Month: April 2019

Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder, appears on the brink of being publicly charged after US prosecutors accidentally named him in court filings. 

The US investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election is known to be looking into how Mr Assange’s outfit published thousands of hacked Democratic Party emails before the vote. 

A filing made in the Eastern District of Virginia on Thursday discussed procedures ”to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged”. 

Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the US attorney’s office in Virginia, said: “The court filing was made in error. That was not the intended name for this filing.”

It remains unknown whether Mr Assange has been secretly charged already, if he will be soon or if the filing was just a complete mistake.  It is also unclear what the potential charges could entail. 

The development sparked speculation that US prosecutors are moving against Mr Assange in what would be a dramatic escalation in their long-running battle. 

Mr Assange, an Australian computer programmer, first came to international attention in 2010 when his platform Wikileaks published a slew of leaked US diplomatic cables. 

Wikileaks has faced scrutiny for publishing hacked emails from the Democratic Party and the campaign chairman for Hillary Clinton before the 2016 election.

Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Kremlin election meddling, has charged Russian online trolls with attempting to undermine Mrs Clinton’s campaign. 

Mr Assange has lived in Ecuador’s embassy in London since 2012, having received political asylum from the South American country to avoid possible extradition to Sweden in a separate sexual assault case.

Profile | Julian Assange

Any charges brought against Mr Assange would have significant diplomatic consequences, with the UK government under pressure to extradite him to the US. 

Barry Pollack, a US lawyer for Mr Assange, said in a statement: "The notion that federal criminal charges could be brought based on the publication of truthful information is an incredibly dangerous precedent to set.” 

In a statement on Friday, Wikileaks said Mr Assange was willing to work with British officials as long he was not extradited to the United States. Ecuadorean officials had no immediate comment on Friday.

On social network Twitter, Wikileaks said the court filings were an "apparent cut-and-paste error."  

In an unrelated development, Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that he was formally responding to a string of questions sent by Mr Mueller – something which the special counsel has long sought.

Mr Trump said he was personally coming up with the responses and that the questions were "simple", adding that he believed the Russia probe would be soon coming to an end. 

Vladimir Putin has said Moscow will develop new mid-range nuclear weapons in response to Donald Trump’s planned withdrawal from a key arms control treaty with Russia. 

The statement came after secretary of state Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday that the United States would no longer abide by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty if Russia did not come into compliance within 60 days.  

Mr Putin insisted that he was “against the destruction of this treaty,” but agreed with Mr Trump’s complaint that it ties the hands of the two Cold War foes while other countries can develop short- and intermediate-range nuclear missiles. 

“Now our American partners apparently think the situation has changed so much that the United States also needs to have this kind of weapon. What will our response be? It’s simple. We will also do this,” he said. 

In fact, Moscow is already doing this, if Washington is to be believed. Barack Obama’s administration first accused the Kremlin of breaking the treaty in 2014 by secretly developing a ground-launched nuclear-capable cruise missile dubbed the SSC-8, which could threaten US bases and allies in Europe. 

Russia has denied this and accused the United States of testing banned missiles and drones.

The new Cold War

Also on Tuesday, the defence ministry announced the deployment of its new Peresvet laser, which Mr Putin first mentioned along with nuclear-powered cruise missiles and torpedoes in a sabre-rattling speech shortly before he was re-elected in March. 

Although little is known about the laser, experts believe it could destroy cameras or sensors on spy satellites and planes or possibly take down a drone. 

Despite US complaints about Russia’s new missile, Mr Obama did not withdraw from the INF treaty, fearing it could spark an unrestrained arms race. Some 2,600 ground-based cruise missiles with ranges of 310 to 3,400 miles were destroyed once Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan signed the agreement in 1987.

But after long-time arms control critic John Bolton became national security adviser, Mr Trump turned against the agreement and announced in October he would terminate it. Mr Bolton issued a memo last week ordering a withdrawal from the treaty by Tuesday and the development and deployment of mid-range missiles “at the earliest possible date”.

Instead, the United States softened this stance on Tuesday, offering the 60-day window for compliance, reportedly thanks to a last-minute plea to Mr Trump by Angela Merkel and other European leaders at the G20 summit. 

The demise of the treaty would probably threaten their countries the most, as Washington and Moscow could again deploy missiles around Europe. The INF agreement was adopted to ban Sabre mid-range missiles, which allowed the Soviet Union to target much of Europe, and the Pershing IIs that the United States deployed to Western Germany. 

Russia already in February deployed nuclear-capable Iskander missiles to its Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea, in range of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Speaking outside a Moscow event where he awarded a prize for volunteer of the year, Mr Putin took a jab at Mr Pompeo as being “a bit late” with his statement.

“First the American side said it’s determined to withdraw from the treaty on intermediate- and shorter-range missiles, then they started to look for reasons why they should do this,” he said. “As usual they’re not providing any evidence of these violations by us.”

