Greece fires – live: Rhodes state of emergency remains as flames reach outskirts of Athens

A drop in temperatures and calmer winds has assisted firefighters in their efforts on Friday.

In Greece, all major fires were contained at midday, Fire Service officials said.

Conditions also improved elsewhere in the Mediterranean, thanks to cooler weather after days of high heat, allowing firefighters to contain wildfires along the Croatian coast and in Sicily.

Vassilis Kikilias, the Greek minister for climate change and civil protection, said fires had burned 400 sq. kilometers (155 sq. miles) of land in July alone, while the recent average is 500 sq. kilometers (nearly 200 sq. miles) in a year.

"Is the situation any better in other countries bordering the Mediterranean? It's a fair question ... but the answer is no," Mr Kikilias said.

"The climate crisis that brought us this unprecedented heat wave is here. It's not a theory. It is our actual experience," he said. "This is not something that will just occur this year. It will last and we have to face the consequences of what that means."

Wildfires have ravaged at least nine countries in Europe and North Africa this week, forcing mass evacuations as firefighters battle on in tinderbox conditions.

Extreme heat and billowing winds have created the “perfect storm” for fires to rip through swathes of land in Greece, France, Portugal, Spain, Gran Canaria, Italy, Croatia, Turkey, Algeria and Tunisia.

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Authorities in Italy have released drone footage said to show a suspected arsonist in action in the Calabria region, as firefighters continue to battle wildfires across the south.

Searing temperatures have scorched Sicily, Sardinia and Calabria, where dozens of fires have broken out and multiple evacuations have been ordered.

The president of the Calabria region, Roberto Occhiuto, vowed to take action against such arsonists, adding that 22 suspected arsonists had been caught via drone surveillance last year.

In the footage he released, the suspect can be seen in a woodland area, before throwing rocks at the drone.

Turkey has joined other holiday destinations across Europe in being struck by wildfires while in the grip of high temperatures.

Mediterranean countries have seen days of flames, first seen on the Greek island of Rhodes but since spreading to Corfu, Sicily and parts of Portugal, France and the Canary Islands.

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A seaside town centre high street resembled a river when a month’s worth of rain fell in just one day.

This footage, filmed by The Scarborough Joke and Magic Shop, shows water cascade down Eastborough in the Yorkshire seaside town on Thursday.

Cars can be seen to aquaplaning down the road, with water cascading down. Shoppers are also seen taking cover under umberellas and in the shops. One resident said: “It looks like a river flowing to the sea.”

It happened following heavy downpours across large swathes of northern England on Thursday with some places seeing around 50mm.

Two Canadair water planes have been sent to tackle a blaze that has started in woodland in northern Italy, near the French border.

It follows a fire breaking out in Puglia on Thursday which was filmed by the local fire brigade.

A British court ruled Friday against London suburbs that tried to block a pollution tax on older cars as green policies become a hot political issue in the U.K. amid increasingly dramatic impacts of global climate change.

The High Court ruled that Mayor Sadiq Khan had the authority to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone, or ULEZ, which charges drivers of older gas and diesel vehicles 12.50 pounds ($16) a day they operate, to the city's outskirts next month.

Five conservative councils challenged Mr Khan's right to impose the measure. They criticized the expansion to an area where there are fewer public transport options and people are more reliant on cars, and because of a disproportionate impact on lower-income drivers who can't afford newer, cleaner cars.

The dust-up over how to control emissions comes as July is on target to be the hottest month in recorded human history and the effects of a warming planet can be seen in catastrophic wildfires, flooding and alarming ocean temperatures. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres this week declared: "The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived."

This is the moment police rescued 64 people, 40 of which were children, from a camp site during a raging storm in northern Spain.

The group were rescued from the site in the Sarvise area of Spain, which has been hit by heavy rain. Vehicles have been stranded by torrents of muddy water, while streets in nearby areas have been flooded.

The Guardia Civil shared footage of the rescue on its Twitter page and said: “The @GuardiaCivil of #Torla has evacuated 64 people, 40 of them minors, from a camp affected by strong storms in the area of #Sarvise .”

Climate talks between representatives of the Group of 20 countries (G20) have failed to reach a consensus on emission reduction and mitigation targets, an Indian official said on the last day of the discussions on Friday.

Developed countries in the group demanded mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2025 and a reduction of absolute GHG emissions by 43% by 2030, all in a bid to contain global warming and stave off even worse heatwaves, wildfires and floods.

Both demands were opposed by developing countries, the official, who did not want to be named, said.

The developing countries said the overall mitigation targets - aimed at cutting or eliminating greenhouse gas emissions, or removing them from the atmosphere - would limit their ability to develop infrastructure and grow, the official said.

They wanted the bloc to stick to the 2015 Paris Agreement that allowed different countries to tackle global warming in different ways depending on their circumstances, the official added.

The weather forecast for European wildfire hotspots has shown that heat will continue over the weekend but there will not be scorching temperatures.

There have been highs of 40C but the weekend is set to being temperatures of just over the 30C barrier.

Greek island Rhodes will see highs of 32 and 33C on Saturday and Sunday respectively, according to BBC weather.

In Italy, Puglia will see a peak of 38C on Sunday while Sardinia will see only 32C.

Southern France will likely not see the heat it had experiences while the BBC estimates Seville will be one of the warmer Spanish cities at 39C on Sunday.