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Oct 8 2012- Oct 14, 2012 
 News In Review
 Vol 7, Issue 33
In This Issue
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The News In Review newsletter is a service provided by Understand The Times that is a compilation of the news articles previously posted on our site . Understand The Times does not endorse these events but rather is showing the church the current events.  The purpose of posting these articles is to warn the church of deception from a Biblical perspective.

 October 3 - Meet the Australian biometrics company working with Apple on ID technology
 Article: Technology For Global Monetary System

The head of an Australian biometrics company which scored a key contract with Apple says the future of mobile technology will be closely linked with fingerprint scanning and other ID tech, especially as phones and payment systems become entwined.

The revelation that Australian firm Microlatch has been working with Apple on a contract for the past year is yet another sign the tech giant is becoming serious about identification technology - Apple purchased American fingerprint scanning firm AuthenTech earlier this year. It's also a testament to the strength of the local tech scene.

Microlatch managing director Chris Burke told SmartCompany this morning the partnership with Apple is a way of promoting a security component for the iPhone maker, but also said the real revolution will come with payment mechanisms.

While Burke said he could not disclose any specifics about the Apple contract, he said the inclusion of NFC (near field communications) payment systems will mark a big change for his industry. "Everything is a phase, and this is a good first step. PINs are not going to suffice given the type of security that we need. We're storing so much information on these valuable devices, and they're becoming more sensitive



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 October 3 - Powerful CCTV cameras which can track faces from more than half a mile away 'could breach human rights laws'
 Article: One World Government

Powerful CCTV cameras which can recognize and track faces from more than half a mile away could breach human rights laws, a top Government adviser has warned.

The UK's first surveillance commissioner, Andrew Rennison, has issued a stark warning to the Government by saying that advances in CCTV technology risk turning Britain into a Big Brother society.

He
warned of a 'public backlash' unless proper steps were taken to regulate the proliferation of 16-megapixel HD cameras with the potential to pick out a face and then match it against a database of images of wanted people.
 



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 October 8 - Pope promotes rediscovering Rosary during Year of Faith
 Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days

Pope Benedict XVI is suggesting that families and parishes rediscover the prayer of the Rosary in the Year of Faith, which begins later this week.

"With the Rosary, we allow ourselves to be guided by Mary, model of faith, in meditating on the mysteries of Christ, and day after day we are helped to assimilate the Gospel, so that it shapes all our lives," the Pope said Oct. 7 in his Sunday Angelus comments.

The Rosary, which comes from the Latin for "garland of roses," is a traditional Marian prayer that involves meditating on the episodes of Christ's life, ranging from his incarnation and birth to his death and resurrection.

"I invite you to pray the Rosary personally, in the family and in the community, learning at the school of Mary, which leads us to Christ, the living center of our faith," Pope Benedict told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square.



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 October 4 - National 'virtual ID card' scheme set for launch (Is there anything that could possibly go wrong?)
 Article: Technology For Global Monetary System

The Government will announce details this month of a controversial national identity scheme which will allow people to use their mobile phones and social media profiles as official identification documents for accessing public services.

People wishing to apply for services ranging from tax credits to fishing licences and passports will be asked to choose from a list of familiar online log-ins, including those they already use on social media sites, banks, and large retailers such as supermarkets, to prove their identity.

Once they have logged in correctly by computer or mobile phone, the site will send a message to the government agency authenticating that user's identity.



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 October 2 - Your Next Smartphone Could Use Palm Print Authentication
 Article: Technology For Global Monetary System

Current biometric authentication tools found on smartphones suffer from some drawbacks; fingerprint readers typically require additional hardware - the original Motorola Atrix being one notable exception - while Android's face unlock doesn't work well in the dark and can by circumvented by pictures of the phone's owner. Japanese telco KDDI might be on to an alternative that bypasses those glaring problems.

At CEATEC 2012, the company has been showing off a demo app that authenticates identity by taking a high-resolution picture of your palm, rather than scanning your finger. The authenticator flashes the camera's LED when it snaps a pic of your palm, circumventing the darkness issue, and it's a lot harder for would-be baddies to get a hold of your hand in the pre-calibrated palm-scanning position than it is for them to pick up an image of your smiling face.



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 October 3 - Archbishop tells UN we need World Government
 Article: One World Government

The archbishop states that international problems and the economic fears is due to "a profound anthropological crisis-that is, a loss of a common understanding of what is truly human." The Vatican official explained that "only an international community firmly anchored in authentic values consistent with human dignity can produce viable solutions to new types of conflicts."

