In central Portugal, a sustained drought has revealed the ruins of a village that was totally submerged underwater when a large reservoir was created nearly 70 years ago.

Thai authorities scrambled Friday to contain the country's second oil spill in less than three weeks in the Gulf of Thailand.

An estimated 5 tons (1,320 gallons) was believed to have leaked 20 kilometers (12 miles) off the eastern province of Rayong, in the same location where at least 22 tons (5,800 gallons) spilled into the sea on Jan. 25.

Without much fuss and even less public attention, the nation's egg producers are in the midst of a multibillion-dollar shift to cage-free eggs that is dramatically changing the lives of millions of hens in response to new laws and demands from restaurant chains.

In a decade, the percentage of hens in cage-free housing has soared from 4% in 2010 to 28% in 2020, and that figure is expected to more than double to about 70% in the next four years.

To stage the Winter Games in the Chinese capital, organizers embarked on a massive public works campaign, constructing new venues and piping millions of gallons of water up into the arid surrounding mountains to create fake snow for ski competitions.

And then they proclaimed these to be the most sustainable Olympics in history.

World leaders met on France's Atlantic coast Friday to discuss protecting the planet's oceans from threats such as overfishing and plastic pollution, and finding fairer ways to manage the seas.

The One Ocean Summit comes as European authorities are investigating a mass fish dump in the Bay of Biscay that environmental activists call an example of abuses by huge trawlers that disrupt undersea ecosystems.

Koalas were declared officially endangered Friday in eastern Australia as they fall prey to disease, lost habitat and other threats.

Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley downgraded their conservation status across the country's east coast, in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, on a recommendation by the government's Threatened Species Scientific Committee.

Construction of a 42-floor, pyramid-shaped skyscraper began in Paris on Thursday despite objections from local politicians and associations, and environmentalists who have branded the project "catastrophic".

French President Emmanuel Macron called Thursday for a "renaissance" for the French nuclear industry, saying he wanted up to 14 new reactors to power the country's transition away from fossil fuels.

Environmental groups are expressing alarm about a sharp increase in fires in Colombia's Amazon region that they blame on people clearing forest to make way for cattle ranches, coca fields and illegal roads.

More than 150 academics and activists from Colombia, Brazil, France and Spain sent a letter to President Ivan Duque on Tuesday urging the Colombian government to take a more aggressive stance against deforestation, using the military to put out the fires, creating economic alternatives for people in the Amazon region and arresting those who finance efforts to clear the forest.

The European Union has criticized a plan by lawmakers in southern Spain to expand irrigation rights for farmers near one of Europe's largest wetlands, arguing that it will further endanger a major wildlife refuge that is already drying up.

The government of the Andalusia region wants to grant water rights to farmers on 1,460 hectares (3,607 acres) of land near the Doñana National Park, which the United Nations cultural agency has designated as a World Heritage site and a biosphere reserve.