What's New

Cheat shots

Atlantic City, N.J.

Super Bowl XXXV wasn't the first time clandestine photos taken at a public event were matched with criminal databases. Casinos have used the same technology for years to identify cheaters.

"It's a tool for us to identify people who could ... take advantage of our casino," says Charles Guenther, director of surveillance at the Trump Marina in Atlantic City, N.J.

Media coverage about the use of facial-recognition software on fans entering Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., last month has raised awareness about privacy issues.

Click and sue

GREAT NECK, N.Y.

A minor car crash, with minor injuries. An arbitration. A lawyer and an insurance company exchange offer after offer, and the matter is eventually settled. In months? In minutes. Firms like ClickNsettle.com now try to take the business of legal arbitration and mediation online.

"It's designed for people who say to themselves, 'It's going to cost me X amount of money and ... time, and that doesn't make sense. Why don't we try to resolve it today?' " says Roy Israel, founder of clickNsettle.com Inc.

Faith, fairness, and figs

Geneva

Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Roman Catholic priest, was recently named the winner of the 18th Niwano Peace Prize, to be awarded next month in Tokyo.

As a child in the 1940s, Father Chacour and his family were evicted from their home in upper Galilee, then hired by new immigrants to the area to pick figs on their former land.

But Chacour did not become bitter. Instead, as the Niwano foundation points out, "he chose the course of action to break the cycle of violence, suspicion, and brutal hatred." The priest is known for his robust defense of peace and justice in the Holy Land. He has taught and published widely about interfaith cooperation.

(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Publishing Society