http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/exec_chefs.html which begins:

Google Hungry for Executive Chefs

What do John Howard, Condoleezza Rice and Rick Eyre have in common? They all can be heard on the first edition of "The Net Sessions".

"The Net Sessions" is a new cricket podcast, written and spoken by Rick Eyre, in which he presents his unique individual perspective on the world of cricket. Episode one is a thirteen-minute pilot edition, featuring a news summary for the month of July 2005 interspersed with musical interludes and unexpected sound bites.

Whew. It's taken up every minute of my spare time these past few days, but I've completed a thirteen-minute cricket podcast which may or may not be the first of a series.

I've gone for a simple title: "The Net Sessions". Although most of the first edition is the sound of my dulcit tones, interspersed with a few cricket-related sound bites, I hope to do a few interviews in the future and obtain correspondents' reports.

The contribution of Coca-Cola to the Olympic Movement has always been the model of a true partnership.

- Jacques Rogge, 1.8.05

This just in from the media desk of the International Olympic Committee:

The International Olympic Committee and The Coca-Cola Company today announced a renewal of their partnership for an unprecedented 12 years, thereby taking what was already the longest sponsorship of the Olympic Games to a record 92 uninterrupted years. The partnership, which began in 1928, was extended during a signing ceremony on the Great Wall of China. The new agreement, which begins in 2009, will see Coca-Cola supporting the Olympic Movement over a period which covers the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, the London 2012 Olympic Games, plus the Olympic Games of 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020.

"Lagaan", the 2001 Bollywood film that climaxes with a game of cricket, makes its first appearance on Australian free-to-air television tonight. Nominated for the US academy of arts and science's best foreign film award of 2001, "Lagaan" is on SBS tonight (Sunday July 31) from 8.30pm. (It finishes just after midnight, and that's not through being drawn out by copious amounts of ads like the other

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2082

EU powerless to halt 'dog spinning' in Bulgaria

29th Jul 2005

'Barbaric practice must be stopped immediately' - Euro-MP

THE EU is powerless to prevent the 'barbaric' Bulgarian tradition of 'dog-spinning', the European Commission has admitted.

With Justice Albie Sachs due to hand down his decision on the appeal against Saurav Ganguly's suspension later today, I thought it might be interesting to revisit his recent interview on BBC World's Hardtalk program.

While he doesn't discuss the Ganguly case or even cricket at all in the interview with the BBC's Steven Sackur, it does provide an interesting insight into the man whose day job is as a Justice of the South African Constitutional Court.

The Cricket Association of Bengal has amended its constitution to allow Jagmohan Dalmiya to serve a third term as its president. A special general meeting of the CAB voted this week to remove the clause in its constitution limiting an association president to holding a maximum of two terms in the post. This will allow Dalmiya to continue as CAB President beyond July this year, which is also the month when his term as president of the ICC expires. Joint Secretary of the CAB, Debdas Bannerjee, stated, "We are not denying the fact that we changed the constitution for Mr Dalmiya.

Three items on the web for your edification:

It took just 10.1 overs on Sunday once play actually began. Like so many Australian victories over the past decade, a game that was neck-and-neck through the first innings ended up a decisive victory. Two bowlers with a combined age of 70 and a combined career haul of 1097 Test wickets finished off England, as they have done so many times before.

Pietermartizberg's very own Kevin Pietersen can be pleased with his Test debut for his new country of residence, and currently boasts a batting average of 121.00.