Australia

It hardly seemed likely that on the eve of the third Ashes Test of the summer I would be writing that Ricky Ponting’s Aussies are well and truly on the back foot after failing to win at Cardiff and being comprehensively beaten at Lord’s by an English side determined to play exhilarating cricket.

It seems only yesterday that Michael Vaughan was lifting that little urn in front of the packed Oval crowd on a gloomy Monday evening in the middle of September; but now, four years on and a lot has changed on the eve of the Ashes 09.

Australia is observing a day of national mourning on behalf of victims of bushfires across the southern state of Victoria.

Furthermore, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, speaking at a memorial service in Melbourne, insists that effected communities will be rebuilt.

The fires, which started on the 7th February, have claimed 209 deaths in the worst fires in Australia's history and have resulted in one man charged with starting the blazes and police suspecting arson in another case.

Whilst Britons are enjoying days off frolicking in the snow, our Australian counterparts are suffering in the oppressive heat. Although the weather down under has eased off in the past couple of days, the country has seen its longest heat wave since records began. Areas such as Melbourne in the South-East, normally known for their rapidly changing cooler weather, have been particularly badly hit with temperatures of over forty degrees centigrade during the last week.

Australia appears to be struggling to boost its tourism industry, as it was announced on the BBC Radio4 Today Programme this morning that the country's tourism board is set to release an epic romance featuring two of the nation's most famous actors.