France has evacuated more than 14,000 people threatened by wildfires in the south-west, as fires also spread in Spain, Croatia and Greece.

Authorities in France’s Gironde, a popular tourist region, have evacuated guards from campsites – the tourists left earlier.

Fires have spread in the Teste-de-Buch and Landiras areas.

In southern Spain, more than 3,200 people fled fires in the Mijas hills, though later some were able to return.

Portugal’s fires are contained for now.

However, the Portuguese government says 659 people have died – mostly elderly – from the heat over the past week.

Visitors are being reminded to cover up, wear a hat and use sunscreen if they are visiting the Royal Welsh Show this week.

The Royal Welsh Show is organised by the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, which was formed in 1904.

It takes place in July of each year, at Llanelwedd, near Builth Wells, in Powys, Mid Wales.

The event usually attracts around 250,000 people from around the world.

In previous years, those working at the show have found novel ways to ensure animals are safe in the hot weather – so pigs in wet blankets is not such an unusual sight.

Events include:

1. Judging of cattle, sheep, horses, goats, pigs and various other domestic animals
2. Sheepdog trials
3. Sheep shearing competitions
4. Horse riding competitions
5. Four-in-hand and Carriage
6. Driving displays
7. Falconry
8. Games and sports such as the King’s Troop, Royal Horse
9. Artillery of the Royal Horse
10. Artillery
11. Arts and crafts show
12. Live music

The show runs from Monday 18 to Thursday 21 July.

Police in Iran have arrested several people at protests against the near disappearance of what was once the world’s second largest salt lake.

Lake Urmia was Iran’s main domestic tourism resort before it began shrinking in 1995 due to extreme drought, agriculture and dam building.

These days, hotels and boats lie abandoned, with no water in sight.

Many locals in the remote north west, where the lake is located, blame authorities for its disappearance.

The police chief in the region described the demonstrators as hostile and said they intended to disturb public security.

Iranian tourists used to flock to Lake Urmia, near the border with Turkey, to enjoy its natural beauty and the reported restorative properties of its mineral-rich mud.

But in the mid-1990s, a combination of intensifying agriculture, new dams built across the lake’s tributaries, and extreme drought conditions led to a sudden drop in the lake’s water levels.

Local residents, many of whom depended on the lake for their livelihoods, watched on as their most treasured resource retreated into the distance.

Waterside hotels and guesthouses were left hundreds of metres from the shoreline.

Within 20 years, the lake shrunk to about 10% of its former size and a red algae bloomed in what was left of the water.

The tourists stopped coming and many residents moved away, leaving boats and buildings to slowly decay into the newly-emerged salt plains.

An Army officer who made history trekking to the South Pole has said she will take on “phase two” in October, hoping to become the first woman to cross Antarctica alone and unsupported.

Preet Chandi, from Derby, is thought to have become the first woman of colour to complete solo and unaided a 700-mile Antarctic journey she began at the end of last year.

She is now training for a coast-to-coast trek of more than 1,000 miles.

It is expected to take about 75 days.

Capt Chandi completed an expedition from the Hercules Inlet to the South Pole in January
Capt Chandi, from Sinfin, said the new challenge would be an inland crossing starting at the grounding line for Hercules Inlet and ending at the Reedy Glacier.

She will endure temperatures as low as -50C and wind speeds of up to 60mph while pulling a sledge alongside her kit.

Capt Chandi said when she arrived at Heathrow Airport in January after her expedition from the Hercules Inlet to the South Pole that the coast-to-coast trek was her next target.

She has since confirmed her application to Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE) for her coast-to-coast journey was approved a few weeks ago and she plans to begin the challenge in October.