Australia swelters through heat wave as firefighters battle bushfires

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Large parts of Australia on Saturday sweltered under heat wave conditions that prompted the nation's weather forecaster to issue bush fire warnings in several states. In New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, more than 50 fires were burning on Saturday and a total fire ban was in place for many areas, including Sydney, the state's rural fire service said. The agency said on social media platform X that more than 700 firefighters and incident management personnel were working statewide to fight blazes amid "widespread high and extreme fire danger". Heat wave alerts ...