(MELBOURNE) — Melbourne residents were warned that they could endure power outages on Friday as Australia’s second-largest city is forecast to experience its hottest day in a decade.

The Victoria state capital, with a population of 5 million, is set to reach 111 degrees Fahrenheit. That would be Melbourne’s hottest day since Feb. 7, 2009 — a day of catastrophic wildfires that than is remembered as Black Saturday.

That day, the temperature soared to 115.5 F. Wildfires killed 173 people and razed more than 2,000 homes in Victoria.

Scores of wildfires are raging in heatwave conditions across much of drought-parched southeast Australia, with authorities warning the fire risk is high.

Victoria Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said three power generators in the state had shut down, as infrastructure struggled to keep up with the power demand of air-conditioners.

“This means we can’t rule out brown-outs,” she told Radio 3AW.

She said it was “absolutely essential” for Victorians to cut ba..

(PANAMA CITY) — Pope Francis insisted Thursday that public officials live simply, honestly and transparently as he opened a visit to a Central America that has been rife with corruption scandals and is now coping with political upheaval in nearby Venezuela.

Francis didn’t mention the Venezuela crisis during his first remarks in Panama after a meeting with President Juan Carlos Varela at the presidential palace. But his spokesman said he was following the situation closely, was praying for the Venezuelan people and supported “all efforts that help save the population from further suffering.”

Francis stuck to his script in Panama, celebrating the country’s place as bridge between oceans and cultures and holding up the region’s newest saint, slain Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, as a model for a humble church that accompanies the poor.

He welcomed tens of thousands of young people to World Youth Day, the Catholic Church’s big youth rally, and urged them to be builders of bridges of..

(UNITED NATIONS) — The World Refugee Council called Thursday for up to $20 billion stolen by government leaders and now frozen in the United States, Britain and other countries to be reallocated by courts to help millions of displaced people forced to flee conflict, persecution and victimization.

The council also called for people responsible for the growing crisis of refugees and internally displaced people — including government leaders, military officers and opposition and rebel figures — to be held accountable, all the way to the International Criminal Court.

Chaired by former Canadian foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy, the 24-member council which was formed in May 2017 includes former heads of state and ministers, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee, and leading business, civil society and human rights officials.

The 218-page report it launched Thursday goes beyond what the United Nations has done, at a time when the number of people forcibly displaced from their homes is 68..