The UK government is considering a "knowledge or situational awareness test" for all British drone owners, similar to a driving theory examination. The proposed quiz could be voluntary, according to the Department for Transport, or mandatory as part of a new drone registration system. It was referenced in a new consultation drawn up to keep casual pilots in check, while encouraging drone research by the private sector. "The safety of other airspace users and the general public is dependent on leisure drone users adhering to the rules and understanding the risks," ministers argue. Among the new proposals is an online registration scheme that pilots would need to complete for quadcopters weighing 250 grams or more.

US drone delivery service Flirtey on Monday announced that its self-piloting flying machines have whisked flu medicine, hot food and more from 7-Eleven convenience stores to customers' homes. The Nevada-based company boasted of being the first drone service to complete regular commercial deliveries to residences in this country, having completed 77 such autonomous missions. "We have now successfully completed the first month of routine commercial drone deliveries to customer homes in partnership with 7-Eleven," Flirtey chief executive Matthew Sweeny said in a release. "This is a giant leap towards a future where everyone can experience the convenience of Flirtey's instant store-to-door drone delivery." Flirtey said it made 77 drone deliveries to homes of select customers on weekends in November, filling orders placed using a special application.

Anyone who buys a drone in the UK may have to register it and take a safety test for the first time under new measures to prevent potential collisions with passenger jets. Measures proposed by ministers also include criminal liability for anyone who flies a drone in "no-fly zones" surrounding airports and prisons, and an increase in fines, which currently cannot exceed a maximum £2,500. Ministers also want to make drones electronically identifiable on the ground, in order to make it easier for police to track devices to their owners. The government has estimated that the drone industry will be worth £127bn by 2025, but ministers believe it will only be a success if it is done safely and with the consent of the public. While there are already strict rules for drone users, the unmanned aerial vehicles, which can operate either under remote control by a person or autonomously by onboard computers, have become increasingly widespread, and are cheaply available in high street shops and on Amazon.

Sure, Amazon made its first drone delivery last week, but 7-Eleven already has it beat. Today, the convenience store company announced that it has already made a total of 77 deliveries by drone in the state of Nevada. Of course the caveat here is that 7-Eleven relied on Flirtey, a drone delivery service company that's already made a name for itself by delivering Domino's in New Zealand and textbooks in Australia. It also made the first FAA-approved urban drone delivery earlier this year. Though the deliveries kicked off in July, it was in November when the company started making regular weekend deliveries from a 7-Eleven store to about a dozen customers.

In this stunning four-minute video, YouTube personality Casey Neistat shows viewers that the next big thing for drones might well be human transport. Dressed like a modern-day extreme sport version of Ole St. Nick and riding a snowboard instead of a sleigh, Neistat takes viewers on a holiday magic carpet ride through a town and across the winter sky. Notably, instead of "eight reindeer" the drone's propellers pull Neistat over a rooftop, through crowds of high-fiving onlookers, and across a series of hills before taking him into the air. "No one in the world sells a drone that can lift a human being," explained the team in the video's opening. "So we built our own."

Engineers at the EPFL Technology Institute in Switzerland have built a drone made with artificial feathers. It can fly at high speeds, make sharp turns and manoeuvre through tight spaces.

A Chinese company claimed a world first on Wednesday by unveiling a drone capable of carrying a human passenger. Guangzhou-based Ehang Inc pulled the cloth off the Ehang 184 at the Las Vegas convention center during the CES gadget show. In a company video showing the 184 flying, it looks like a small helicopter but with four propellers spinning parallel to the ground in a similar configuration to other drones. The electric-powered drone can be fully charged in two hours, carry up to 100kg (220lb) and fly for 23 minutes at sea level, according to Ehang. The cabin fits one person and a small backpack and is fitted with air conditioning and a reading light.

With its controversial seizure and return of a U.S. underwater drone, Beijing may have inadvertently thrust into the spotlight one of the main motivations behind its ramped-up moves in the South China Sea: the quest to create a safe-haven for its sea-based nuclear deterrent. Submarines, in particular ballistic missile subs, have long figured prominently in China's desire to match the capabilities and prestige of other major nuclear powers. Slowly but surely, experts say, Beijing has made progress on this front, building a formidable program that began very early in the ruling Communist Party's history. But securing the credibility of its overall nuclear deterrent has been a challenge. "In particular, experts worry that growing U.S. missile defense, conventional precision strike, and space-based surveillance capability together allow for sophisticated preemptive attacks that pose a significant threat to China's land-based nuclear forces," Tong Zhao, a fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, wrote in a June report on China's sea-based nuclear deterrent.

Beijing has returned a U.S. underwater drone seized last week in the South China Sea by a Chinese Navy vessel after "friendly" talks between the two countries, China's Defense Ministry said in a short statement posted to its website Tuesday. "After friendly consultations between the Chinese and U.S. sides, the handover work for the U.S. underwater drone was smoothly completed in relevant waters in the South China Sea at midday on Dec. 20," the statement said. The Pentagon confirmed the handover, but criticized the Chinese Navy over the move. "The incident was inconsistent with both international law and standards of professionalism for conduct between navies at sea," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement. "The U.S. has addressed those facts with the Chinese through appropriate military channels, and have called on Chinese authorities to comply with their obligations under international law."

BEIJING/WASHINGTON – China on Monday rejected U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's claim that it had "stolen" an American research drone, as state media said his diplomatic inexperience could spark a confrontation between the two nations. Beijing's seizure of the marine probe in international waters in the South China Sea raised already heightened tensions between the world's two largest military powers. On Sunday, after Beijing and Washington announced the drone would be returned, Trump tweeted: "We should tell China that we don't want the drone they stole back. Trump's accusation that China had stolen the drone was "not accurate," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. "Imagine that you found something on the street -- you would need to first check and verify it before handing it back to someone else," she told a regular press conference. Hua said the two sides "are in smooth communication through military channels, and we believe the incident will be properly handled." She gave no further details. The Chinese military is expected to return the probe to the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea on Tuesday, a U.S. defense official said. "A U.S. destroyer will be there," the official told AFP on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Pentagon said last week a Chinese naval vessel had "unlawfully" grabbed the unmanned underwater vehicle around 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines. China said the drone had been snatched since it might pose a safety hazard to other vessels. It also said it "strongly opposed" U.S. reconnaissance activities and had asked Washington to stop them. The U.S. said the device was collecting information on water temperatures, salinity and sea clarity. In an earlier misspelled tweet Saturday, Trump also accused Beijing of theft. "China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters?rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented act," he wrote. The state-owned China Daily rejected the claim in an editorial. "What is truly amazing about this tweet, was the soon-to-be U.S. president completely misrepresented what had actually happened -- that is more dangerous than funny," it said. Trump's behavior "could easily drive China-U.S. relations into what Obama portrays as'full-conflict mode,'" it added, next to a cartoon that depicted Trump riding a bull into a china shop while U.S. businessmen looked on aghast. A separate article quoted experts as calling Trump's behavior "diplomatically inept.