July 2006

Human Rights Watch has today released a Q&A paper which attempts to outline the rules of international law that apply in the current conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah. They make no attempt to assess the legitimacy of either side's move to resort to war. The stated purpose of the document is to "provide analytic guidance for those who are examining the fighting as well as for the parties to the conflict and those with the capacity to influence them."

Pray for peace in the Middle East.

Pray for an end to the hostilities between the Israeli Defence Forces and the Hezbollah militants, and between the Israeli Defence Forces and the militants of the Palestinian Territories.

And before we go this evening, a late football result:

The full-time score from next round's Serie B match in Turin:

Juventus 0 Lazio 1.

In the week in which Percy Sonn has ascended to the presidency of the ICC, comes the news that Northern Territory member of parliament Len Kiely has resigned from all his official posts following an action-packed day in the territory government's corporate box on the opening day of the

Red card for Zizou.

Big day on Norton Street.

V for Italia.

One of the great moments of Australian media legend came when the Daily Telegraph in Sydney was announcing to its readers the death of Joe Stalin in 1953. They prepared a banner reading "Stalin Dead - Official". The Tele's owner, Frank Packer (father of Kerry, grandpop of Jamie) ordered the banner be altered to read "Stalin Dead - Hooray".

New York Post front page, 6.7.06

The authorities are really getting tough in Henan Province as they try to clamp down on dangerous working conditions in local coal mines. This report today from the Hong Kong-based China Labor Bulletin:

Mine managers in Henan be suspended if nine people die in one accident

With Portugal's loss to the referee in yesterday's Euro 2006 semi-final, my interest in the tournament has drawn to a close.

My prediction for the big game on Sunday morning: Portugal 2 Germany 1. And on Monday, France 3 Italy 0 with riot police throwing a cordon around Michel's Patisserie in Norton Plaza for the rest of the day.

Another domain name I bought a while back and never got around to using.

I've put worldcup-champions.com up for auction on eBay. The auction closes in three days time, on Thursday about twelve hours after the Portugal-France semi-final. The domain name is currently registered until 24 February 2007.

If anyone is interested, the auction is on eBay here.