Of the four final candidate cities to host the 2016 Olympic Games, I believe the best choice won. Congratulations to the people behind the Rio 2016 bid.

I have serious problems in offering commiserations to the Chicago/USA camp, for all the effort put in. More analysis from me to come, but if you want eight minutes of comedy, watch this discussion from the CNBC Power Lunch crew as news broke that Chicago was the first city eliminated from voting:

Later today the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games will be announced. On the principle of "You've had a go now it's our turn", the winner should be Rio de Janeiro. It's not that simple, of course.

Of the four candidate cities, the first to be eliminated under the YHAGNIOT Principle would be Madrid. The Games are set for Western Europe in 2012 (London), and were last held in Spain in 1992 (Barcelona) - unless you dismiss the latter as a selfish act of Samaranch parochialism.

A quick postscript on yesterday's massive dust storm across eastern Australia (and a preview for the next one). Two photos of the Mungo Scott flour mill at Summer Hill, one that I took from the platform at Lewisham station on a bright sunny day a few weeks back, the other taken from the same spot yesterday morning.

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.