Emergency Talks on Heatwave

The number of deaths in Italy in July and August was 20% higher than last year after the heatwave that has struck much of Europe.

In Genoa, priests have taken the extraordinary step of authorising funerals on Sundays, and cemetery workers have been called back early from their holidays to deal with the emergency.

Most of the victims have been elderly and most deaths in the cities, where the old and handicapped sweat out August alone while most of the rest are away on holiday.

The health minister, Girolama Sirchia, has called a meeting with local authorities to prevent the crisis being repeated next year.

In France, where it is reported that the toll could reach 5,000, the prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, defended his government's handling of the heatwave.

He said he was "appalled" by the Socialists and Greens' call for the resignation of his health minister, Jean-François Mattei.

"All of this is ridiculous. Politics is not a permanent settlement of scores. Faced with such human tragedies, the time is for solidarity, not for sterile polemic," he said.

Mr Raffarin cut short his holiday for an emergency meeting to tackle the crisis, which authorities described as "a genuine epidemic", after temperatures topped 40 C (104 F).