Another Report Backs Arafat's 'Natural' Death

He died of natural causes, not poison, says Russia

(Newser) - Russian scientists are siding with the French when it comes to how Yasser Arafat died. He wasn't poisoned, they say, despite what Swiss scientists found to "moderately support" that theory. "Yasser Arafat died not from the effects of radiation but of natural causes," the head of...

Arafat Wasn't Poisoned: Leaked Report

French scientists contradict Swiss counterparts

(Newser) - Yasser Arafat probably died of natural causes, a team of French scientists conclude in a report that leaked today to the French media. Specifically, they believe he died after a "generalized infection," the BBC reports. The report seems to fly in the face of a report from a...

Arafat's Body Loaded With Radioactive Poison: Study

Scientists 83% sure he was poisoned with polonium

(Newser) - Yasser Arafat 's recently exhumed body contains at least 18 times more radioactive polonium than the average person's, the Swiss scientists examining his corpse have concluded. In a 108-page report, obtained by al-Jazeera and shared with the Guardian , scientists say they're 83% certain that Arafat was...

Arafat's Remains Exhumed in Secretive Operation

Poison probe to test late leader's bone samples

(Newser) - Yasser Arafat was exhumed from his West Bank grave today as experts seek clues in the Palestinian leader's 2004 death in Paris, the AP reports. France opened a murder investigation earlier this year amid reports that highly radioactive polonium was found on his personal effects . French, Swiss, and Russian...

Arafat's Remains to Be Exhumed Tuesday

Authorities will test his body for poisoning

(Newser) - Years of speculation about Yasser Arafat's death may be answered soon—his body will be exhumed from his West Bank tomb on Tuesday, reports the BBC . The Palestinian leader died in 2004 at age 75, and an al-Jazeera documentary in July revealed that some of his personal effects had...

France Opens Arafat Murder Investigation

Widow asks for inquiry over poisoning report

(Newser) - France has opened a murder investigation into the death of Yasir Arafat, at the request of his widow, Suha Arafat, sources tell the AFP . The move follows reports that Arafat, who died in Paris in 2004, was poisoned to death with radioactive polonium. A Swiss radiology lab said last week...

Arafat Will Be Exhumed, Autopsied

'We are on the way,' says aide

(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...

Arafat May Be Exhumed on Heels of Poisoning Report

Palestinian leaders approve widow's request

(Newser) - Following reports that point to possible polonium poisoning , the Palestinian Authority is prepared to exhume Yasser Arafat's body for an autopsy. Arafat's widow, Suha, sought the exhumation after samples of his clothing, which she provided to al-Jazeera , revealed significant traces of the same poison that killed Russian dissident...

Arafat May Have Been Poisoned

Tests suggest high levels of polonium

(Newser) - Al Jazeera has what could be a bombshell report: Its nine-month investigation raises the strong possibility that longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was fatally poisoned in 2004. The news organization had his personal belongings, including clothes and his toothbrush, analyzed by a lab in Switzerland, and the results turned...

Palestine Could Offer Bright Spot for Arab World

PM Fayyad's economy- first approach a good model: Friedman

(Newser) - Things are bad in the Arab world, but Thomas Friedman sees green shoots in an unlikely place: Palestine. “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to the wider Middle East what off-Broadway is to Broadway,” he writes in the New York Times. “It is where all good and bad ideas...

Carter Meets With Former Hamas Minister

Ex-prez defies Israel, Bush, and lays wreath on Arafat's grave

(Newser) - Jimmy Carter traveled to the West Bank today to meet a former Hamas minister, ignoring strenuous objections by Israeli leaders. Carter also laid a wreath on Yasser Arafat’s tomb, a customary gesture of respect President Bush pointedly avoided on his last visit, Reuters reports.

Bush's Palestine Play Doomed
Bush's Palestine Play Doomed
Nov 25, 2007 8:00 AM CST

Bush's Palestine Play Doomed

Prez's late peace push faces bigger problems than Clinton's failed effort

(Newser) - George Bush, like Bill Clinton before him, is making a last-minute push to broker Arab-Israeli peace, but with much steeper odds, says Reuters' Arshad Mohammed. Bush, Mahmoud Abbas, and Ehud Olmert are all unpopular, especially compared to their 2000 counterparts—Clinton, Yasser Arafat, and Ehud Barak. “When Clinton tried...

7 Killed in Gaza Shooting
7 Killed in Gaza Shooting
Nov 12, 2007 8:18 AM CST

7 Killed in Gaza Shooting

Hamas gunmen opened fire on thousands gathered for Fatah rally

(Newser) - Violence broke out today in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, as Hamas fighters fired into a crowd of hundreds of thousands at a memorial rally to Fatah founder Yasser Arafat, killing seven and wounding 150, the New York Times reports. Hamas and Fatah traded blame for the shooting, the bloodiest since...

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