DISCERNING THE TIMES ONLINE
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Polish Priest Measures Parishioners' Piety With Fingerprint Scanner
BlackBerry seeks fingerprint scanner patent
Research in Motion, the maker of the popular BlackBerry, has a bright idea to improve security. An application filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows that the company is considering deploying fingerprint-scanning technology into the touchpad navigation system used in some of its latest devices. Some portable devices have had fingerprint scanners for years, but not inside the touch pad, reports CIO.com.
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Keeping Watch....
By Muin Abdul Majid
DUBAI, Jan 26 (Bernama) -- Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has called for the establishment of a department for peace and security within the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) General Secretariat, an OIC Peace and Security Council, and the activation of the Islamic Court of Justice to resolve conflicts among Islamic countries.
The OIC secretary-general also favoured the setting up of a collective mechanism to protect and maintain member states' collective peace.
He said this during a recent meeting in Jeddah on the future role of the OIC in the maintenance of security, peace-keeping and conflict resolution among member states.
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Dmitry Babich) - On Monday the presidents of three influential Muslim states, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan, gathered for a summit in Istanbul. This top-level meeting is another testimony to Turkey's ambition to take a lead in the Islamic world. Given that Russia is Turkey's second largest partner after the European Union with a $25 billion annual trade turnover, Ankara's success may boost Moscow's weight on the international stage.
Monday was marked by two more events from Turkey, which only improve Ankara's chances. On that day Mevlut Cavusoglu was elected president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the population of Turkey reached 72 million people, which is half of Russia's population.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul's meeting with his Pakistani and Afghan counterparts Asif Ali Zardari and Hamid Karzai is held in the run-up to the London conference on Afghanistan. It is no chance that Istanbul has become the venue for a comprehensive discussion aimed at finding alternative sources of income for Afghan farmers. So far they have earned their living producing heroin, trafficked to Western Europe through Russia.
This is not the first time Turkey organizes a meeting of the Afghan and Pakistani leaders, whose relations have been strained. In addition, Ankara has been coordinating the efforts of Muslim states to render assistance to Kabul.
Ankara wouldn't measure up to this role but for its improved financial capabilities. At their meeting, Presidents Gul and Zardari initiated the restoration of the Islamabad - Istanbul railroad, which will pass through Teheran, a project requiring $20 billion in investment.
Moderate Turkish Islamists hit the big time
King Abdullah's Spanish talks
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah arrived in Switzerland yesterday (27.01.10) for a meeting with the Spanish king.
King Abdullah - who attended a lunch banquet held in his honour with King Juan Carlos of Spain and his spouse Queen Sofia - stressed his wish to foster bilateral ties in various fields, particularly efforts to bring about peace and stability in the Middle East.
The king also held talks with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero concerning efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
According to the Jordan Times, King Abdullah said he thought immediate action was necessary to resume negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis based on a clear action plan.
Spain Urges Jordanian King to Seize Opportunity for Peace
MADRID – Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Wednesday that in the Middle East at present the necessary conditions exist to “take a definitive step toward peace, (an opportunity) which cannot be wasted.”
Zapatero met with Abdullah after the Jordanian met in private with King Juan Carlos at Zarzuela Palace, where the Spanish monarch and his wife, Queen Sofia, hosted him at a luncheon.
During his discussion with Abdullah, the premier reaffirmed Spain’s support for the resumption of Middle East negotiations, for the recognition of the Palestinian state as a result of a negotiated two-state solution and for providing the Palestinian National Authority with “political as well as financial support” so that it may undertake its peace program.
Zapatero also told King Abdullah that Spain, during its stint in the rotating presidency of the European Union from January through June, will work to present a draft of the new EU-Jordan Action Plan “which will include arrangements regarding the Jordanian negotiation proposal for an advanced statute.”
MED UNION: PROJECTS WILL BE FIRST STEP, MASADEH SAYS
BRUSSELS - The first secretary general of the Mediterranean Union, Jordanian Ahmad Masadeh, (in this NATO picture) has clear ideas about the work that awaits him: to set up an efficient team and to start concrete project as soon as possible, to be presented at the second summit of the Mediterranean Union, scheduled for June in Barcelona.
The actual timings of his timetable are however still not certain. ''I envisage going to Barcelona at the end of February'' - explained Masdeh in an interview with ANSAmed - ''to then start activities at the beginning of March. All this depends on whether the statute of the secretariat is adopted by the meeting of high-level officials of the Mediterranean Union scheduled to take place in Brussels on February 9''. The number of vice secretaries is still up in the air, with it oscillating between five and six (Italy, Malta, Israel, PNA, Greece and Turkey) and the portfolios to be assigned to them.
''I already know - said Masadeh - that amongst the vice secretaries, the senior one will be an Italian, who will deal with the financing of the projects and with small and medium-sized enterprises. It was communicated to me by the Foreign Minister Franco Frattini in his letter of congratulations''. -ansamed
Aside from the Good Lord, parishioners at a Catholic church in Poland will soon have another seemingly omnipresent being making sure they attend mass: technology. According to Reuters, father Grzegorz Sowa recently installed in his church an electronic fingerprint scanner that keeps track of how often schoolchildren attend mass. If a student attends mass 200 times over a three-year period, he or she doesn't have to pass an exam before confirmation.
Formerly, the kids would have to get the priest to sign a sheet of paper that said they'd been present at mass. Now, they'll simply press their finger to a screen and be on their way, saving both priest and parishioner time. "This is comfortable. We don't have to stand in a line to get the priest's signature [confirming our presence at the mass] in our confirmation notebooks," said a student named Karolina.
Iris recognition at the Teller in CAB (Cairo Amman Bank), Cairo Amman Bank is committed to ensuring the security and convenience of customers.
