China will ban the sale of drones in Beijing and require users to apply for permission for all flights in the capital under strict regulations that enter force on Friday.

Officials have cited public security for the new rules, which also forbid bringing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or their core components into Beijing.

E-commerce platforms will be banned from shipping UAVs to Beijing, though drone owners who have completed real-name registration of their gadgets before May 1 will be allowed to take them in and out of the capital.

Drone users in the city of 22 million will have three months after the new rules kick in to register their devices with local police stations.

Several sellers across the city had already removed drones from displays ahead of the rules change, AFP saw Tuesday. An employee at a DJI outlet in central Beijing said the gadgets were being boxed up for transport to other cities.

DJI, which is the world’s largest drone maker and has been sanctioned by the US government over security concerns, is dominant in the Chinese market but now faces being locked out of its home capital by the new rules.

The city’s airspace will be closed to all drone flights without prior approval from authorities, with fines of up to 10,000 yuan ($1,463) for illegal flights and possible confiscation of the drone.

Organisations or individuals caught selling drones or 17 core components will also face fines under the new rules.

‘One-size-fits-all’

Drone storage rules will also be tightened in the capital, with individuals allowed to keep at most three drones at a single location within Beijing’s sixth ring road.

Online, many users complained that the new rules were onerous and left them with few opportunities to fly their gadgets in Beijing.

“This is a crazy one-size-fits-all system,” one user wrote on the social media platform WeChat.

Others said they would sell their drones ahead of the new rules.

At one drone-flying school in central Beijing, staff told AFP they were worried about how they would acquire new drones or components when their stock breaks or needs maintenance.

But they hoped that educational and sports facilities like theirs would eventually receive some exemption from the rules.

The new regulations hold that exemptions may be provided for special purposes like counter-terrorism, agriculture, education and sport.

“As the capital, Beijing faces more challenges in low-altitude airspace safety, making it more urgent to strengthen the management of UAVs,” Beijing municipal official Xiong Jinghua said when the rules were announced in March.

National laws have also been tightened this year in China, with illegal drone flights now punishable by up to 15 days detention and UAVs required to provide real-time data to authorities during flights.

A domestic worker has been arrested on suspicion of child abuse after allegedly putting her employer’s two toddlers in a dog cage on two occasions.

Police said they received a report on Tuesday from the children’s mother, who alleged that the Indonesian domestic worker had put the two boys, aged two and three years, in a dog cage on two separate occasions in February.

The mother said she saw the incident on surveillance footage broadcast to her mobile phone.

The 32-year-old domestic worker was arrested at a residential estate in Tsing Yi on Tuesday on suspicion of ill-treatment or neglect by those in charge of a child or young person.

The mother also reported the case to the worker’s employment agency before deciding to file a police report.

The case has been passed to the Kwai Tsing police crime unit for further investigation.

The two toddlers did not have any visible injuries and had been discharged from hospital after treatment, according to local media reports.

The mother – a single parent who has three boys and a dog – began hiring the domestic worker in mid-2023, local media reported, citing unnamed sources.

Call for regulation

In a statement emailed to the media on Wednesday, lawmaker Elaine Chik expressed concern about the case and called for strengthened early warning and prevention measures to combat child abuse.

She urged employers to prioritise hiring domestic workers with first aid training, nursing, or child psychology backgrounds, adding that hiring agencies should advise workers on managing stress when caring for infants.

Chik, a member of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), also called on authorities to implement mandatory training on Hong Kong child protection laws and to look into establishing a regulatory authority to oversee standards for domestic workers.

The lawmaker also said she would bring up the incident at the Legislative Council and ask the government to provide follow-up measures for child abuse cases.

US suspect held in south-east Asia after genealogical DNA identified him in Tampa-area case involving 7-year-old girl

A man accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl in Florida in 1989 was recently arrested in the Philippines, according to authorities.

Preserved DNA and genealogical research allowed investigators to identify Young Tom Talmadge, 69, as the suspect in the Tampa-area case, the Philippines’ government said in a statement.

The sensational Sultanganj shootout case in Bhagalpur took a dramatic turn early Wednesday as prime accused Ramdhani Yadav was killed in a police encounter, intensifying concerns over law and order in the region.

According to police, Yadav — accused in the daylight killing of executive officer Krishna Bhushan — had surrendered along with two associates. He was later taken by a police team to recover the weapon used in the crime and gather further evidence.

Officials said the situation escalated when Yadav allegedly opened fire on the police team, reportedly in coordination with unidentified accomplices.

“The accused launched a life-threatening attack, forcing the police to retaliate in self-defence,” said SSP Pramod Kumar Yadav.

In the ensuing exchange of fire, Yadav sustained critical injuries and collapsed. He was rushed to Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

The encounter also left three police personnel injured. They have been hospitalised and are under treatment, with doctors closely monitoring their condition.

Senior officials, including district magistrate Naval Kishore Chaudhary and SDM Vikas Kumar, rushed to the hospital to review the situation as security was tightened across the district to prevent any backlash.

Police have launched a wider crackdown to dismantle the criminal network linked to the case, with search operations underway to track down other suspects.

The incident follows Tuesday’s brazen attack inside the Sultanganj Nagar Parishad office, where EO Krishna Bhushan was shot dead after armed assailants barged into his chamber and opened fire. Municipal chairman Raj Kumar, also known as Guddu, was critically injured in the same attack and remains under treatment.

Authorities said the situation in Bhagalpur remains tense but under control, with assurances that all those involved will be brought to justice.

