Guardian: For those struggling to cope with Britains minor heatwave its an unfathomable idea, but temperatures in Kuwait reached 54C last week, a record for the eastern hemisphere and possibly the entire planet.
A weather station in Mitribah, a remote area of north-west Kuwait, recorded the temperature on Thursday, with Basra, across the border in Iraq, reaching 53.9C (129F).
The record has yet to be confirmed by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), which still has to receive the actual data...