Wildfires rage on in Greece and Turkey

Wildfires are burning across Greece and Turkey, as southern Europe confronts a series of heat waves that have scorched parts of the continent this summer.

- 

In Greece, evacuation orders were issued for several towns over the weekend, including from a village near Athens. Officials said on Sunday that the fire had been contained but warned that swirling embers threatened to rekindle the blaze.

Temperatures have soared, reaching close to 44 degrees Celsius on parts of the Greek mainland on Saturday before cooling slightly on Sunday.

The fire service would not have been able to cope if "there had been another two or three fires like the one near Athens", Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis, Greece's fire service spokesperson, said. Firefighters were still battling to control major blazes on Kythira, an island popular with tourists, and Messinia, on the Peloponnese peninsula, he said.