With IANS inputs

KUCHING, April 29 — A 62-year-old man lost RM415,000 in a scam that began when he met a suspect in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, who offered to arrange Haj permits and a hotel for pilgrims.

Kuching police chief ACP Alexson Naga Chabu said the victim was introduced to the Malay male suspect on October 30, 2024, at a restaurant near The Clock Towers in Mecca.

The victim was offered assistance to obtain Haj permits and to invest in accommodation for pilgrims during the Haj and Umrah seasons.

“Attracted by the offer, the victim made six online payment transactions to two different bank accounts.

“The first payment was made while the victim was at his residence in Kuching, Sarawak, on November 10, 2024.

“As a result of the incident, the victim suffered total losses amounting to RM415,000,” Alexson said in a statement.

The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, which carries a jail term of between one year and 10 years, with caning, and a possible fine upon conviction.

Members of the public are advised to not be easily swayed by business offers, particularly those involving Haj permits or overseas investments.

All such offers should be verified with the relevant authorities before financial transactions are made.

They are also encouraged to use tools such as the Whoscall application and PDRM Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) Semak Mule at https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my portal to check suspicious phone numbers and bank accounts.

The public can also follow official CCID social media accounts @JSJKPDRM and @CYBERCRIMEALERTRMP for information on the latest scam modus operandi. — The Borneo Post

The Mexican military captured Audias Flores Silva, alias ‘El Jardinero’, on Monday – one of the top leaders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

Flores Silva was considered to be one of the key candidates to succeed alias ‘El Mencho’, the former leader of the CJNG who was killed by authorities in February.

The drug lord’s arrest comes amid a wider crackdown by Mexican security forces against organized crime, driven partly by pressure from Washington.

According to authorities, Monday’s operation did not involve any shooting, injuries, or collateral damage. The military deployment included 120 direct action troops, four close air support helicopters, four fixed-wing aircraft, and two troop transport helicopters, with 400 naval personnel providing support.

The CJNG leader’s more than 60-strong escort group dispersed in different directions upon the arrival of security forces, attempting a tactical distraction maneuver, but the target was located through air and ground tracking.

Official footage of the operation shared by Omar García Harfuch, Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of Mexico, shows the moment of the capture, with Flores Silva extracted from a roadside drainage conduit, where he was hiding. The arrest happened near El Mirador, a rural community in the western state of Nayarit.

Hours after the news became public, several stores and vehicles were set on fire across Nayarit. While the unrest fell short of the level of retaliation following the killing of ‘El Mencho’ in February 2026, the Government of Nayarit urged citizens to stay in their homes as a preventative measure.

A major blow to CJNG

The arrest was praised by the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, who congratulated Mexico’s Security Cabinet and Secretary of the Navy.

In 2021, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency offered a US$5 million reward for information leading to Audias Flores Silva’s arrest or conviction. Flores Silva was defined as “closely aligned” with former CJNG leader ‘El Mencho’, whose real name is Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes.

In June 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Flores Silva, identifying him as a CJNG regional commander in charge of significant portions of territory in the states of Zacatecas, Guerrero, Nayarit, Jalisco, and Michoacán. 

According to U.S. authorities, Flores Silva was in control of clandestine laboratories producing methamphetamine and other illicit drugs in central Jalisco and southern Zacatecas. In addition, Silva managed the logistics of cocaine trafficking operations from Central America through Mexico to the United States, including the supervision of several clandestine airstrips.

‘El Jardinero’ was also believed to have coordinated a deadly 2015 attack against Mexican police forces in Jalisco that left 15 agents dead.

Flores Silva’s arrest is a hard hit to CJNG, as security analysts considered him a potential successor to the group’s command after the death of ‘El Mencho’ last February.

“Flores Silva was the closest thing the CJNG had to a chief operating officer, the man who once ran Mencho’s personal security, managed the Pacific corridor’s labs and airstrips, oversaw a timeshare fraud network and U.S. money-laundering pipeline, and brokered the alliance with Los Chapitos after the Sinaloa civil war,” Chris Dalby, director of World of Crime and senior analyst at Dyami Security Intelligence, told Latin America Reports.

Authorities dealt a second blow to CJNG yesterday when the Special Forces of the Mexican Army and the National Guard detained César Alejandro N, alias “El Güero Conta”. He was identified as the main financial operator for ‘El Jardinero’ and accused of laundering money through companies and frontmen.

“Losing Silva alongside his financier on the same day hits the CJNG operationally and financially simultaneously. It doesn’t spell an end to the CJNG, however, and may actually help Juan Carlos Gonzalez Valencia secure leadership by removing a rival,” said Dalby.

Featured image description: Wanted poster for Audias Flores Silva, alias ‘El Jardinero’.

Featured image credit: Omar García Harfuch via Facebook.

The post Mexican authorities arrest top cartel leader ‘El Jardinero’ appeared first on Latin America Reports.

James Lawhead was arrested after forensic DNA analysis lead in decades-old killing of Cindy Wanner

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A 64-year-old man was arrested last week in connection to a decades-old murder investigation that had long haunted the affluent suburb of Sacramento where it occurred.

On 25 November 1991, Cindy Wanner, 35, vanished from her sister’s home in Granite Bay, California. Her husband arrived to the residence with their four-year-old daughter and found their 11-month-old baby alone, wailing and strapped to a high chair. Three weeks later, Wanner’s body was discovered 40 miles away in a secluded wooded area. She had died from strangulation.