Russians join Arafat probe

Russian experts will join a team of Swiss and French investigators who are to exhume the remains of late Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, in Ramallah later this month, the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, said. He hopes, thanks to the Russian involvement, "new facts will arise or be known about the causes of death".

Mr Arafat's death in a French hospital in November 2004 has remained a mystery for many. The new investigation comes after a Swiss laboratory found traces of a deadly radioactive isotope on clothes said to be Mr Arafat's, sparking accusations that he was poisoned.

AP