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AN INQUIRY INTO the radiation poisoning of a former Russian spy opened today with claims that there may have been an earlier assassination bid in the most sensational espionage case since the Cold War.
Alexander Litvinenko was allegedly poisoned by a cup of tea laced with polonium-210 in a London hotel in 2006 and publicly accused President Vladimir Putin of ordering his killing before he died three weeks later.
Russia has rejected the accusations and refused to grant extradition for the two chief suspects named by British police — Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun — over the poisoning of Litvinenko on November 1 that year.
Inquiry lawyer Robin Tam said traces of radiation showed there may have been a previous poisoning when the three met in the offices of a London private security company, Erinys, two weeks earlier on October 16.
“One of the most significant things that the evidence suggests is that Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium not once but twice,” he told the inquiry at the Royal Courts of Justice, which was attended by Litvinenko’s widow Marina.
Tam also showed the inquiry diagrams of the Erinys boardroom showing heavy contamination on a section of the table and a chair, as well as on the spout of the teapot from which Litvinenko drank at the Mayfair hotel.
He said the heaviest contamination in the boardroom and the teapot was “off the scale” at in excess of 10,000 counts per second (cps).
Normal background radiation is around 0.5 cps.
- © AFP 2015.
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Thanks Dan. This is a great example of how journalists can make a real contribution.
Best part of the night was Gerrys three amigos comment and ride away on your donkey. Barrett and donnely won the night. Claire Byrne was great.
Still lies about the guards, 550 may have been trained but it’s not extra on our streets, how many have we lost from resignations , retirements and death since then. Pure spin
the only one bringing new ideas and fresh thinking was Lucinda … Barrett as Claire made clear, was resorting to populism ‘whatever the people want, I’ll do’ [applauso, applauso]
Lucinda? Fresh ideas? Most of Renua’s policies are a butchering of FF/FG policies and the rest are copied from either the US or poor African countries. Lucinda is about as fresh as a graveyard.
Lucinda came across poorly on crime, sounds more like Sarah Palin with each comment,
Shay – how so?
Burton is a poor debater. And lies through her teeth, then repeats the lies. She’s desperate.
@ Colm: Couldn’t agree more. RBB stole the show, and Donnelly put in an excellent performance. Adams was consistently strong across both debates as well. Burton tanked.
3 strikes and life imprisonment is a great policy.
the revolving courthouse door for the nation’s skumb@gs is a major problem.
Lucinda was easily the most concise and articulate when it came to offering solutions, even if I don’t agree with them all. Donnelly excellent and Barrett engagingly presented but as usual without offering real solutions. Enda did quite well to say little while Joan is in tatters.
If the smaller parties got in together and do what they say they will do it’s exactly what this country needs, is new fresh corrupt free politicians acting for the people and not themselves
Very impressed with RBB and Donnelly they deserve a chance as what else have we to lose with them, the others are just grab all for themselves parties telling lie after lie and shading the people the minute they get into power
Donnelly was good. Adams was brutal.
Nice to see input from someone from Liverpool
Deputy leaders debate last night on tv3
https://www.tv3.ie/3player/show/41/0/0/Tonight-with-Vincent-Browne
Can we fact-check Adams’ claim he was not in the Provisional IRA terrorist group?
(don’t worry, if the joker considered this to be “defamatory” he would have challenged it in the courts 4 decades ago)
Still going on about Gerry like a lover scorned Dear mud? – give it up, his heart belongs to someone else, .poor you, always the bridesmaid, never the bride…..
Remember that the IRA/SF cult do not like criticism of their President for Life.
Diarmuid….if the FBI, CIA, PSNI and MI5 with all their resources can’t prove it ….how can Dan?
Diarmuid/Leo Lowe/powerabbey no bigger cult than your beloved orange order,a cult that parades around all Summer long with drug dealers,murderers and other assorted vermin.
Don’t mind Diarmuid/Leo/Power, in his 50′s and still an ‘apprentice’…..slow learners in the Orange Order.
