Stallone "Unspeakable Atrocities"

Stallone and Crew Saw Myanmar Aftermath
Sylvester Stallone says he and his "Rambo" sequel movie crew recently witnessed the human toll of unspeakable atrocities while filming along the Myanmar border. "I witnessed the aftermath - survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land-mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off," Stallone told The Associated Press in a phone interview Monday. "We hear about Vietnam and Cambodia and this was more horrific." The 61-year-old actor-director returned to the U.S. eight days ago from shooting "John Rambo," the fourth movie in the action series, on the Salween River separating Thailand and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

Israel Confirms Syrian Strike

Israel Lifts Veil of Secrecy
Israel decided Tuesday to lift the strict veil of secrecy over an air strike in Syria last month. The censor announced that it was allowing the Israeli media to report on the raid without attributing such reports to foreign sources. The censor did not release any other details of the raid for publicationIsrael has kept quiet on the subject until now. However, Syrian President Bashar Assad told the BBC on Monday that IAF jets had hit an "unused military building" in his country.

In the Shadow of the Moon

Piracy Is A Crime!

War Will Cost 190bln In 2008

Iraq, Afghanistan Wars To Cost US
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will cost at least $190 billion in 2008, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, making it the most expensive year in the conflicts since they were launched by President George W. Bush.Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Congress to approve the funding after Bush this month beat back demands from Democrats for a quick end to the Iraq war and said the U.S. presence there would go on after he leaves office in 2009.Gates said he hoped longer-term for a much smaller U.S. force than the 165,000 troops currently in Iraq. He added that "I don't see" any of the requested money being used for preparing a military attack on Iran, which Pentagon officials say is supplying weapons used against U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Rather: Government Influencing Newsrooms

Rather: Government Influencing Newsrooms
Dan Rather said Thursday that the undue influence of the government and large corporations over newsrooms spurred his decision to file a $70 million lawsuit against CBS and its former parent company. "Somebody, sometime has got to take a stand and say democracy cannot survive, much less thrive with the level of big corporate and big government interference and intimidation in news," he said on CNN's "Larry King Live."

Benito Mussolini 1883-1943

Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.

You Will Regret Attacking Iran

Iran Warns West against Sanctions
Iran told Western powers on Saturday they would regret any attack against the country over its nuclear activities, and it rolled out a display of missiles and other military hardware that underscored the warning."Our message to the enemies is: Do not do it," the head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, said, speaking to reporters less than a week after France's foreign minister publicly raised the prospect of war. "They will regret it, as they are regretting it in Iraq," the commander added, speaking on the sidelines of an annual military parade just outside the capital.

Gene Screening

Geneticists Question Screening of Fetuses
Geneticists are questioning the use of screening for certain hereditary diseases after new research showed that parents may be aborting healthy fetuses that test positive for a potentially serious but often treatable condition among Ashkenazi Jews. The study, in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, found that one-quarter of couples chose to terminate pregnancies after their fetus screened positive for Gaucher disease.

Arctic Belongs To Russia

Arctic Seabed 'Belongs To Russia'
A Russian expedition has proved that a ridge of mountains below the Arctic Ocean is part of Russia's continental shelf, government officials have said. The Natural Resources Ministry said tests on soil samples showed Russia was linked to the Lomonosov Ridge. Moscow has mounted several expeditions recently - and risked tensions with rivals in August by planting a flag in the seabed below the North Pole.