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Beijing clamps down on drones: Sales banned citywide from May 1

BANGKOK (AP) — Beijing is banning all drones within city limits starting May 1.

The Chinese capital’s city government passed a series of ordinances in late March banning drone sales and flights, although users have long been blocked from flying drones within the city.

A search on Taobao, one of China’s top online shopping platforms, showed that users with a Beijing delivery address could not check out with a drone in their cart. An employee at a Beijing store of consumer electronics brand DJI told state-backed media outlet Jiemian that they have been told to get rid of any drones in stock by Thursday.

The new regulations say that exceptions will be made for universities, research institutions, or public safety use, but that users would have to get permission from the police. Individuals in violation face a possible fine of 500 yuan ($73) and could have their machines confiscated.

Drone users in China already have to register an account on a government portal with their real name and identity before they are allowed to fly the machines.

Chinese companies dominate the global consumer drone market, prompting security concerns in countries including the U.S., where the Federal Communications Commission has banned new models of foreign drones.

Security restrictions in Beijing are often tighter than in other parts of the country. Previously, China has restricted drivers of Teslas from parking their vehicles in certain government compounds, including at an airport, owing to espionage concerns over cameras installed in the car.

Iran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait following US strikes, threatens to end talks to end the war

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched drone and missile attacks Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to U.S. airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” could come to negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks. Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas, without Iran's direct oversight sparked the crossfire now gripping the region. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday that it would expand a route near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic — setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran. Iran insists it alone must govern the strait after the war, upending decades of the world considering that the strait was international waters free for all, despite its sitting in Iran and Oman's territorial waters. Tehran has twice attacked vessels going through the Oman route, backed by a United Nations agency, in recent days. Early Sunday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship at sea early Saturday morning. That ship, the Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku, carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, a key negotiator between Iran and the United States.
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