Times (UK): Australia has sweltered through its hottest decade on record and its second warmest year since records began, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Weeks before the first anniversary of the country’s worst wildfires, which killed 173 people, the bureau said that 2009 would be remembered for extreme bushfires, duststorms, lingering rainfall deficiencies, areas of flooding and record-breaking heatwaves. With an annual mean temperature almost 1C (1.8F) above average, …