Al, I doubt even you believe your own BS.
Have all those security agencies disclosed their files on SF/PIRA?
Throw Adams in prison (again), who would have negotiated in behalf of the Provisional IRA?
She called Gerry Adams a liar, and he had to back down.
Perhaps you missed that bit?
Scraping the barrel there.
Perhaps the Provos could publish a full list of their past and current membership? I’m sure they’ve kept records like any legitimate society or club… and of course there were never any grey areas or creative ambiguity.
Someone should sue the dogs on the street also.
diarmuid/leo/power ,their is a chap down South on Fenianary radio,RTE 1 called Joe Duffy,1.45 to 3 pm Monday to Friday that is a good listener,maybe a good heart to heart with Joe about your obsession with Gerry could be of some benefit to you.
Donnelly couldn’t answer the question about what Doctors, nurses, firemen etc etc want even after 5 years in the Dail, he couldn’t be bothered asking anyone and neither has the party as it seems?
Powerabbey, do you mean Micky D. lol.
Burton was embarrassingly bad. She had a look of defeat last night. Finally sinking in that Labour are screwed. The latest poll that she could lose her seat has totally rattled her. Can’t wait to see Labour destroyed.
Self-fulfilling prophecy that poll is. If anyone was thinking about giving her the vote, I’m sure they’re seriously debating that now after her performance.
Cheers Yoda.
Not intentional, it’s what happens when you write comments in a train first thing in the morning.
No offence intended Jason, it gave me a laugh I wasn’t expecting on this subject.
As long as arrogant Alan Kelly is screwed too !!
Can I just say…. – Joan Burton
Kenny was’nt far behind. The programme was a waste of time, and if that was’nt bad enough, they followed it with another piece of useless rubbish. We had the so called experts analysing the performances. Who, I wonder decided on the questions allowed.
What was glaringly obvious last night was, that the younger/newer parties are not governed by old established rules or adherence to the old way of politics,
Stephen Donnlley and Boyd Barrett were head and shoulders above the rest due to having no political baggage of historical importance, Gerry Adams came a slightly distant third with Michéal Martin close behind, Enda was his same calamitous self, especially with his weak attempts to put his hand up like he was in school – this from a who is supposed to be a leader?
Joan is gone, done and dusted – absolute carnage of a car crash job,
And poor lucinda never got into the swing of things properly, partly due to being on the periphery of the stage.
All in all it was a very bad night for the “old way” of doing politics in Ireland,
It looks like a new dawn of sorts awakens.
Not before time too.
Proper journalism …not a Tweet in sight….other Journal.ie editors please take note.
None of them stuck out as leaders to me. Claire Byrne handled the debate very well.
I thought Stephen Donnelly stood out the best
Lucinda was brutal. Any slim chance she hoped of getting votes from disgruntled FG supporters is well and truly gone
Stephen performed top, closely followed by Richard, endas ‘keep quiet and let them bate each other’ tactic let him down this week – he ended up looking adrift. Lucinda was good but too quiet. Gerry was Gerry. Joan looked inept and seemed to talk at people rather than to people.
Stephen Donnelly looks so intelligent , you’d expect to see him in a science lab formulating some new medical breakthrough. Brilliant debater and a genuine decent skin to boot.
That’s a lie, That’s a lie ”said Joan”
No pet, we heard you last week, insult a man that does what YOU have no clue about.
“The truth is out there…” Tagline for the next debate alongside the X-Files theme tune me thinks! Thanks for summing up the debate Dan with the facts.
Great series of articles Dan. RTE should be putting on regular ‘follow-up’ shows with exactly this type of info – perhaps a career op for you there Dan?
Not sure a career in RTE is something to aspire to, he could do a lot better.
Great seeing actual journalism like this here, especially considering a few articles down you have another author shocked to hear drug dealers use intimidation!
Factcheck .. Best contribution to Irish society
I just keep wanting to put glove puppets on Enda Kenny’s hands, I keep imagining it every time he is talking!
