The United Nations Youtube playlist for Tuesday's 2009 Summit on Climate Change.

An amazing dust storm over Sydney this morning, the result of a number of remarkable climatic events. A big cold front, the result of unseasonably warm September weather, whipping up huge amounts of dust from the central Australian drought, bringing strong winds to the eastern seaboard of New South Wales and dumping its load all over Sydney and Newcastle.

Here's my Flickr slideshow of pics that I took this morning, and the ABC's extensive reportage.

(A version of this item now appears at Earthwitness)

Proof! In South Africa, carrier pigeon is a faster means of data transfer than the internet. Al Jazeera English picks up the story:

Tis not easy blogging from a smartphone when the laptop is out of action. Catching up however. Promise. Follow the twitter box.

Baseball in Iraq was born following the US-led invasion of 2003, and like other attempts to infuse American culture, it hasn't been entitrely successful, Al Jazeera English takes up the story.

(Update: See the first comment for a Postscript to this article.)

Ricky Ponting will play more Twenty20 cricket in 2010 than in 2009 despite his announcement on Monday of his retirement from the three-hour version of the game at international level.

As announced on Twitter last Monday morning following the conclusion of the Fifth Test, Graeme Swann made a late run to win the 2009 Midwinter-Midwinter by one point.

Quite simply, Performance dictates dismissal. Ponting's performance as Test captain in recent years dictates that. The only real argument against Ponting's removal as captain would be the TINA factor - There Is No Alternative. However, there is an alternative, an able, intelligent, mature one by the name of Michael Clarke.

The 2009 Ashes series couldn't have swung around more if half its surface was plastered with vaseline.