Kennedy sister critically ill

THE Shriver family announced yesterday that Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the 88-year-old sister of Senator Edward Kennedy, is critically ill at Cape Cod Hospital.

Ms Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics and mother of California First Lady Maria Shriver, is in a critical but stable condition in intensive care, according to a statement released by the Shrivers through the Special Olympics organisation.

The entire Shriver family has gathered around the ailing matriarch.