I think he’s conducting an imaginary orchestra
I was half expecting him to break into a dance routine and sing “there ain’t no strings on me”
It difficult to pick a clear winner but i know who was the worst again this week! The advisers must cringe when he’s in front of a camera and they can’t shuffle him away or prompt him what to say.
Who? Should we just have a guess who your on about or what?
No it isn’t. Stephen or Richard performed tops. No question.
Sure he can’t even do a radio interview without the handlers stepping in
@ Scarr If it isn’t difficult to pick a CLEAR WINNER why did you name two people?
“you’ve just disappeared 6000 Gardai now, Gerry” – brilliant from Michael Martin. It made me ‘lol’. Worth getting a vote.
voting FF, how quickly they forget
Ladies and gentlemen, a prize example of why politics in Ireland is as bad as it is. Making you laugh at a political debate is probably one of the worst reasons to vote for someone that I’ve ever heard.
Lies? Would that not rate higher in your calculations them humour.
Oh dear Mark. Oh dear.
Is it not more ridiculous that a (ex) terrorist is the head of a political party in Ireland?
Mark, Sure Dev was an ex terrorist was he not, how far back will we go, how about the FG blue shirts helping Hitler and Franco to slaughter Spanish men women and children, how about the disappeared of the war of independence, bodies still not recovered, we could discuss the rape and murder of children by the church and covered up successively by FF & FG, now remember these were children, how about you Mark, do you go to church, do you throw them a few euros ?. Past is left in the past for all, or none, now go be a t-w-at somewhere else, there’s a good lad.
Brilliant article. When the claimed figures are shown against the actual figures it really shows them up for the lying toe rags that they are with all the empty promises.
Thank you for this very honest and informative article. Great journalism.
Well done journal, ye deserve to run a debate and call out some of the horse crap.
Ah yeah but who would be calling the shots?
Somebody should tell Micheal Martin he is leader of a party who’s baggage is extremely worrying for people. They brought about the biggest recession we’ve seen for decades and FG & LABOUR continue the austerity policies. I know who I’d trust and it’s not these 3. I’m sure Fianna Fail are trying to erase their violent past because I’m fully sure De Valera & Sean Lemass amongst others where involved with the OLD IRA who believe it or not actually killed people.
Claire Byrne to replace Sean Barrett
Joan telling so many lies that she doesn’t know fact from fiction anymore.
The clear winner was Claire Byrne. She did an outstanding job controlling the debate.
Donnelly is intelligent and logical but I wonder can he walk the walk. Unfortunately he will most likely be in opposition. Barrett is a populist speaker and some of his numbers do not add up. Martin is a strong debater but is seriously damaged goods as is Adams. Creighton did not show well and doesn’t seem suited to debating. Kenny seems calculated and factual but is also damaged goods from the number of broken promises over the past five years. Burton is just awful…unmannerly in the debate and Labour are just piggy backing on FG…change of leader needed in that party. They could be demolished in the election.
So, where does the next government come from?
I forgot to mention Clare Byrne ,She was excellent.
Like a school teacher really, a bad state of affairs when a host like her has to treat party leaders like children especially those who were leading their parties in government?
It would be interesting if statistics were presented alongside the unemployment figures in terms of actual head count. Also, what regions have been most affected by emigration? (I.e. What if the reason for low youth unemployment is because most of the youth in the region have emigrated)
Claim: All politicians are trurhful in their promises. Truth: Bollocks. Tell us something we don’t already know.
*truthful
That’s summed up perfectly well I’m going to give my preferences to and who I won’t even bother putting a number beside. Thanks Journal.ie
I think a good opportunity to discuss white collar crime and cronyism. Whether you agree with Creighton or not I think she would be strong in that area as are Doc Dems and RBB and gov and FF would have taken a beating. White collar crime and cronyism is the cause of many of our problems
white collar crime/cronyism is the reason the established parties will suck the face off each other after the ge to get power so none of the truths see the light of day
still cannot understand how audit companies used by bank to give a clean bill of health during the crisis are still being used by gov today, I would have thought they would have had their contracts pulled for complictity/negligence. yet no mention or penalties just more bigger better gov contracts eh nama?
