Wildfires, extreme weather grip Italy

ROME, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Wildfires raging in Southern Italy began to spread North on Friday as the country remained in the grips of bouts of record-setting severe weather.

Much of the Southern island of Sicily had suffered from widespread wildfires in recent days, and on Friday similar blazes were reported to be spreading on the Italian mainland, in the Southern regions of Calabria and Apulia. On Friday, Apulia, the heel on Italy's boot-shaped peninsula, formally requested "emergency" status for the fires there, something that would give the region access to extra funds to confront the issue.