Greece fires claim two lives

AFIDNES, Greece: Fires raging in Greece claimed their first two lives on Friday during a punishing heatwave, while devastating wildfires in neighbouring Turkey piled pressure on the Turkish government.

Greece and Turkey have been fighting blaze upon blaze over the past week, hit by the region’s worst heatwave in decades, a disaster that officials and experts have linked to increasingly frequent and intense weather events caused by climate change.

A UN draft report seen by AFP has warned that the Mediterranean region, which it called a "climate change hotspot," will be hit by fiercer heatwaves, droughts and fires supercharged by rising temperatures. Hundreds of people have been evacuated in both countries as temperatures hover between 40 to 45 degrees Celsius (104 to 113 Fahrenheit).