Referring to terrorism, Mamberti said there needed to be a consensus of mortality as an antidote to "new types of conflicts initiated by transnational groups that spread a pseudo-religious ideology of contempt for human rights and civil peace." He said that the problem is shown "most flagrantly by current developments in the Middle East, and in particular in Syria."



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 October 4 - World food prices near crisis levels
 Article: Signs Of The Last Times

World food prices rose in September and are moving nearer to levels reached during the 2008 food crisis.

The United Nations food agency reported on Thursday that the worst drought in more than 50 years in the United States had sent corn and soybean prices to record highs over the summer, and, coupled with drought in Russia and other Black Sea exporting countries, raised fears of a renewed crisis.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) price index, which measures monthly price changes for a food basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, rose 1.4% in September, mainly due to higher dairy and meat prices.



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 October 4 - Japanese Stem Cell Discovery could lead to Human Cloning without the need for Humans
 Article: Cloning And Genetic Engineering

A study by Japanese researchers involving the use of stem cells to create eggs and sperm, and fertilized eggs as a result, has been announced. The scientific effort to achieve this result has been afoot for many a year, and the Japanese researchers efforts have been attained in mice for the time being. The next step would be to try to attain these results in humans.

The team of researchers from Kyoto University, have established that the eggs can be replicated from stem cells, and even the sperm as well.

If this result can be achieved in humans, it may allow women the chance to become pregnant later in life, without the inherent problems already associated with advanced age proliferation reduced to some degree. More to the point, this new technology, if attained in humans, opens up a world of possibilities, and a whole other set of questions.



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 October 5 - Retinal scans for banking?
 Article: Technology For Global Monetary System

ANZ this week unveiled research which showed a majority of people would be comfortable using retina or fingerprint scanning technology at ATMs instead of PIN numbers. Carried out by Newspoll for ANZ, the research also revealed Australians were increasingly embracing digital banking, but still wanted face-to-face interaction for "big ticket" items like applying for a loan.

The release of the survey coincided with ANZ unveiling plans to invest $1.5 billion over the next five years in new technologies, including the rollout of 800 "next generation" automatic teller machines and installing video-conferencing in regional branches. The new ATMs would allow customers to deposit coins, notes and cheques that would immediately be credited to their accounts.

While the Newspoll study found people would be comfortable with some form of biometric identification, futurist Ross Dawson went one step further. He suggested this type of technology could replace cash entirely. "Cash and coins could be on the way out and it's realistic to imagine a world in which we carry no notes or coins, or even credit or debit cards," Mr Dawson said. "Before long we may use our fingerprints or even retina scans to make payments. Australians have shown they are comfortable with biometric identification, because it combines convenience with security." More than a third of people surveyed said they would prefer to live in a cashless society.

THE SURVEY

  • 88% of people aged 18-34 prefer to use digital technology over a bank branch for day-to-day transactions, but their mums and dads weren't far behind at 75%.
  • 38% would prefer to live in a world where they didn't need to carry cash.
  • 40% even accepted the idea of one day outsourcing their finances to a digital personal assistant - an intelligent computer program which makes financial decisions and moves money between accounts on your behalf.
  • 67% would be comfortable using a machine that scans your eye to verify identification in place of a pin.
  • 79% would be comfortable using fingerprint technology in place of a pin.


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 October 7 - Pope opens bishops' synod with universal call to holiness
 Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days

Pope Benedict XVI has formally opened the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization with a "universal call to holiness" aimed at all Christians worldwide.

"Holiness is not confined by cultural, social, political or religious barriers. Its language, that of love and truth, is understandable to all people of good will and it draws them to Jesus Christ, the inexhaustible source of new life."

Over the next three weeks the Synod of Bishops will aim to map out a new evangelization of the contemporary world. The Pope explained that the particular focus of "new" evangelization are those people "who, though baptized, have drifted away from the Church and live without reference to the Christian life."



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 October 8 - New financial system needed to curb greed, say theologians and economists
 Article: One World Government

Theologians, anti-poverty advocates and economists meeting in Brazil to develop principles for a new global economic system have issued a declaration naming over-consumption and greed as key factors to be addressed in seeking a more just distribution of the world's resources.

The statement was issued Friday at the conclusion of the "Global Ecumenical Conference on a New Economic and Financial Architecture" in Guarulhos, a suburb of São Paulo. Sixty delegates met from 29 September to 5 October at the conference organized by the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) in partnership with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Council for World Mission (CWM).

Social inclusion, gender justice, care for the environment and concrete actions to overcome greed are named as criteria for a new economic and financial architecture.



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 October 4 - International Symposium on Mary Commences in Rome
 Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days

An international symposium, dedicated to the study of Mary and her cultural and theological significance throughout history, commenced today at the Centro Russia Ecumenica in Rome.

