Sicily is facing the worst in over two decades, with lost harvests and dried-up rivers. Economic losses are estimated at 2.7 billion euros.

Water is rationed for almost a million residents, with flowing water limited to only a few hours a week, according to AP. For many, the solution is owning a private cistern, according to AP.

The region's wheat harvest is expected to drop by over 50%, and wildfires have ravaged 5,800 hectares of agricultural land.

The drought has been exacerbated by relentless high temperatures, with Sicily currently 2 degrees Celsius warmer than average.

The Italian government declared a state of emergency, allocating funds for water tanker trucks, drilling wells, renovating pumping and desalination stations, and delivering water via navy tankers.

Despite the water shortage, water is still gushing copiously for tourists, with flowing fountains in archaeological parks and pools in hotel rows remaining full, contrasting with the dry conditions elsewhere on the island.

Sources: AP News, Finance & Commerce, Meteo Giornale, Express, Southwest Iowa News Source, Mirror, RSOE EDIS, FOX 41 Yakima, FOX 28 Spokane, Devdiscourse, BSS News, UrduPoint, Caledonian Record

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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AI-driven waste monitoring systems are revolutionizing waste management in hotels, and food services, helping reduce food waste and optimize kitchen purchases. They also help chefs identify unpopular dishes—ones that are ordered, but then get thrown away.

Companies like Winnow Solutions, Leanpath, and Orbisk offer monitoring systems that include cameras, scales, and touchscreens, and give chefs waste data in real-time.

Hilton in the Middle East used a system with cameras and scales to analyze waste from breakfast buffets, experiment with smaller portions, and implement sustainable behavior "nudges" in a pilot program. By analyzing Winnow data, Hilton identified bread, pastry, and white eggs, as most wasted items.

The UN reported global food waste at 19% in 2022. The food service sector generated 290 million tons of food waste, accounting for nearly a third of the world's total. Food loss and waste generate almost five times the total greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation sector.

Sources: The Hindu, RetailWire , Business Insider, The Star, The New York Times

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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Yet the answer – as is often the case – is hiding in plain sight, and in less time than it takes to drive from Tel Aviv to the Dead Sea or even Jerusalem, Cyprus is waiting with open arms to give guests from Israel a proper, friendly and much-needed pampering.

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Tucked away in the quaint little town of Paphos on the island's southwestern coast, the Almyra Hotel, a member of Thanos Hotels and Resorts, offers practical and understated comfort, style and convenience. Just a 90-minute drive from Larnaca International Airport, this "chilled-chic" design hotel offers a choice of garden or breathtaking sea-view, and either a private terrace, balcony or floor-to-ceiling sliding windows.

Set on eight acres of landscaped gardens with uninterrupted views across the bay toward the harbor and a medieval castle, Almyra is within walking distance of the town's shops and cafes and archaeological sites of the old town.

Yet perhaps most importantly, beyond the obvious first-rate amenities, top-notch service, and multiple fine dining options, the hotel has invested special care in enhancing the family holiday experience with stimulating day-care and facilities for infants, small children, and teens. So while you're unwinding in the luxury "Eauzone" spa, cooling down in the infinity pool or learning how to make sushi, Almyra has you covered.

The hotel's "Baby go Lightly" service, offers parents the opportunity to order a bevy of baby items online in advance of traveling, and all ordered items are provided in-room on arrival.

If you're inclined to take your luxury vacation to the next level, a one-hour ride to the north along pristine beaches and turquoise coves, perched above the clear blue waters of Chrysochou Bay, sits Anassa – one of Europe's most renowned luxury spa resorts.

The "Queen of the Mediterranean," the flagship of Thanos Hotels and Resorts, offers classical low-rise rooms, beach-chic suites and majestic villas, each overlooking the sea. Some of the rooms come with private pools.

Much like Almyra, Anassa also makes traveling with kids a no-fuss affair.

What sets this hotel apart from its counterpart to the south, however, is Thalassa Spa, voted number 15 in "the world's top 100" for 2018 in Condé Nast Traveller readers' travel awards.

You can choose from a broad assortment of holistic treatments, facials, massage therapies, couple's delights, and unique cleansing "rituals."

The "Osea Organic Ocean Journey," for example, consists of a purifying organic bio-scrub blend of seaweed, pumice, acai, and guarana, which polishes the skin and purifies pores. It is followed by detoxifying Undaria algae wrap which feeds and hydrates the skin.

For couple's traveling alone, the spa offers the "Ila Feminine Flow and Fertility" treatment and the "Ila Masculine Vigour and Vitality Treatment."

Throughout your visit, whether to Almyra or Anassa, one thing will be pleasantly clear: Hotel staff and locals share an affinity for Israel and Israelis – a very welcome bonus in a customarily hostile region. Due to the close proximity between the countries, and the fact that both peoples are similar in terms of temperament and their love of life, you are sure to encounter Cypriots who have already been or are planning to visit Israel.

The writer was recently a guest of Almyra and Anassa hotels in Paphos, Cyprus.

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Near-simultaneous blasts that rocked three churches and three luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, Sri Lanka's transportation minister reported Sunday afternoon.

The government has imposed a curfew from 6 p.m. Sunday evening until 6 a.m. Monday morning as a manhunt for the perpetrators was underway.

Two of the blasts were suspected to have been carried out by suicide bombers, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak with reporters. Worshippers and hotel guests were among the dead, the official said.

The magnitude of the bloodshed recalled Sri Lanka's decadeslong civil war, when separatist Tamil Tigers and other rebel groups targeted the Central Bank, a shopping mall, a Buddhist temple and hotels popular with tourists.

No one has claimed responsibility for Sunday's blasts.

St. Anthony's Shrine and the three hotels where the blasts took place are in Colombo, and are frequented by foreign tourists. A National Hospital spokesman, Dr. Samindi Samarakoon, told AP they received 47 dead, including nine foreigners, and were treating more than 200 wounded.

Local TV showed damage at the Cinnamon Grand, Shangri-La and Kingsbury hotels.

The Shangri-La's second-floor restaurant was gutted in the blast, with the ceiling and windows blown out. Loose wires hung and tables were overturned in the blackened space.

A police magistrate was at the hotel to inspect the bodies recovered from the restaurant. From outside the police cordon, three bodies could be seen covered in white sheets.

Alex Agieleson, who was near the shrine, said buildings shook with the blast, and that a number of injured people were carried away in ambulances.

Other blasts were reported at St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo, a majority Catholic town north of Colombo, and at Zion Church in the eastern town of Batticaloa. St. Sebastian's appealed for help on its Facebook page.

The explosion ripped off the roof and knocked out doors and windows at St. Sebastian's, where people carried the wounded away from blood-stained pews, TV footage showed.

Sri Lankan security officials said they were investigating. Police immediately sealed off the areas.

Sri Lankan security forces in 2009 defeated Tamil Tiger rebels who had fought to create an independent homeland for the country's ethnic minority Tamils. The U.N. initially estimated the death toll from 26 years of fighting to be about 100,000 but a U.N. experts' panel later said some 45,000 ethnic Tamils may have been killed in the last months of the fighting alone.

Government troops and the Tamil Tigers were both accused of grave human rights violations, which prompted local and international calls for investigations.

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