Australia on edge as bushfires flare up after lull

Communities across Australia’s fire-ravaged south-east were bracing for a long day of mounting danger on Friday as thousands abandoned their homes for evacuation centres and military helicopters dropped emergency supplies to towns at risk of being isolated by blazes fanned by rising winds. The danger is centred on New South Wales and Victoria, Australia’s most populous states, where temperatures and wind speeds are escalating after a few days of relatively benign conditions. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service has warned that coastal towns south of Sydney including Eden, Batemans Bay and Nowra could again be under threat weeks after losing homes to the fires. “We want people out into...