N.Korea 'Developing Kamikaze Drones'

The North Korean military is developing unmanned "suicide" attack aircraft to target South Korean troops on the northwesternmost islands, a South Korean Army source claimed Sunday. The South Korean military in turn plans to procure all-weather unmanned tactical dirigibles capable of carrying out reconnaissance missions even in bad weather to deploy on the islands.

The source claimed the North is developing unmanned attack aircraft "using high-speed U.S. target drones imported from a Middle Eastern country." This is presumed to be Syria.

A high-speed target drone is used as a target for testing surface-to-air missiles. The target drones the North imported are believed to be MQM-107D Streakers.

The jet-powered Streakers can fly at up to 925 km/h with a fuselage 5.5 m long and a wingspan of 3 m. They are used by Egypt, Iran and Jordan, as well as Sweden, Turkey, Australia, and Taiwan. South Korea has also used them to test anti-aircraft missiles and conduct missile target training.

The drones the North is trying to develop would be equipped with a small bomb that can carry out a suicide attack on a target up to 250 km away. Intelligence agencies speculated the development is not complete.

They "are less sophisticated than up-to-date unmanned attack aircraft that the U.S. used in the Afghan and Iraq War," a military expert said. "But our military could suffer damage if development succeeds and the North launches kamikaze-style attacks."

The North is also suspected of remodeling the Pchela-1T, a propeller-powered drone it imported from Russia, into an unmanned attack aircraft and having deployed reconnaissance drones built based on the Chinese D-4 aircraft.

The kamikaze drones are likely to be deployed at the 4th Army Corps in Hwanghae Province, which shelled Yeonpyeong Island in 2010.

South Korea's unmanned dirigibles will have no attack function but will mainly monitor North Korean military movements.

The source said the dirigibles "will transmit radar and video data as they are connected with their ground control center via cables. They are capable of monitoring the North Korean military movements around the clock regardless of weather conditions."

A set of four dirigibles costs W7-8 billion (US$1=W1,118) and their operating expenses are not as high as those of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.

Each tactical dirigible is 39 m long and will monitor North Korea at an altitude of 1,500 m. A military officer said, "The distance between Yeonpyeong or Baeknyeong Island and the North is 11-18 km, which I believe the dirigibles can cover."

Israelis: Obama Leaked Intel to Prevent Us from Attacking Iran

Israelis Suspect Obama Media Leaks to Prevent Strike on Iran 
(ABC NEWS) JERUSALEM – Two reports today about Iran’s nuclear program and the possibility of an Israeli military strike have analysts in Israel accusing the Obama administration leaking information to pressure Israel not to bomb Iran and for Iran to reach a compromise in upcoming nuclear talks.
 
The first report in Foreign Policy quotes anonymous American officials saying that Israel has been given access to airbases by Iran’s northern neighbor Azerbaijan from which Israel could launch air strikes or at least drones and search and rescue aircraft.

The second report from Bloomberg, based on a leaked congressional report, said that Iran’s nuclear facilities are so dispersed that it is “unclear what the ultimate effect of a strike would be…” A strike could delay Iran as little as six months, a former official told the researchers.

Read more at abcnews.com

'Massive wealth destruction' about to hit investors: Faber

Runaway government debts have triggered uncontrolled money printing that in turn will lead to inflation that will decimate portfolios, according to the latest forecast from "Dr. Doom" Marc Faber.

Investors, particularly those in the "well-to-do" category, could lose about half their total wealth in the next few years as the consequences pile up from global government debt problems, Faber, the author of the Gloom Boom & Doom Report, said on CNBC.

Efforts to stem the debt problems have seen the Federal Reserve expand its balance sheet to nearly USD 3 trillion and other central banks implement aggressive liquidity programs as well, which Faber sees producing devastating inflation as well as other consequences.

"Somewhere down the line we will have a massive wealth destruction that usually happens either through very high inflation or through social unrest or through war or credit market collapse," he said. "Maybe all of it will happen, but at different times."

Noted for his pessimistic forecasts and gold advocacy, Faber nonetheless lately has been telling investors that stocks are a good choice as central bank policies pump up asset prices.

He reiterated both his commitment to stocks and gold, but said investors also can find value in other hard assets, particularly in distressed properties in the US South.

"In Georgia, in Arizona, in Florida their property values will not collapse much more and will stabilize, so I think to own some land and some property, not necessarily in the financial centers but in the secondary cities, these are desirable investments relatively speaking," Faber said.

