• The Times of Israel comprehensive obituary 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has determined that temperatures in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) will increase along with drying trends during this century. This will lead to water scarcity and the decimation of rural lands due to drought and famine. Impacts have already begun to be felt by us due to events in a country on Israel's doorstep, Syria.

Al-Monitor reports that recent water shortages in Tunisia, caused in part by a 28% deficit in rainfall relative to 2015, have led to social unrest and citizen protests. While religious leaders are calling for the faithful to pray for rain, water cutoffs by authorities are said to have spawned the unrest.

International financial magazine Forbes ranked Tel Aviv as one of the 20 most beautiful destinations in the world. According to the rating conducted with the travel community and Lifestream-style social networks, "Beautiful Destinations", Tel Aviv was ranked in 15th place. Each of the competing destinations were presented by a local photographer.Tel Aviv was photographed by Sivan Askayo, who defined Tel Aviv-Jaffa as a chic Mediterranean metropolis, whose main strength is "not necessarily cafes and restaurants, but people who love the good life." The top three destinations were New York, Venice and Los Angeles.

Israel's Delek Group, one of the developers of the country's biggest natural gas reservoir, says it has signed a deal to sell gas to neighboring Jordan.The agreement, announced Monday, would provide 45 billion cubic meters (1.6 trillion cubic feet) of gas to Jordan over 15 years. Delek says revenues could amount to $10 billion. Delek Drilling CEO Yossi Abu hailed the "historic" deal and said developers of the Leviathan reservoir would pursue similar agreements with others in the region, including Egypt, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority.

While surveying natural limestone caves in the Galilee, scientists have discovered hundreds of limestone caves in which Jews hid when Roman troops came marching through 2,000 years ago, during the Great Jewish Revolt (66-70 CE). Extensive embellishment such as baths and candle niches carved into the rock show that the caves had been prepared for extensive habitation. Water cisterns carved into the rock, as well as pitchers, pottery shards, coins, and other artifacts dating to the 1st century C.E. were found in many of the cliff shelters, say Dr. Yinon Shivtiel from the Safed Academic College and Vladimir Boslove of the Israeli Cave Research Center. The researchers discovered dozens of flattened Roman arrow-heads that had been shot into the caves, some striking the cliffs and becoming embedded in the rock face. These findings certainly connect the caves with Roman-Jewish violence, yet Shivtel assumes that most of the civilians who took refuge in the caves survived. The Galilee could not have had flourishing Jewish communities in the second and third century C.E. if the population had been slaughtered, he points out.