A fact is the so called leaders spent the evening ignoring the big ticket issues like climate change and foreign affairs (refugee crisis, EU etc)
None of them went into any details and basically repeated what was in or implied by their manifestos and the same soundbites they have been repeating for the last few months
There was no discussion on vision, ideology or even the logic behind their policies.
Spending the last segment discussing who will do business worth whom was a complete waste of time.
I didn’t learn a single new thing.
I would vote for Claire Byrne any day. Edna looked like Dougal with the rabbits dancing in & out of his head.
Every time Burton spoke, I was in tears laughing thanks to Mario Rosenstock.
Mehole had the most solid argument. David was great, but he is untried, and as they say, ‘every new brush sweeps clean’. Stephen was good too but ditto. LooseEnda – nil point.
Gerry is the only natural leader there, but he scares me a bit…
Who’s David?
- Richard, – mental block, My friends 2 sons are Richard & David, and I always get them mixed up…
Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry Gerry
Donnelly was the best speaker, Barrett came across better than usual. Joan was dreadful as was Gerry. Amazing that Adams managed to get through almost a full 2 hours without mentioning figures and any time he did he became a bag of nerves and didn’t know what the figures were. Yet some people would have you believe he performed well? The fact is he is holding his party back every time he is asked to go head to head with anyone.
I agree. Sinn Fein need to get rid of some at the top to move forward as a party. Alot of people will never vote Sinn Fein with some of those old timers History.
Vote Sinn Fein
I will Paul when they tell the truth about Paul Quinn and what happened
The unemployment rates in the midlands I see are the worst in Ireland as of Q3 2015 and is a very close 2nd overall to the South East if you look back over the stats since 2011.
This is one massive reason for me for not voting FG or Labour back into power because and nothing wrong with these industry sectors but they can’t see beyond agriculture, tourisim and food as a path to job creation in rural Ireland 2016.
Governments don’t create jobs but they play a big part when they control how taxes are implemented and how grants are allocated. The new government must encourage non traditional rural based business models give it a go so they can inspire the next crop of talent into investing locally.
Joan Burton lied last night when she said she had met Peter McVerry many times. McVerry was on Ray Darcy last week, and said he has NEVER met Joan Burton, in any capacity.
Joan Burton
Claim: This government never reduced disability payments.
Verdict: True but you tried very hard
The facts: The government tried within its first 6 months of power to reduce disability allowance payments. This was cancelled after a video of Enda Kenny promising a disabled girl during campaigning that the disability allowance will never be cut. The government were embarrassed into backing down, hardly a bragging right Joan?
Very true, Joanne O’Riordan. All the relevant links are on her wikipedia page but it’s one of the first things they tried to cut https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joanne_O%27Riordan
Fact Check is brilliant
The single best contribution to #ge16 so far. Sterling work.
It’s just my opinion. I thought RBB came across as nervous and lacking knowledge tbh.
Um, could you please do a fact check on Michael Martin’s claim that Gerry Adams was a member of the IRA? I think it’s really, really, really, really, really a very important non issue. Thanks.
Lies lies lies abdw more lies. Get rid of them all!!!
Barrett & Donnelly won the debate on relevance, Adams looked like a blundering idiot- he should have put Mary Lou in there. Enda’s strategic plan to call early election (while things are on the up!) does not seem to be working out.
Joan burton is just horrible! A pathological liar who believes her own tripe!!
Nicely done, can you please add a table of the amount of lies each candidate told and post it!
Mrs Bruton appears to have told the most porkies
The only conclusion we can draw from Dans fine work is that Joan Burton is trying to put Pinocchio out of business .
I think Lucinda came out the best. Enda is a terrible speaker. Joan is hard to listen too. Gerry and Micheal just want to bury their heads in the sand.
