Belgium's air traffic was severely disrupted after drone sightings forced two major airports to temporarily suspend operations as a security precaution. A drone was first spotted near Brussels airport at 8pm (19:00 GMT) on Tuesday evening, followed by another incident at the nearby Liege airport, one of Europe's largest cargo airports, according to Belgium's public broadcaster RTBF. Both airports resumed normal operations at 11pm (22:00 GMT). Brussels airport said that the shutdowns may still impact air traffic on Wednesday in a notice on its website. "Following drone sightings on Tuesday evening, flight operations at Brussels Airport were suspended for safety reasons," the notice said.

The National Police Agency held its first expert panel meeting on Tuesday on countering illegal drone flights amid rising concerns over their potential use in terrorism and other threats. The National Police Agency on Tuesday held the first meeting of an expert panel on measures against illegal drone flights, in light of the growing threat of drones being used for terrorism and other purposes. The panel plans to compile a report by the end of the year on expanding the list of no-fly zones and penalties, with a view to revising the drone control law. The law was established in 2016 in the wake of an incident in which a drone fell on the roof of the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo. It currently bans drone flights within about 300 meters of important facilities such as the National Diet Building, the Imperial Palace and nuclear power plants.

Congressman Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, discusses the future of drone security in the United States during an appearance on'America Reports.' The Federal Aviation Administration issued more restrictions on drone flights across the Northeast on Friday in response to increased sightings in recent weeks. One day after announcing temporary restrictions on most drone flights in New Jersey, the FAA issued 27 No-Fly Zone notices for "special security reasons" in New York on Friday. The restrictions last through Jan. 18, 2025, and apply to some of the most populated areas in the Empire State, including nearly every NYC borough. The Federal Aviation Administration has issued temporary restrictions on drone flights in 27 areas of New York in response to the influx of reported sightings in recent weeks.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued temporary flight restrictions prohibiting drone flights over parts of New Jersey following an influx of sightings in recent weeks. The notice, which expires Jan. 17, 2025, said drone operations in support of national defense, homeland security, law enforcement, firefighting, search and rescue or disaster response missions are not included in the restrictions. Commercial drone operations are allowed with a valid statement of work, but there must be an approved special governmental interest airspace waiver and all applicable FAA regulations must be followed. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the White House, and more broadly the U.S. government, does not seem concerned about the increased sightings in New Jersey and other northeastern states. "Look, I'm the speaker of the House. I have the exact same frustrations that you do and all of us do. We don't have the answers. The administration is not providing them," Johnson said in a Fox News appearance.

Fox News contributor Brett Velicovich discusses House Subcommittee on Aerial Systems' role in investigating multiple sightings in the Garden State on'America Reports.' A top FBI leader revealed the agency knows concerningly little about the mysterious drones that have been seen hovering over New Jersey. Asked if Americans are "at risk," FBI Assistant Director of the Critical Incident Response Group Robert Wheeler told Congress: "There is nothing that is known that would lead me to say that, but we just don't know. Dozens of drones have been spotted flying near sensitive sites like a military research facility in recent weeks. The FBI has been investigating the incidents and has called on the public for additional information. According to Gov. Phil Murphy, there were 49 reports of drones on Sunday alone, mostly in Hunterdon County. The FBI assistant director's comments came during a joint hearing of two Homeland Security subcommittees on unmanned aerial systems. "We do not attribute that to an individual or a group yet.

As waves of loud, car-sized mystery drones continue to buzz over New Jersey, one family reported that the craft changed time on their car's clock. The family of Morris County locals said they were following one of these seemingly terrestrial UFOs in their vehicle, only to experience the odd effect on their car's electronics as the unexplained craft'hovered above them.' 'The clock in their car changed time,' according to one Fox News reporter who spoke to the unnamed family. 'They say the clock went back to normal after they drove off.' While local law enforcement in Morris County has issued a statement asserting that'there is no known threat to public safety' at this time -- the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a ban on drone flights over sensitive areas in state.

South Korea's military has announced it is "fully ready" to respond amid reports that North Korean troops have been deployed to the border and are getting ready to blow up roads connecting the two nations along the heavily militarised dividing line. Tensions have escalated in recent days as the nuclear-armed North accused Seoul of flying drones over its capital to drop propaganda leaflets filled with "inflammatory rumours and rubbish", and warned that if another drone was detected, it would consider it "a declaration of war". South Korean military spokesman Lee Sung-jun told reporters in Seoul on Monday they are in "full readiness" against the possibility of "a provocation" after Pyongyang ordered artillery units along the border to open fire in case of an escalation. South Korean state news agency Yonhap also quoted Lee as saying the military found that the North is installing screens along the roads "to make preparations for the explosions". "It is possible for [North Korea's explosions] to take place as early as today [Monday]," he said.

Russia has conferred state awards on the two fighter pilots involved in the downing of a US surveillance drone that crashed into the Black Sea, the Russian Defence Ministry said, while United States officials announced that its spy flights in the region have resumed. Presenting the awards on Friday to the Su-27 jet fighter pilots, Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu lauded their achievement in preventing the drone from flying into an area near Crimea to which Moscow has banned access. "The drone flew with its transponders off, violating the boundaries of the area of the temporary airspace usage regime established for the special military operation [and] communicated to all users of international airspace," Russia's defence ministry said in a statement, according to The Moscow Times. Pro-Kremlin political analyst Sergei Markov said the awards for the pilots were "a clear sign that Russia will keep downing" US drones. "This decision will receive a strong support from the Russian society that wants the government to toughen its policy," Markov wrote in a commentary. Russia's presentation of the awards comes a day after the US military released a declassified 42-second video clip showing the Russian Su-27 fighter jets intercepting the drone and making close passes while dumping fuel in an apparent bid to damage the drone's optical and other hi-tech instruments.

Japan on Monday lifted its ban on urban drone flights outside visible range over residential areas to allow aerial parcel deliveries and help address the country's labor shortages amid the greying of the population across the country, particularly in rural areas. Unattended drone flights were previously only allowed over uninhabited areas, such as mountains, rivers and farmlands in so-called level-three operations under the four-tier classification system. Level-four automated drone operations over residential areas will likely begin once operators seeking to provide such services complete government procedures necessary for conducting the flight around March. This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software. Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.

Research attention on natural user interfaces (NUIs) for drone flights are rising. Nevertheless, NUIs are highly diversified, and primarily evaluated by different physical environments leading to hard-to-compare performance between such solutions. We propose a virtual environment, namely VRFlightSim, enabling comparative evaluations with enriched drone flight details to address this issue. We first replicated a state-of-the-art (SOTA) interface and designed two tasks (crossing and pointing) in our virtual environment. Then, two user studies with 13 participants demonstrate the necessity of VRFlightSim and further highlight the potential of open-data interface designs.