Free Republic

The White House doctor who previously gave now former President Joe Biden a clean bill of health is a longtime family friend — as speculation of a cover-up over his new cancer diagnosis continues to ramp up. Dr. Kevin O’Connor served as the 82-year-old’s official physician during his White House stint — and repeatedly insisted for years that Biden was in top mental shape despite his obvious cognitive decline. Now, in the wake of Biden’s prostate cancer diagnosis, O’Connor’s longstanding relationship with the Biden clan has come under renewed scrutiny. The physician also has business ties to Biden’s young brother,...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Complaints are mounting that a newly created California stem cell agency has failed to keep the public informed of its actions as it begins doling out $3 billion in taxpayer-provided grants. Still others complain the agency hasn't developed rules to prevent its managers from unjustly enriching themselves and their employers. Many of the 29 board members, appointed by the governor and other elected officials to run the agency, represent research universities and the biotechnology industry, both of which are expected to win millions of dollars worth of grants. The criticism picked up this week as the...

Trouble mounts for Bush as lethal Iraqi resistance claims more lives By Rupert Cornwell in Washington 27 July 2003 Just how organised is the resistance, and who is doing the organising, is not clear. But yesterday's grenade attack which killed three US troops outside a children's hospital north of Baghdad and injured four others has banished the hope that the death of Saddam Hussein's two sons would halt the de facto guerrilla war against the American forces occupying Iraq. Even more ominously for President Bush, it can only deliver another blow to the morale of soldiers deployed in an inhospitable...

Diplomatic tension between the European Union and Israel has taken a turn for the worse. While the EU sharply protested the Israel Defense Forces' recent moves in the territories, Israel meanwhile has taken affront at the EU's linkage of the looming crisis with Iraq with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a letter to all 15 members of the EU at the weekend, warning them of creating any link between the Iraqi situation and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Such a linkage "could strengthen the danger faced by Israeli citizens and strengthen the instability in the...