Lucinda best? How’d you come to that conclusion? She wasn’t the worst but looked like a rabbit in the headlights alot of the time. I’d put her performance 4th place (maybe 5th) – ahead of Kenny and Burton (obviously) but I dont know how you can think she out-performed RBB or SD.
Lucinda’s answers were clear and concise compared to the flabby sludge offered by some of the others. Donnelly also good.
She bestrode the stage like a mythical colossus, dominating, nay domineering. It wasn’t her actual height (6′ 5”) either that made her stand out. The clear concise nature of her arguments were knock-out blows to her opponents. Indeed Martin & the two left-wing fellows visibly wilted in the bright shining light she produced with her arguments. And, at one stage, I thought Joan was melting such was the fierce heat that Lucinda’s philosophy was generating.
Enda was completely and utterly overwhelmed by her presence. He fiddled and he doodled and he fluffed his lines so badly that it was a great mercy that Lucinda took pity on him and began to direct her ire towards Jarry. She tore into him like a mad bull that had lost its way. Gerry aged visibly in these few minutes. His eyes sunk into his head, his knees bent, shook and wobbled, the hair on his head began to stand up with the electric atmosphere that Lucinda’s arguments were producing. So overwhelmed was Jarry that he was reduced to shadow of his former self.
All told this #leadersdebate will live long in the memory ONLY on account of Lucinda’s absolutely outstanding performance. She annihilated all and sundry. She was merciless when needed and merciful when required – just the very qualities Ireland needs in a Great leader in these terrible times. Long may she reign.
I better log-off now as I see Nursie approaching with the needle.
Andrew There is no known cure for the bullsh!t you just typed.
Should I tell Nursie ?
Joan might be hard to listen to, but even worse she continually gesticulated like Zuma’s famous interpreter. It was as if she had a puppet dangling from each hand.
Truth and lies – no mention of the claim that Adams was a member of a murderous gang of sick bloodthirsty savages called the IRA.
I think that is because they can find no evidence of it, otherwise he would have been arrested, charged, tried in special criminal court, and jailed.
I could accuse you of being in the IRA on the same basis. Doesn’t really help the debate, and is more suited to Ireland 1976, than Ireland 2016.
Leo, exactly al those blood thirsty murders as follows Blueshirts who murdered Spanish men women and children. Clergy who raped and murdered our children. Innocent civilians murdered during the war of independence, by the way, how will you celibrate ?.
The only reason Adams looked like a blundering idiot was because that is what he is.
You don’t like S.F. then?
Good job someone is keeping a check on the facts. It is very interesting and shows what stats r manipulation r ignorance of the Figures. I would really like to know how many people are on gateway r jobs bridge and the age groups???
I don’t understand why people thought Boyd-Barrett did well last night. I thought he had moments, but for the most part he didn’t offer me much that I could buy into as a voter.
Joan …”Why you always lying” :D
Great article, well done.
Just shows the bullshlt they will exaggerate or outright lie about to make themselves look better. By the looks of it Joan the moan did a handstand and spoke out of her arse all night!
When any politicians tells lies like these to the Irish people, they must be impeached and barred from holding any public office. By spouting deceit and lies, they show they have no honesty or integrity. They are chancers and flyboys. As the system in place exists, Dishonesty and Corruption are rewarded. The lying hoors have the gall to present themselves for election again. And there they betray 1916 over and over. Sick!
The advantage for Boyd Barrett and Donnelly is that they are not questioned on how they will pay for their proposals or even on the detail of these. Most of their contribution is rhetoric .
So I can say Labour is LIEBOUR now, all people have to do is see what has happened to themselves under this government to see the truth, many know someone who had to go to a doctor or to a hospital, knows what has happen to their own Gardaí station, sees what bills they have to pay, knows friends or family that had to immigrate, knows of a local ghost estate or houses, remembers the scaremongering and threats from this government, remembers at least one scandal this government survived… etc etc.
Then they think promises from this government will change all that, have they forgotten the 2011 promises already that were broke???
have your say