Australia swelters as temperatures near 50 degrees in record-breaking heatwave

Parts of Australia sweltered in record temperatures of close to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday as the country sweated through a prolonged heatwave. The rural towns of Hopetoun and Walpeup in Victoria state registered preliminary highs of 48.9 degrees, which if confirmed overnight would top records set on the day in 2009 when 173 people were killed in the state’s devastating Black Saturday bushfires. No casualties were reported from Tuesday’s heatwave, but Victoria...