AL-AGHAWAT, Iraq: Younes Ajil turns on the tap in his home but nothing comes out: Dozens of villages are without running water in drought-hit Iraq, surviving on sporadic tanker-truck deliveries and salty wells.

For everything from drinking to bathing and washing dishes and clothes, Ajil and his eight children wait at their home in Al-Aghawat for trucked-in water from the Diwaniyah provincial authorities once or twice a week.

In burning summer temperatures that at times approach 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), he said he hasn’t bathed for four days.

 ALGIERS/PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron hopes his three-day trip to Algeria from Thursday will end a diplomatic row and allow him to develop his relationship with young Algerians, but the North African country’s leaders may prove hard to win over.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune wants solid investment commitments — which seem unlikely to be announced this week — and for Macron to atone for comments he made last year about Algeria’s history and its ruling elite.

TEHRAN: Iran’s armed forces will on Wednesday launch large scale drone drills across the country involving 150 unmanned aerial vehicles to show off its “power,” state media reported Tuesday.

“The accuracy and power of weapons … the capabilities of guidance and control systems and the combat capabilities of drones are among the things that will be tested and evaluated in this exercise,” deputy coordinator of the armed forces Admiral Habibollah Sayyari told the state broadcaster.

BEIRUT: Judges in Lebanon continued their protest on Tuesday after a meeting to review their issues proved inconclusive.

About 400 out of 550 judges suspended services last week after talks with political leaders failed to secure their minimum demands.

The judges include the president of the Supreme Judicial Council of Lebanon, council members, judges from the cassation and appeal courts, public prosecution offices, tribunals, and judicial departments.

RAMALLAH: A Palestinian legal institution accused the Israeli military authorities of making a unilateral decision to empty portions of Area C in the West Bank by demolishing buildings and agricultural facilities of Palestinian communities without prior notice.

The Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid accused the Israeli Civil Administration, the executive arm of the Israeli Defense Forces, and the Supreme Organization Council of serving the alleged occupation plans of Israel for emptying Area C.