■ United States
Polonium contact feared
Health officials are telling people who traveled to London last year that they may want to be tested for exposure to the radioactive poison that killed a former Russian spy. Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said on Friday that the notification process began this week after health authorities in London gave them a list of people who may have been exposed to polonium 210, a radioactive substance that killed late Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in November. As the criminal investigation has progressed, British health authorities have slowly widened the circles of people suspected of having been exposed to polonium 210.
■ Brazil
Subway hole collapses
The walls of a huge hole being excavated for a new subway station in South America's largest city, Sao Paulo collapsed on Friday, creating an enormous crater that swallowed three dump trucks. Local media reported three construction workers were hurt in the incident, but firefighters and the state-owned Sao Paulo subway company said it could not immediately confirm the injuries. Television footage showed the dump trucks inside the 60m diameter hole, and a towering crane at its edge appeared on the verge of tipping into the hole.
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