In case there was any question about the world's imminent demise, Thursday and Friday saw the hottest temperatures ever recorded on the planet outside of Death Valley. In Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and western Iran, temperatures broke 125 degrees (or 51.6 Celsius); in the town of Mitribah, Kuwait, thermometers rose a smidgen above 129 degrees (or 54 degrees Celsius). Basra, Iraq, which has a population over over a million people, also hit 129.2 degrees on Friday.
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