First private helicopter flights in China

China began authorising private helicopter flights on Saturday with a pilot project on the southern island of Hainan, as it begins to open up its tightly-controlled airspace, state media reported.
Only four helicopters, flown by eight pilots, will take part in the initial two-month experiment, the official Xinhua news agency said.
China's airspace is under tight military control, which severely limits the possibility of private, non-commercial flights.
But authorities recently announced a gradual loosening of the rules for low-altitude airspace, where helicopters and small planes operate.
The tropical island of Hainan is the first place in China to experiment with private flights in low-altitude airspace, confirmed Jiang Sixian, deputy governor of the province.
A flight by a private aircraft will still need to have a flight plan approved by the authorities, a process that could take from a day to a week, according to Xinhua.
Both Chinese millionaires and foreign aircraft manufacturers are eagerly awaiting the opening of China's skies, according to experts who predict rapid growth in the private aviation sector.
Despite its vast territory and booming economy China has very few helicopters, and out of 15,000 business jets worldwide, more than 10,000 are in the United States with fewer than 150 in China.
-
Chinese ice cream brand under fire for products that don't melt
A Chinese brand once dubbed the "Hermes of ice cream" has come under fire after internet users said some of its products do not melt -- even when baked with a blowtorch. The most expensive offering of Chicecream -- called "Zhong Xue Gao" in Chinese -- costs 66 yuan ($10). Chicecream has promoted itself as a Chinese alternative to Western brands such as Magnum and Haagen-Dazs, using supposedly natural ingredients and locally-inspired product designs.
-
Russia pounds rebel-claimed region, Ukraine pushes back
Russia redoubled its push for Ukraine's eastern Donbas region Wednesday, with the Ukrainian military claiming to have repelled some advances and both sides reporting casualties. The Ukrainian armed forces General Staff said troops stopped enemy units advancing towards Sloviansk, a city in Donetsk, one of two provinces in the Donbas whose capture is among Moscow's main goals. “Every crime will be punished,” he wrote on social media.
-
FBI, MI5 chiefs warn of ‘immense’ China threat at rare joint address
FBI Director Christopher Wray and United Kingdom MI5 Director General Ken McCallum on Wednesday cautioned business leaders against threat from the Chinese government, in an unprecedented joint address at the British intelligence service's London headquarters. Speaking to an audience of officials and business executives in Thames House, Wray talked about “complex, enduring, and pervasive danger” to the innovative businesses from China.
-
Elon Musk now father of 9, had twins last year with company executive: Report
Tesla chief Elon Musk is now believed to be the father of nine children as a Business Insider report has now claimed that Musk had twins in November 2021 with Shivon Zilis, a top executive at Elon Musk's Neuralink, a brain-chip startup. She has been working in the company since May 2017, the same month she was named a project director in artificial intelligence at Tesla where she worked until 2019.
-
UK PM Boris Johnson fires ally and digs in despite calls to quit
Britain's scandal-hit Prime Minister Boris Johnson attempted a rearguard offensive late Wednesday against a cabinet and Conservative party revolt, firing a top ally and vowing to "fight on" despite dozens of his ministers resigning. The dismissal from the cabinet of "levelling up" secretary Michael Gove -- Johnson's right-hand-man in Britain's 2016 Brexit referendum campaign -- dramatically showed that the Conservative leader was not going to bow out without a fight.