THE SAINTS ARE MARCHING

The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl for the first time in their 43-year history with a 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts at the Sun Life Arena in Miami on Sunday night.The NFC champions recovered from a slow start to deny Indianapolis a repeat of their Super Bowl success against Chicago Bears in the same stadium three years ago.Inspired by MVP Drew Brees, who won his head-to-head with fellow star quarterback Peyton Manning, the Saints took command after trailing 17-16 going into the final quarter.

Trailing 24-17, the Colts needed a touchdown to force overtime, but Manning saw his pass intercepted by Tracy Porter, who returned for a 74-yard touchdown which all but sealed their fate.It proved a sweet triumph for perennial underdogs New Orleans, coming five years after the city was decimated by Hurricane Katrina. Thousands of fans in New Orleans took to the street as it became clear that their side was finally going to triumph.In a game initially dominated by defenses, the Colts followed an early field goal from Matt Strover by ending the first quarter with a Super Bowl record-equaling 96-yard drive with quarterback Manning at the heart.He eventually threw for Pierre Garcon to go over in the right of the end zone and give his side a 10-0 lead.


Manning had not completed a pass for 70 minutes but on the next set of drives by the Colts found Joseph Addai who put them 17-13 ahead with their second touchdown of the night.Hartley kicked another long range field goal to keep his side within a point at the third quarter.Brees was starting to dominate for the Saints and in the final quarter tied the previous record for completions in a Super Bowl held by Tom Brady with his 32nd.


Two unanswered touchdowns left favorites and AFC champions Indianapolis well beaten and it was New Orleans who lifted the Vince Lombardi trophy in their first appearance in a Super Bowl.An emotional Brees captured the mood of the moment in his post-match comments."We just believed in ourselves. We knew we had the entire city and maybe the entire country behind us. Mardi Gras may never end. The celebrations may never end," he said.

WITH A HELPING HAND

MAFIA STYLE

IS HE SO NOBEL?

ALIVE AND WELL, BUT NOT FREE

WHO IS GOING TO CLEAN THIS DUST?

The worst dust storm in decades hit Australia on Wednesday, blanketing Sydney in red dust, and snarling up the transport system as earthquakes, giant hailstones and even a tornado swept the east of the country.

Gale-force winds dumped thousands of tonnes of red desert dust on Australia's biggest city, shrouding it in an eerie orange haze and coating the iconic Sydney Opera House in a fine layer of powder.

The storm, reportedly the most serious since the 1940s, then spread 600 kilometres (375 miles) up the coast to Queensland and could even hit New Zealand, some 4,000 kilometres away, experts said.

Dust covered most of New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, pushing air pollution to record levels and depositing about 75,000 tonnes of powder in the Tasman Sea every hour.

"Dust storms like this occur quite regularly but they rarely travel this far east and come through Sydney," said John Leys, principal research scientist with New South Wales' Department of Climate Change and Water.

Sydney residents wore face masks and covered their mouths with scarves as they travelled to work under hazy skies. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper on major highways.

Air transport was severely disrupted with long delays at Sydney airport and many international flights diverted to Melbourne and Brisbane.

Flag-carrier Qantas urged passengers to cancel any non-urgent travel, while budget offshoot Jetstar offered free flight rescheduling and refunds.

We encourage any passengers with non-essential travel arrangements to reconsider their travel plans for the day," Qantas said in a statement.

Sydney Ferries suspended harbour services and police warned drivers to take extra care in poor visibility. Ambulance workers reported a sudden spike in respiratory problems.

"We have already seen an increase in calls to people suffering from asthma and other respiratory problems," New South Wales Ambulance Service said in a statement.

Australia, in the grip of a decade-long drought, is emerging from an abnormally hot southern hemisphere winter including the hottest August on record.

Elsewhere in New South Wales, hail stones "the size of cricket balls" smashed windows as thunderstorms and gale-force winds lashed the state late on Tuesday.

We've had reports of cars with both their front and rear windscreens smashed," an official from the State Emergency Service said.

Further north, Queensland imposed a ban on lighting fires across large parts of the state a day after a dozen bush blazes sprang up following a spell of hot, dry weather.

Tough water restrictions there are to be temporarily set aside to allow people to wash dust off their cars, homes and business premises, the Australian AAP news agency reported.

"This has been an extraordinary event with many parts of the region now caked in dust," Queensland Water Commission acting chief executive Daniel Spiller was quoted by the agency as saying.

Victoria state was on alert for flash floods as heavy rains fell, following a pair of minor earthquakes on Tuesday. The 3.0- and 2.6-magnitude tremors did not cause any damage, officials said.

Police in southwestern New South Wales, bordering Victoria, reported bizarre conditions on Tuesday as dark red skies thick with dust cut visibility to just two to three metres in some areas.

"I've never seen anything like it in all my life -- and I grew up here," a police officer at the town of Broken Hill told AAP.

"It was darker than night-time, and lasted for about half an hour. You couldn't even see the street lights."