US says ban on laptops in airplane cabins has been lifted 

Passengers check into a flight at Abu Dhabi International Airport in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, July 4, 2017. Abu Dhabi’s airport is the first among Mideast airports targeted by a U.S. ban on laptops in airplane cabins to be exempt from the list. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

DALLAS  — The ban on laptops in the cabins of planes flying from the Middle East to the U.S. is over, as federal officials say that large airports in the region have taken other steps in increase security.

Those measures include checking electronic devices to make sure they don’t contain a bomb, and pulling more people out of airport lines for additional screening

A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that all airlines and airports with flights departing for the U.S. had met the agency’s first phase of new security measures, which were announced in late June but not described in any detail.