As for stocks, Faber said Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's policies will be friendly toward equity investors, at least for now.

The stock market is in the middle of an aggressive bull run that has seen the major indexes rise more than 25 percent from their October lows.

"I think that people should own some gold and I think that people should own some equities, because before the collapse will happen, with Mr. Bernanke at the Fed, they're going to print money and print and print and print," he said. "So what you can get is a bad economy with rising equity prices."

City banishes Bibles during 'gay' fest

Exiles Christians to 'no pride' zone outside event

by Drew Zahn

For over a decade, Brian Johnson has peaceably passed out Bibles during Minneapolis’ Twin Cities Pride Festival, but if he tries it again this year, he fears, he could be arrested.

Through some clever legal wrangling, Twin Cities Pride, the organizers of the annual festival celebrating homosexuality, have convinced the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to allow them to exile anyone attempting to distribute Bibles or communicate unapproved messages at the event to a “no pride zone” far away from the festivities.

Now Johnson is filing a federal lawsuit against the Board, claiming it can’t banish First Amendment free speech rights to a 10′ x 10′ square off the beaten path, especially during a major public event in which organizers have a non-exclusive permit to use the park.

“The government should not be exiling free speech, it should be protecting it,” said Nate Kellum, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, which is assisting Johnson. “It’s ridiculous to say that the only place where people can hand out Bibles is an area where there’s no one to hand Bibles to. The Constitution simply does not permit the board to relegate free speech to isolated regions where no one can receive the message. That’s not free speech at all. It’s pure censorship.”

Johnson began attending the Pride Fest in 1995, freely offering Bibles and conversation about the love of Jesus Christ and salvation, but never, he says, a message of confrontation or condemnation of homosexuality.

“Over the years, [I have] come across many individuals in the GLBT community who have expressed disdain and distrust for organized religion,” Johnson asserts in documents filed with the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, “and [I want] those individuals to know the real Jesus.”

In 1998, Johnson even began renting a booth every year at Pride Fest, so he’d have a central place to distribute Bibles and his message of God’s salvation for all sinners, regardless of what sins they may commit.

Pride Fest, a two-day event that convenes at Loring Park, the city’s largest, has been an annual happening for over 30 years and draws upward of 200,000 people with its multiple stages of live events and carnival-like atmosphere – a perfect place, Johnson says, “to reach as many people as possible with [the] message of good news.”

But in 2009, Twin Cities Pride denied Johnson’s application for a booth and further confronted him and his family when they arrived at the park to distribute Bibles through the crowd. City police then showed up and arrested Johnson for trespassing, though the charges were subsequently dropped.

Twin Cities Pride then sued the Park Board themselves, seeking an injunction and restraining order against Johnson distributing Bibles.

According to a KARE-TV report, lawyers for Twin Cities Pride said if the Board allowed Johnson into the park during the festival, it would violate a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that held private organizations with a permit to use a public street for expressive purposes cannot be compelled by the government to include a group whose message contradicts the organizer’s.

Eileen Scallen, co-counsel to Pride Fest argued the Board’s refusal to stop Johnson would be “akin to allowing the Klu Klux Klan to openly convey their racist and anti-immigration views at the Cinco de Mayo festival.”

But Johnson claims the analogy doesn’t hold true for his ministry.

“Johnson had no interest in participating in – or interfering with – Pride Fest
 activities,” his lawsuit claims. “He only wanted to express his message via Bible distribution, a message distinct from the festival itself. Johnson only wanted to hand out Bibles and talk about Jesus.”

Furthermore, his lawsuit states, “While engaging in conversations with individuals attending Pride Fest, Johnson has always made a conscious effort to avoid any discussion about the propriety of homosexuality. He does not go there to condemn anyone. He focuses on the reality that all people sin – whether involved homosexual behavior or not – and thus all need Jesus.”

Apparently, the District Court agreed with Johnson, for it refused the restraining order and ruled not only would the Board not violate the festival’s rights by allowing Johnson to distribute Bibles, but also granting the Twin Cities Pride injunction would, in fact, violate Johnson’s First Amendment rights.

The District Court did suggest in a footnote, however, that Twin Cities Pride could set up “free speech zones,” a suggestion that the organization promptly jumped upon.

In May 2011, the Board – without Johnson’s input – settled the Twin Cities Pride lawsuit by agreeing to allow two concessions: First, the event organizers could restrict any unauthorized literature distribution to an unmanned giveaway table within the festival, and second, Twin Cities Pride could establish a “free speech zone” for booths whose message was rejected by event organizers.

