| Football Manager goes MMO!
Sports Interactive and Sega have blown the lid off Football Manager Live, a new direction for the acclaimed football management sim that kicks it into the world of massively multiplayer online gaming.Scheduled to release in spring 2008, the game lets you create a football club from scratch and pit it against other virtual managers over the 'net. Sega describes it as "the definitive test of football management skills, allowing you to set-up mini-leagues amongst your friends, bid in player auctions and compete in live matches 24 hours a day, 365 days a year." Matches in Football Manager Live occur in real-time with games watched via a 2D match engine, and managers are given a range of tactical options with which to switch team play during on-pitch confrontations. You can also hurl ridicule at your manager opponent via in-game chat while on the virtual touchline, and managers can watch competitors play to scout out enemy strategy and tactics.
Foreclosures soar in county
Washtenaw County homeowners are facing foreclosures in record numbers, the result of a weak economy, a glutted housing market, and adjustable rate mortgages that have bit homeowners hard as interest rates jumped. "I used to do five or six foreclosures a week. Now I do 19 to 30,'' said Special Deputy Jimmy Moore, who auctions off mortgage foreclosures every week at the Washtenaw County Courthouse. Experts say the increase in foreclosures has a broader impact because it contributes to the drop in home prices and puts a dent in local tax revenues. Moore, who runs the civil division of the sheriff's department, says the increase he noticed a year ago has gotten steadily worse. The number of evictions from rental properties in the county has skyrocketed as well.
Frisky Lamb puts Gloucester top
Besides bidding farewell to the stand, the Kingsholm faithful said their farewells to Jake Boer, Peter Richards and Adam Eustace. Boer, Gloucester’s South African flanker, is returning home at the end of the season to pursue outside business interests, while Richards will join London Irish next season and Eustace has signed for Llanelli Scarlets. Richards has been off the booze in a bid to boost his England prospects, and could be the only one of the trio not nursing a hangover this morning. Newcastle’s headaches began yesterday morning, when they woke at their Gloucester hotel to find that the kitbag containing all 30 pairs of the team’s shorts had been stolen. It hardly ranked alongside Pickles the dog sniffing out the Jules Rimet trophy in 1966, but the Falcons were still grateful to the local schoolboy who discovered them in his back garden — and his dad who drove them to the ground in time to spare the players’ blushes.
Benefit aids injured football player
That was the case Sunday afternoon, when the proceeds from every haircut, manicure and massage sold at Tanglz N Bangz in Lafayette went to help recovering Frontier High School senior Cody Lehe. Lehe, 18, of Brookston collapsed during a football practice Oct. 25 due to a head injury he sustained at a football game a few days earlier. Between the services offered inside Tanglz N Bangz and silent and live auctions held behind it, volunteers were able to raise $28,500 for Cody. "It's overwhelming," said Becky Lehe, Cody's mother. "To be six months out from an injury and still have support -- it can't put into words." The money will be used to help finance Cody's rehabilitation. A single hour of intense physical therapy can cost as much as $100, Becky Lehe said. She believes her son is on track for a swift recovery and expects him to soon leave his wheelchair behind.
Japan to avoid JGB auctions on BOJ policy days
TOKYO, March 27 (Reuters) - Japan's Ministry of Finance has begun scheduling Japanese government bond auctions so that they do not coincide with Bank of Japan policy announcements, in line with requests from investors, the ministry said on Tuesday. To avoid market volatility, offers for JGBs with coupons, financing bills, treasury bills and special debt will not be held on days that the BOJ is slated to announce policy decisions, starting with the June line-up of auctions released on Tuesday. "Markets can become volatile when the BOJ makes policy announcements due to a wide range of news and information that comes out," Naoyuki Yoshino, head of the MOF's regular forum with JGB investors, told reporters following a meeting on Tuesday. "It would be best to avoid holding auctions at such times." The MOF's last 30-year JGB auction was held on the final day of the BOJ's two-day policy meeting in January, when the central bank surprised many in the market by keeping rates steady at 0.25 percent.
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