Welcome to monthly news. To all of Star Link’s new readers, this is a monthly session to cover anything & everything happening in the world of biometric devices. Also, there are previous sections on biometric attendance system & biometric attendance machines that you can check out.

Some major stories surfacing are as follows.

1. 1. To establish an assured identity, German Federal office has installed fingerprint scanners to authenticate the migrants crossing Europe and into its borders.
   2. In Philippines, many groups’ sparked tensions 20 lakh voters will be disenfranchised from the May elections because they lack biometric registrations. Many opposition parties are challenging the biometric rule and calling it as ‘unconstitutional’.
   3. Deputy PM of Malaysia is calling for a standardized border security screening of all ASEAN members. This comes in the backdrop of a refugee crisis in Malaysia itself. United Nations has urged the country to implement biometric security identity cards.
   4. Schengen area, a multi-state zone that overlaps multiple European Union countries now requires all non-European travelers with Schengen visas to have new ePassports. This comes in the middle of rising tensions in Europe and the deadly attacks in Paris.
   5. Mobile operators in Bangladesh have started to register biometric users. Due to rising criminal activities, the government launched these measures as allegations galore that many criminals were registering SIM cards under fake names or simply using unregistered SIMs.
   6. The biometric law enforcement market earning around $838 million in 2014 will earn approximately $1.1 billion by 2021, a new study by research Frost and Sullivan has revealed. The study also revealed that this rise depends on the development of AFIS i.e. Automated Fingerprint Identification System.
   7. CardLogix has revealed new validation software for Machine Readable Travel Document & ePassports verifications. A simple, innovative & ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) friendly product known as PassCheck will validate documents sharply. Some features include: optical matching & verification, checking biometric modalities, matching digital certificates of travelers.
   8. Delhi police has ordered hoteliers to install biometric security. As a result, all the hotels in the following days have quickly installed Facial recognition technology. This is part of an effort to strengthen security measures set in place by the police.
   9. A local drug store in Baghdad’s has ordered a device called Face ID 2. The facial recognition-based time and attendance system allows employees to clock their attendance without having to remove their gloves. The store serves foreign embassies of Australia, Egypt, and USA located close by.