Twin Cities Pride promptly publicized the “free speech zone” as a “no pride zone” and designated its spot.

But according to Johnson’s lawsuit, the zone “is placed away from all of the routes and pathways entering Loring Park. … A booth outside of the Pride Fest event did not allow Johnson to reach his intended audience (those attending Pride Fest) with his message via Bibles.”

Furthermore, the suit contends, “The drop-off zone for materials was equally unsuitable because Johnson wanted to supply the Bibles himself, assuring that interested individuals would receive the Bibles (instead of being destroyed or thrown away) and that he would be available to converse with anyone who was interested in his Bible message.”

The net effect of the settlement, Johnson’s suit claims, is not only the banishment of Bible distribution from the event, but also exile for those that would speak of Jesus.

ADF-allied attorney Stan Zahorsky is serving as local counsel in the case, Johnson v. Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Plans for first genetically-engineered pig for human consumption now in limbo

By Sarah Schmidt, Postmedia News

OTTAWA — Canada's only herd of genetically-engineered pigs will be killed by the summer if an industry partner isn't found.

The future of the University of Guelph's Enviropig project, touted by supporters as having a good shot of becoming the first genetically-engineered animal approved for human consumption, is now in limbo after the industry group Ontario Pork decided to pull its research support.

The Ontario university, which holds the patent for the GE pig, says the plan — pending any last-minute corporate support secured by June — "would be depopulating the herd" and "putting the genetics in long-term storage," spokeswoman Lori Bona Hunt said Monday.

There are currently 16 animals in the herd, part of the eighth generation of the Enviropig. Created in 1999 with a snippet of mouse DNA introduced into their chromosomes, the Yorkshire pigs were engineered to produce low-phosphorus feces as a way to reduce polluting phosphorus from large factory farms.

Critics of the Enviropig pounced on Ontario Pork's decision to end its financial support of the project, saying Health Canada should now refuse to consider the university's application to bring the pig to market now that active research is effectively finished.

"Health Canada has already wasted precious public funds reviewing a GE pig that consumers and farmers do not want," Lucy Sharratt, co-ordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, told reporters on Parliament Hill Monday.

Sharratt was accompanied by Paul Slomp, youth vice-president of the National Farmers Union. Les Gills, a hog farmer from Eastern Ontario, also participated via teleconference, saying he was "relieved" by the funding withdrawal.

"Our government should reserve the talents of our scientific evaluators for useful and socially-desirable technologies," said Sharratt, pointing out there's a cost-effective hog feed supplement that achieves the same cut in phosphorous promised by the Enviropig.

The University of Guelph previously filed applications with Environment Canada and Health Canada to commercialize the GE pig. A similar application was filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The university cleared an important hurdle in Canada in February 2010, when Environment Canada determined the GE pig does not harm the environment under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and accepted the University of Guelph's notice of significant new activity — meaning the GE pig could be farmed commercially.

Health Canada has yet to make any pronouncement on the university's application for the Enviropig to become meat on Canadian kitchen tables. The department does not comment on the status of any application.

"It's clear to us that the university does not have the funds nor the active scientific expertise to carry through with its application to Health Canada. It certainly does not have the public support," said Sharratt.

Bona Hunt said the regulatory processes at Health Canada and the FDA will continue, even if the herd is euthanized.

"Those are still under review and that they are going to remain active until regulatory decisions are made," she said. "The science is done, the genetics are done. The genetics will be stored. The only difference would be you wouldn't see a pig."

Keith Robbins, a spokesman for Ontario Pork, said the group revisited its support for the Enviropig after its annual research budget shrunk from about $1.5 million to $500,000.

In addition to not "getting the kind of return that we were looking at," Robbins said the "project itself was just taking a very, very long time."

AquaBounty Technologies Inc., in a race to bring the first GE fish to dinner plates, is also facing an uncertain future.

The company, based in Massachusetts with a research facility in Prince Edward Island, has 10 months of operating capital left, a spokeswoman confirmed Monday.

Its AquAdvantage salmon, created by researchers at Memorial University in St. John's and the University of Toronto, is genetically engineered to grow twice as fast with a gene from an eel-like fish, called an ocean pout, and a growth hormone from a chinook salmon.

The GE salmon requires approval from the FDA before it could sell the GE fish as food in the United States, and that application is still pending.

AquaBounty also requires approval from Environment Canada because the business plan involves shipping the fish eggs from a facility in P.E.I. to Panama to be grown and processed, then shipped as table-ready fish to the United States for retail sale.