Australian towns among hottest spots on Earth

SYDNEY: Australian towns were among the hottest places on Earth this week as a severe heatwave hit the continent´s south east, with forecasters warning of more record-breaking temperatures before the weekend.

The past four days were among the country´s top 10 warmest on record, with temperatures nearing 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in some spots, the Bureau of Meteorology said Wednesday.

"With South Australia breaking some all-time records yesterday, it would certainly put this region as one of the warmest parts of the world yesterday, if not the warmest," the bureau´s senior meteorologist Philip Perkins said.