Australian authorities warned Tuesday of some of the worst fire danger since a 2009 inferno which killed 173 people, with most of the continent's southeast sweltering through a major heatwave.

Victoria state, where the so-called Black Saturday firestorm flattened entire villages in 2009 and destroyed more than 2,000 homes, was again bracing for extreme fire weather.

A man died and some 50 homes were razed after a fast-moving wildfire swept through the outskirts of western Australia's Perth, officials said Monday.

The blaze, thought to have been started by a fallen power line in the city's wooded fringes on Sunday, was fanned by hot, strong gusts that saw 20-meter (66-foot) flames tear through residential streets.

The U.N. refugee agency Friday warned that Australia could be breaking international law, amid reports that it pushed back to Indonesia boats carrying asylum-seekers.

Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, said the agency wanted an explanation after the reports that the Australian navy forced boats back, as well as plans to buy more vessels to bolster such operations.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott defended the government's secrecy over its border protection policy Thursday after reports that boats had been turned back to Indonesia and asylum-seekers mistreated.

Under the conservative government's hardline Operation Sovereign Borders, officials refuse to discuss "operational matters".

A majority of Lebanese asylum-seekers detained in the Pacific will choose to return home, a Lebanese member of the council advising the Australian government on asylum-seekers said.

Australian media reports said on Tuesday that Dr. Jamal Rifi, a prominent member of Sydney's Lebanese community, visited the detention centers in the islands of Papua New Guinea and Nauru last week.

Whistleblowing group WikiLeaks said Tuesday it had no knowledge of and did not approve a delegation to Syria which met President Bashar Assad and included members of Australia's WikiLeaks Party.

The delegation, aimed at showing solidarity with the Syrian people and opposing Western military intervention, reportedly included WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's father John Shipton, CEO of the political party.

A powerful cyclone lashed Australia's resources-rich west coast Tuesday, bringing torrential rains and destructive gales that ripped up trees and roofs and closed major global iron ore operations.

Tropical Cyclone Christine made landfall around midnight as a category three of five storm, packing winds in excess of 170 kilometers (105 miles) per hour and heavy rains that cut power to several towns, brought down trees and damaged homes.

A powerful cyclone packing expected winds of more than 200 kilometers an hour was threatening Australia's west coast Monday, forcing towns into lockdown and shutting iron ore operations.

A red alert was issued for Port Hedland and South Hedland on Western Australia state's resource-rich but sparsely-populated Pilbara coast as the category three cyclone intensified offshore, forcing residents to batten down.

Waratah Coal on Saturday welcomed the Australian government's approval of its $6.4 billion (U.S.$5.7 billion) Galilee coal project, as conservationists warned the decision threatened the environment.

The proposed coal mine, rail and infrastructure development in Queensland received approval for its environmental impact statement on Friday.

A tourist in Australia had to be rescued by police after plunging off a pier while browsing Facebook on her phone, officials said Wednesday.

The woman was walking along a bay in Melbourne on Monday night when she became distracted by her Facebook feed and plummeted off the pier into the chilly water, Victoria state police said.