Southern Europe fights raging fires

Fire-fighters in Greece are struggling against some eighty fires which are raging out of control as a heat-wave continues across southern Europe.

At least four people have been killed in Greece, where the authorities have declared a state of emergency in the region of Arcadia.

Greece has asked for help from abroad, but nothing has been sent because of fires raging elsewhere.

They're affecting Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia and Corsica, while the Kosovo capital, Pristina, is without water supplies.

Bulgaria has declared a state of emergency in the face of nearly seventy fires.

A combination of soaring temperatures and high winds, added to low rainfall earlier this year, is blamed for the devastation.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service