Sin categoría
FIFA backs semi-automated offside system to boost VAR
AFP
FIFA hopes the rolling out of its semi-automated offside technology being trialled at the Club World Cup will not only speed up decision-making but offer increased clarity for football supporters.
The optical tracking system was first tested at last year’s Arab Cup in Qatar, and the ultimate goal is for it to be fully in use for the World Cup in the Gulf state later this year.
Pierluigi Collina, chairman of FIFA’s referees committee, on Wednesday told reporters VAR had proved “very successful” since its introduction but conceded more consistency is needed.
“It’s not yet at the very, very top… the same speed decision-making process. Being fast and being accurate don’t work together,” Collina said at the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.
“It’s important the video officials get an accurate decision, but we are aware we need to reduce the time, particularly with offside.”
“Sometimes it takes a bit longer to assess an offside decision, particularly in very tight incidents,” he said.
“The goal is already celebrated, everybody is waiting and then there is a goal disallowed, or the other way round… and then after quite a long time there is the final decision.”
The data-driven, limb-tracking technology relies on a series of dedicated cameras and broadcast cameras around the stadium to give the exact position of players on the pitch, offering referees precise information within seconds.
To provide improved accuracy, the system currently generates 18 data points per player — tracking the various parts of the body to create a skeletal, three-dimensional model.
The aim is to increase that to 29 for the World Cup to provide further precision, according to the head of football technology at FIFA, Sebastian Runge.
Once a final decision is made, the artificial-intelligence driven technology turns the images into a 3D animation that can be displayed on the big screen at grounds.
“By taking that data, we can enter the 3D world and we can create animations, that can explain perfectly whether a player was onside, how much of that player was offside or onside,” said Runge.
“We put that in an animation that will be shared with TV and our giant screen operators and we can inform the spectators in a clearer way on offside and onside decisions.”
– More than just a robot –
Despite the ever-growing influence of technology, FIFA insisted the match officials will always make the final call.
A dedicated VAR assistant is responsible for monitoring offside, checking incidents as they happen rather than waiting for a stoppage in play.
The assistant notifies the main VAR official, who makes the decision and then speaks to the referee.
“I know that someone called it ‘robot offside’; it’s not. The technology is simply a tool used by human beings,” said Collina.
“The referees and the assistant referees are still responsible for the decision on the field of play. The technology only gives them valued support to make more accurate and quicker decisions.”
Collina used the example of a goal ruled out for offside in Palmeiras’ 2-0 semi-final win over Al Ahly on Tuesday as an area where more can be done to keep fans fully informed.
“We were discussing before how to get the attention of the people in the stadium because if you don’t know (the animation) is coming… you don’t look at the giant screen,” he said.
“It’s not possible to get this image within the same stoppage of play. It takes roughly 30 seconds, that’s why it’s shown at the next stoppage of play.
“Maybe we need a way to alert fans to the image on the big screen.”
Sin categoría
Convicted gang member challenges Guatemala’s anti-gang law, citing Human Rights Violations
A member of a criminal gang currently facing sentencing for the crime of extortion has filed a constitutional appeal before Guatemala’s Constitutional Court against the recently approved and enacted Anti-Gang Law.
The appeal, submitted by Dylan Smaily Archila García, argues that the new legislation violates his fundamental human rights and claims there were procedural irregularities during its approval process, according to local Guatemalan media.
Archila García filed the motion just hours after the law took effect. The new legislation, passed by Guatemala’s Congress, increases penalties for crimes linked to gang activity and authorizes the construction of a mega-prison, modeled after El Salvador’s Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT).
Local outlets reported that in his petition, Archila García contends that the approval of the law did not comply with constitutional requirements and requests that the Court issue a ruling to annul the legislation, effectively halting its enforcement.
The appeal further claims that the Anti-Gang Law infringes on due process rights, as it allegedly fails to guarantee a fair criminal trial in which defendants can prove their innocence, undermining legal certainty and judicial security.
Through this legal action, the petitioner seeks to have the law suspended and ultimately struck down by the Constitutional Court, preventing it from being debated again in Congress.
International
Trump warns Hamas that they will be “eradicated” if they break the ceasefire with Israel in Gaza
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, urged Hamas again this Monday to stop the violence and take the terms of the peace plan it promotes with Israel in Gaza, warning that otherwise they could be “eradicated,” although in turn he ruled out the possible presence of soldiers from his country in the Strip.
“We have peace in the Middle East for the first time in history; we reached an agreement with Hamas for which they will be very good, they will behave well and they will be kind. And if not, we will go and we will eradicate them,” the president told the press during a meeting at the White House with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Trump clarified, however, that if that happened “there would be no American soldiers on the ground at all” because it would only be enough to ask several of the countries that supported the peace proposal to take charge of the Palestinian militant group: “Israel would intervene in two minutes,” he added.
“I could tell them to intervene (to the countries) and take care of it. But for now, we haven’t said it. We are going to give (Hamas) a small chance and, hopefully, there will be a little less violence,” said the president, whose plan received the support of Arab and European nations during a peace summit in Egypt.
The American insisted that the militant group “has been very violent, but no longer has the support of Iran. He no longer has the support of anyone. They have to behave well, and if they don’t, they will be eradicated,” he repeated.
Israel bombed several points in Gaza on Sunday and killed dozens of people, in response to what it interpreted as a “violation” of the agreement by Hamas, a week after the entry into force of the ceasefire promoted by the Trump Administration.
The bombings took place after clashes in the Rafah area, located in southern Gaza and controlled by the Israeli Army, which left two Israeli soldiers dead.
After these clashes, Israel claimed to have “resumed the application of the ceasefire”. Shortly after, Trump assured for his part that the truce “is still in force.”
The Republican president had already threatened last week to “kill” Hamas members if they did not comply with the ceasefire agreement with Israel and “continue to kill in Gaza.”
The militant group has mobilized in Gaza to regain control after the start of the ceasefire in the Strip, which has meant the withdrawal of Israeli troops from half of the territory. In the midst of this tense situation, there have also been clashes between Hamas and other local militias.
Several videos show summary executions of people whom Palestinian militants accuse of collaborating with Israel, which according to local sources, have occurred in Gaza City.
Sin categoría
Trump files $15 billion defamation suit against The New York Times
U.S. President Donald Trump has filed a $15 billion defamation and libel lawsuit against The New York Times, which denounced the legal move on Tuesday as an attempt to silence the press.
In this new stage of his presidency, the 79-year-old Republican leader has escalated his long-standing hostility toward traditional media, repeatedly attacking critical journalists, limiting their access, or taking them to court.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Florida, seeks $15 billion in damages, along with additional punitive compensation “in an amount to be determined at trial.”
The New York Times had reported last week that Trump threatened legal action over articles concerning a birthday letter allegedly sent by him to financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The letter featured a typed message inside the outline of a nude woman. Trump denies that the accompanying signature is his.
“For too long, The New York Times has been allowed to lie, defame, and slander me freely — and that ends NOW!” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
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