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BRIGHTBRIDGE WEALTH MANAGEMENT
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bbsmithhoward-blog · 13 years ago
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WEMBLEY, England (AP) — The final phase of goal-line technology tests will begin this month before soccer’s rule-makers make a definitive decision in July, FIFA said Sunday after another high-profile controversy. Chelsea reached the FA Cup final with a 5-1 victory over Tottenham, with replays indicating that Juan Mata’s shot never crossed the line for Chelsea’s second goal. The International Football Association Board, the game’s rule-making body, last month approved two systems to go into a second round of testing in match scenarios before either can be sanctioned for use in competitive fixtures at a meeting July 2. “The latest planning meeting for test phase two was held on Friday, and the second phase of tests will commence before end of April, and will continue throughout May,” FIFA said in a statement to The Associated Press. IFAB must be satisfied with the speed and accuracy of Hawk-Eye or GoalRef before high-tech aids for referees can be deployed in football for the first time. Sony Corp.’s Hawk-Eye is a camera-based ball-tracking system successfully deployed in tennis and cricket. GoalRef, owned by a German-Danish company, uses a magnetic field with a special ball. Both systems send a signal within a second of the ball crossing the line to the referee, who will retain the power to make the final call. In Sunday’s game at Wembley Stadium, television replays quickly indicated that Mata’s shot at the start of the second half didn’t cross the line when it was bundled clear by Tottenham defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who was lying on the turf on the goal line in a scramble. “It was nowhere near the line,” Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker said. “I had a perfect view. Four players were covering the line, so how the ball could’ve got over the line, I don’t know. The linesman said he didn’t make the decision. The ref took it upon himself.”
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bbsmithhoward-blog · 13 years ago
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http://advice.brightbridgewealthmanagement-facts.com/
WEMBLEY, England (AP) — The final phase of goal-line technology tests will begin this month before soccer’s rule-makers make a definitive decision in July, FIFA said Sunday after another high-profile controversy.
Chelsea reached the FA Cup final with a 5-1 victory over Tottenham, with replays indicating that Juan Mata’s shot never crossed the line for Chelsea’s second goal.
The International Football Association Board, the game’s rule-making body, last month approved two systems to go into a second round of testing in match scenarios before either can be sanctioned for use in competitive fixtures at a meeting July 2.
“The latest planning meeting for test phase two was held on Friday, and the second phase of tests will commence before end of April, and will continue throughout May,” FIFA said in a statement to The Associated Press.
IFAB must be satisfied with the speed and accuracy of Hawk-Eye or GoalRef before high-tech aids for referees can be deployed in football for the first time.
Sony Corp.’s Hawk-Eye is a camera-based ball-tracking system successfully deployed in tennis and cricket. GoalRef, owned by a German-Danish company, uses a magnetic field with a special ball.
Both systems send a signal within a second of the ball crossing the line to the referee, who will retain the power to make the final call.
In Sunday’s game at Wembley Stadium, television replays quickly indicated that Mata’s shot at the start of the second half didn’t cross the line when it was bundled clear by Tottenham defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who was lying on the turf on the goal line in a scramble.
“It was nowhere near the line,” Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker said. “I had a perfect view. Four players were covering the line, so how the ball could’ve got over the line, I don’t know. The linesman said he didn’t make the decision. The ref took it upon himself.”
Martin Atkinson, the FIFA-accredited referee who awarded the goal, will be one of UEFA’s goal-line assistants for Howard Webb at the June 8-July 1 European Championship.
Even Chelsea players later accepted their second goal should not have been given when they were leading 1-0 in the semifinal.
“We’ve been calling for goal-line technology for a very long time,” Chelsea defender John Terry said. “Let’s hope that people make the right decisions (on approving it).”
FIFA’s support for goal-line technology had wavered until a high-profile blunder at the 2010 World Cup involving Terry’s England convinced President Sepp Blatter that any further embarrassments had to be avoided at major tournaments.
A shot by Chelsea’s Frank Lampard in a game against Germany at the World Cup in South Africa bounced off the crossbar and landed beyond the goal line but did not count as England was knocked out of the competition.
FIFA is hopeful one of the systems will be ready for use at the Club World Cup in December in Japan, but the Premier League hopes it could fast-track technology into its 20 grounds before the new season starts in July.
The disputed goal at Wembley on Sunday revived memories of a famously controversial goal there in the 1966 World Cup final between England and Germany.
They were drawing 2-2 in extra time when Geoff Hurst’s shot struck the underside of the crossbar, bounced down and spun back into play. That time, the referee consulted his linesman, who awarded the goal for England. Hurst went on to score a third goal as England won 4-2.
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bbsmithhoward-blog · 13 years ago
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http://articles.brightbridge-wealthmanagement.com/category/economy-news/
Swiss stocks fell, with the country’s equity benchmark posting its longest streak of weekly losses since November, as China’s economy slowed more than forecast and concern about the euro-region debt crisis gained.
ABB Ltd. (ABBN), the world’s biggest power-grid supplier, led a drop in shares sensitive to economic growth. Cie. Financiere Richemont SA, the second-largest maker of luxury goods, also retreated. UBS AG (UBSN) and Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN), the country’s two biggest banks, followed a gauge of European lenders lower.
The Swiss Market Index (SMI) slipped 0.9 percent to 6,072.12 at the close in Zurich. The measure of Switzerland’s biggest and most actively traded companies sank 1.5 percent this week, its fourth straight decline. The gauge has still gained 2.3 percent in 2012 as the euro area sought to contain its debt crisis and as U.S. economic reports surpassed estimates. The broader Swiss Performance Index decreased 0.8 percent today.
“We remain in a cycle that began in 2007, marked by periods of strong rebounds followed closely by market corrections,” Francois Moute, chairman of Neuflize Private Assets in Paris, and Chief Executive Officer Olivia Giscard d’Estaing wrote in a note. “In our opinion, this means it’s best to remain cautious.”
The volume of shares changing hands in the SMI was 8.3 percent higher today than the average of the last 30 days, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
ECB Bond Program
Swiss stocks extended their decline as European Central Bank Governing Council member Klaas Knot said that officials remain far from reviving their purchases of government bonds.
“I think that we are very far from that situation, the instrument hasn’t been used for some time, but it’s still there, I hope we never have to use it again,” Knot said at an event in Amsterdam today, when asked about the need for the ECB to buy government bonds.
The cost of insuring against a Spanish default jumped to a record as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy struggles to prevent the nation from becoming the fourth euro-region member to need a bailout. Credit-default swaps on Spain rose 17 basis points to 498 as of 4 p.m. in London, surpassing the previous all-time high closing price of 493, according to CMA.
Growth in China’s economy, the world’s second biggest, slowed last quarter more than forecast to the weakest pace in almost three years. Gross domestic product rose 8.1 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing said today. That was a slower rate than the 8.4 percent growth predicted in a Bloomberg News survey.
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