International

PARIS: In the dead of night a drone hovers over a prison in southern France, secretly dropping packages to inmates inside. But one parcel becomes stuck in the railing outside a cell window, and guards seize three others. Across France, prisoners have been making orders online for drones to illegally bring them everything from drugs and phones to their favourite …

PARIS: The universe is still expanding at an accelerating rate, but it may have slowed down recently compared to a few billion years ago, early results from the most precise measurement of its evolution yet suggested Thursday. While the preliminary findings are far from confirmed, if they hold up it would further deepen the mystery of dark energy — and …

TOKYO: A magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck off northeastern Japan’s Fukushima region on Thursday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, but no tsunami warning was issued. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries after the earthquake, whose epicentre had a depth of 40 kilometres (25 miles) and which was also felt in Tokyo. TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima nuclear power …

The medical charity said children were turning up in hospitals with gunshot wounds from drones, while many patients were being crushed under rubble then suffering severe burns. The MSF said deadly attacks on humanitarian staff showed either deliberate intent or reckless incompetence. Amber Alayyan, MSF deputy programme manager for the Middle East, said the healthcare system in Gaza before Oct­ober …

NEW YORK: A New York judge has denied Donald Trump’s bid to delay his April 15 trial on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star until the US Supreme Court reviews claim to presidential immunity in a separate criminal case. The court is scheduled to hear the former US president’s arguments that he is immune from federal …

KABUL: Taliban authorities urged Pakistan on Thursday not to make a unilateral decision on repatriating Afghan migrants, saying they shouldn’t be “harassed”, after reports Islamabad would renew an eviction campaign. Meanwhile, Pakistan denied the perception that the policy on expulsion of foreigners illegally residing in Pakistan was Afghan specific. Since the announcement of the policy last year, amidst heightened TTP violence that further frayed …

HUALIEN: Taiwanese rescuers worked on Thursday to reach scores of people trapped in highway tunnels as engineers began a massive clear-up operation a day after the island’s biggest earthquake in a quarter of a century. Relief workers set aside stuffed toys, blankets and baby formula for families sheltering in an elementary school in Hualien, the epicentre of the earthquake. Ten people were …

LONDON: After two decades of evading justice, a Pakistani man was convicted on Thursday of murdering a UK police officer in 2005. PC Sharon Beshenivsky was a 38-year-old mother of three who was shot dead outside a travel agency in Bradford while responding to an armed robbery call. She was shot at point blank range. Piran Ditta Khan, 75, who …

WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday issued its strongest public rebuke toward Israel since it launched an invasion of Gaza, seeking for the first time to leverage US aid to influence Israeli military behavior. President Joe Biden, a staunch supporter of the Israeli offensive until now, called for an immediate ceasefire in a call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, conditioning …

Rescuers in Taiwan faced the threat of further landslides and rockfalls in their search on Friday for a dozen people still missing from this week’s earthquake, as the death toll rose to 12 and some of the stranded were brought to safety. Searchers discovered two more bodies after Wednesday’s quake of magnitude 7.2 struck the sparsely populated, largely rural eastern county …