Faced with a historic drought and threatened by desertification, Spain is rethinking how it spends its water resources, which are used mainly to irrigate crops.

A malnourished beluga whale that has swum up France's River Seine is no longer progressing but is still alive, environmental group Sea Shepherd said Monday.

With Europe gripped by successive heatwaves, climate-change deniers are spreading skepticism by publishing data on social media on extreme temperatures allegedly recorded decades ago to imply scientists are exaggerating global warming.

Scientists on Monday welcomed the passing of U.S. President Joe Biden's "historic" climate bill while calling for other major emitters -- namely the European Union -- to follow suit and implement ambitious plans to slash emissions.

MPs Najat Aoun Saliba and Melhem Khalaf on Monday held a press conference in parliament to tackle the issue of the long-running blaze at the blast-hit grain silos of Beirut’s port, which has been burning for around a month.

Representatives of Dutch farmers were meeting Friday with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and other Cabinet ministers to discuss the government's nitrogen emissions reduction goals that have sparked disruptive protests in recent weeks.

But the prospect of success appeared slim, with two main activist farmers' organizations demanding concessions and not attending because they have no trust in the veteran politician appointed to act as intermediary. They say the mediator, Johan Remkes, is not independent.

China on Friday said it is canceling or suspending dialogue with the United States on a range of issues from climate change to military relations and anti-drug efforts in retaliation for a visit this week to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The measures, which come amid cratering relations between Beijing and Washington, are the latest in a promised series of steps intended to punish the U.S. for allowing the visit to the island it claims as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary. China on Thursday launched threatening military exercises in six zones just off Taiwan's coasts that it says will run through Sunday.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne warned that France is facing the "most severe drought" ever recorded in the country and announced the activation of a government crisis unit.

Borne said in a written statement on Friday that many areas in France are going through a "historic situation" as the country endures its third heatwave this summer.

As much of Europe bakes in a third heatwave since June, fears are growing that extreme drought driven by climate change in the continent's breadbasket nations will dent stable crop yields and deepen the cost-of-living crisis. 

The United Nations chief sharply criticized the "grotesque greed" of oil and gas companies on Wednesday for making record profits from the energy crisis on the back of the world's poorest people, "while destroying our only home."

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was "immoral" that the largest energy companies in the first quarter of the year made combined profits of close to $100 billion.