Free Republic

There's bad news and there's more bad news for paralysis victims hoping that some variety of stem cell will soon help them walk again. Adult stem cell paralysis treatment has just suffered a major setback, on the one hand. On the other, these victims are being mercilessly exploited by those desperate to convince us that embryonic stem cells (ESCs) -- yet to be tested in a human -- are a miracle cure desperately needing massive infusions of taxpayer funds. There have been many claims of improvements for quadriplegics using adult stem cells -- those found throughout the human body as...

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has cleared his former chief of staff, Iqbal Riza, of any violation of staff rules in shredding documents shortly before the start of an inquiry into the oil-for-food scandal, a UN spokesman said today. "After reviewing the findings in the latest Volcker report and consulting with the Office of Legal Affairs ... the Secretary-General has found there is no ground for disciplinary action against him," said the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. "The Secretary-General acknowledges that Mr Riza's actions were careless but he does not believe that they can be construed as deliberate attempts to impede the...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday he was "very disappointed and surprised" that his son had continued to receive payments until this February from a firm that had a contract with Iraq's oil-for-food program, the subject of numerous corruption investigations. Annan told reporters that he had been working on the understanding that payments to his son, Kojo Annan, from the Swiss-based firm Cotecna Inspection S.A. stopped in 1998 "and I had not expected that the relationship continued." But on Friday, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Kojo Annan's lawyer had informed the independent panel appointed by the secretary-general...