The objective of the two-day event, entitled "Mary, Sign of Faith (and Only Hope)", is to explore the cult of Mary in order to explore her role in leading Christians towards greater devotion to Christ. Participants today had the opportunity to hear from a wide variety of experts, such as author Leonie Caldecott on the history of Marian images beginning with pre-Reformation England, as well as from historian Michael Hesemann on the historical person of Mary.

Edmund Mazza, history professor at Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles, California, is the primary organizer for this symposium event. "It is important to look at Mary as a model, as a sign of faith," he said. "We're on our way to God, we don't see the beatific vision yet, so we need symbols, we need signs to take us on the road. And it's very important that we turn to Mary because as Louis de Montfort, the great doctor of the Church once said, it's through Mary that Jesus came into the world, and it's through Mary that Jesus will reign in the world. She had a role to play at the beginning when He first came, and she has a role to play now as we approach the end times."



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 October 4 - Joel Osteen and Rick Warren to Appear on 'Oprah's Lifeclass'
 Article: Miscellaneous

Rick Warren and Joel Osteen, two of America's most popular megachurch pastors, for a live appearance on "Oprah's Lifeclass" program on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) to be broadcast Friday, Oct. 5.
 
"Oprah's Lifeclass" episodes allow viewers to interact with guests and ask important questions, and have been some of the more ratings-successful segments on OWN. Osteen is expected to comment on "positive thinking and dreaming big" while Warren will address "winning the hand you're dealt," according to Oprah.com.


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 October 9 - Texas schools punish students who refuse to be tracked with microchips
 Article: Miscellaneous

A school district in Texas came under fire earlier this year when it announced that it would require students to wear microchip-embedded ID cards at all times. Now, students who refuse to be monitored say they are feeling the repercussions.

Since October 1, students at John Jay High School and Anson Jones Middle School in San Antonio, Texas, have been asked to attend class with photo ID cards equipped with radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips to track every pupil's location. Educators insist that the endeavor is being rolled out in Texas to stem the rampant truancy devastating the school's funding. If the program is judged successful, the RFID chips could soon come to 112 schools in all and affect nearly 100,000 students.



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 October 11 - Anglican archbishop suggests contemplation for reaching post-Christian world
 Article: Miscellaneous

Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams addressed the synod of Catholic bishops on the New Evangelization about the importance of contemplation for reaching people in a post-Christian world.

"To be contemplative as Christ is contemplative is to be open to all the fullness that the Father wishes to pour into our hearts," the archbishop said Oct. 10. "With our minds made still and ready to receive, with our self-generated fantasies about God and ourselves reduced to silence, we are at last at the point where we may begin to grow."



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 October 11 - 'Holy Jihad' is the only way to deal with Israel, says Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood chief
 Article:Israel And The Last Days

Egypt's foremost Muslim Brotherhood official called on the Arab world Thursday to replace negotiations with Israel with "holy Jihad," claiming that if Jews are allowed to pray on the Temple Mount they will destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and supplant it with the third temple.

Mohammed Badie, Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, declared in a public message published by Egyptian daily Al-Ahram that "the Zionists only understand force," and that Arabs cannot hope to achieve justice from the Jews "through the corridors of the United Nations or through negotiations."

"The time has come for the Islamic nation to unite around one man for the sake of Jerusalem and Palestine," Badie said. "The Jews have dominated the land, spread corruption on earth, spilled the blood of believers and in their actions profaned holy places, including their own."



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 October 10 - Coming Next: TSA Electronic Shock Bracelets?
 Article: One World Government

The TSA's security policies are getting more and more bizarre, from testing people's drinks for explosives to ordering all travelers to freeze on command, but could a frightening policy that was seriously explored by the DHS be resurrected - forcing people to wear shock bracelets that would deliver an electric shock if they got out of line? The story sounds like it belongs in a South Park episode or on an urban myths website - but it was actually true.

In 2008, the Washington Times reported on how DHS official Paul S. Ruwaldt of the Science and Technology Directorate, office of Research and Development, wrote to Lamperd Less Lethal, Inc. indicating that the Department of Homeland Security was ready to purchase devices from the company that would be used to deliver incapacitating shocks to airline passengers, all of whom would be mandated to wear the shock bracelet once they checked in for their flight.

The so-called "safety bracelet," also known as the Electronic ID Bracelet, was designed to replace a boarding pass and be capable of tracking the passenger through the airport by means of GPS technology. The device would also contain details about the passenger and their flight plans.



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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a blessing to you.

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Roger Oakland


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