This makes me believe GRI's implementation in Leon is eventually going to exceed anything we've seen before. Every other means of access (license, credit card, keys, etc) has the potential of being augmented or replaced by iris and face scanning. Get on a bus, pass security on the way into work, pay for a meal, order packages online - all without using anything besides your eye. The Leon project could make this futuristic world appear in just 3 to 5 years. That's incredible.

How will we use this new technology? IBN seems focused on the mass screenings of travelers, but there are equally important applications for third world testing. We could have custom agents collecting blood samples to stop the spread of H1N1 or the next scary flu virus, but that's going to be a privacy nightmare.

As the MicroKit continues to improve it has the potential to become an 'all in one' testing device. A single sample of blood, a single machine, and a few hours could tell you whether you have any number of diseases. That's damn cool.

Notably, pluralities of white mainline Protestants and white Catholics now favor allowing same-sex marriage - another first for the Pew Research Center.

According to the poll, white mainline Protestants are more likely to support gay marriage (49 percent) than oppose it (38 percent). In the past two years, 49 percent had expressed opposition. Among those who attend church at least once a week, 35 percent favor gays and lesbians marrying.

A similar shift is seen among Catholics. While opinion was more evenly divided over the past two years, today 49 percent favor gay marriage and 41 percent oppose.

Sixty percent of Americans favor allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military while only 30 percent oppose it. Protestants are also more likely to support gays serving openly in the military (52 percent) than oppose it (37 percent). Evangelicals, meanwhile, are more likely to stand against it (47 percent) than favor it (43 percent).

The message, issued at an Arab League meeting in Libya, represented a reprieve for Washington as it tries to salvage 5-week-old talks stalled over Israel's refusal to extend a settlement freeze on occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood.

Abbas's proposals included seeking U.S. and U.N. pledges of recognition for a future Palestine taking in all of the West Bank, and a threat by the president to step down over the impasse, diplomats said.

"We are giving the United States an opportunity to convince Israel to stop settlements. We are giving them a month which will be a period of political interaction between the United States and Israel," Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said.

The Palestinians say settlement growth on land occupied by Israel in 1967 will make the establishment of a viable Palestinian state impossible. They want to found their state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel quit Gaza in 2005 but insists on keeping all of Jerusalem -- its declared capital -- and swathes of West Bank settlements under any peace deal.

The International Monetary Fund's 187 member countries called for "evenhanded surveillance" and said uncovering vulnerabilities in advanced economies was a priority, potentially a major shift for the Fund, which has traditionally tread softly on giving advice to its biggest shareholders.

The United States, which has been pressing China aggressively to let its yuan rise faster, had urged nations to give the IMF more clout to referee currency disputes.

"Further action is urgently needed to reinforce the institution's role and effectiveness as a global body for macro-financial surveillance and policy collaboration," the IMF's steering committee said in a closing communiqué.

IMF members stopped short of formally endorsing in the communiqué an IMF proposal that would have established a multilateral surveillance program, an idea that drew mixed reviews from member countries.