Since Mr Obama’s New Start treaty, which reduces the US and Russia’s overall nuclear arsenals, is set to expire in 2021, the world may soon be left without any nuclear arms control for the first time since 1972. 

Without the INF, the Kremlin could work openly on weapons to respond to the growing nuclear arsenal in neighbouring China. 

But Moscow-based defence analyst Dmitry Kornev said Russia, which has been hit by sanctions and lower oil prices, would have difficulty funding the development of new mid-range missiles. The SSC-8 has a flight time of several hours compared to just minutes for ballistic missiles.

“It’s a new round of the arms race,” he said. “These missiles don’t exist now, we will have to create them, and it’s a heavy financial burden.”

“A definite loser is Europe, a definite loser is Russia, and for the United States the situation won’t change, the number of warheads targeting US territory won’t increase,” he added.

The latest back-and-forth over the INF treaty comes amid high tensions after Russia seized three Ukrainian ships off Crimea and deployed anti-ship and anti-air missiles to the peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.

Ukraine has declared martial law and has called up military reservists, claiming that Russia has been building up troops for a potential ground invasion. 

The deployment of the new Russian laser system announced on Tuesday, while surely meant to intimidate Western adversaries, won’t change the balance of power. 

Laser weapons, which are already in service with the US navy and are being tested by the US army, are not powerful enough to bring down a plane. But they could discourage reconnaissance around sensitive targets including nuclear missile bases, Mr Kornev said.

“Like any modern camera, the camera on a satellite has a sensor, a CCD sensor, that could be destroyed by a high-power laser, just burned up. Then this camera would be blinded,” he said.

Award-winning Bangladeshi photographer and activist Shahidul Alam was released from prison Tuesday after more than 100 days behind bars, in a closely watched freedom of speech case.

The 63-year-old Alam was arrested on August 5 for making "false" and "provocative" statements on Al Jazeera television and Facebook during student protests.

He was freed from Dhaka’s main jail Tuesday after being granted bail last week.

Alam told AFP he hoped his release would "signal freedom for many others" also detained during the massive student demonstrations.

"It is a fantastic feeling to be free in a free country, breathing free air. But I hope for freedom for everyone else," he said.

He was held under controversial internet laws which critics say have been wielded by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to stifle dissent and harass journalists.

Alam spoke briefly to reporters after he came out of prison to describe conditions inside jail.

The photographer had previously said he was badly beaten while in custody.

Although Alam was granted bail on Thursday last week, he had to wait another five days to be set free as the prosecution moved to appeal against the bail order.

He had earlier applied unsuccessfully for bail four times.

Alam, whose work has appeared widely in global media and who founded the renowned Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, faces a maximum 14 years in jail if convicted.

His lawyers have argued that Alam’s detention was "a clear violation" of his fundamental rights under Bangladesh’s constitution.

The photographer’s arrest triggered international protests – with rights groups, Nobel laureates and academics calling for his release – and followed a series of mass rallies this summer after two teenagers were killed by a speeding bus.

The massive protests evolved into broader demonstrations against Hasina, who will seek a third consecutive term next month, and her Awami League party.

Alam told Al Jazeera at the time that the protests were the result of pent-up anger at corruption and an "unelected government… clinging on by brute force".

He was arrested the same day, with many other protesters held on similar charges as authorities cracked down on demonstrators.

In reaction to Alam’s release, Amnesty International said Tuesday Bangladesh authorities must immediately drop charges against him and "uphold its international commitments to protect the right to freedom of expression".

"Shahidul Alam is a bold representation of Bangladesh through his lens. He should not have been detained at the first place," said Saad Hammadi, Amnesty International’s Regional Campaigner for South Asia.

Human Rights Watch accused Bangladesh of targeting activists and journalists in the wake of the protests instead of prosecuting those who attacked students with fists and rods.

Michelle Bachelet used her first statement as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to raise the issue of attacks on journalists in Bangladesh.

In recent weeks, Hasina has been accused of stifling dissent further by ratifying a controversial new digital-security law.

And a prominent critic of the government was arrested for defamation last month, days after he helped form an opposition coalition.

 

 

One of the last missing pieces of Byzantine art stolen from Cyprus was handed back this week by a renowned Dutch art investigator, who found it in the possession of an unwitting British family.

For Arthur Brand – dubbed the "Indiana Jones of the art world" thanks to his exploits to recover stolen works – the handover was the result of a nearly two-year chase across Europe.

The artefact is valued at between €5-10 million euros (£4.4-8.9 million).  

"This is a very special piece that’s more than 1,600 years old. It’s one of the last and most beautiful examples of art from the early Byzantine era," Mr Brand told AFP.

Mr Brand said he returned the depiction of Saint Mark during a private ceremony on Friday at the Cypriot embassy in The Hague.

Through a series of intermediaries – including several in the underground world – Mr Brand finally traced the missing mosaic to an apartment in Monaco.

"It was in the possession of a British family, who bought the mosaic in good faith more than four decades ago," Mr Brand said.

"They were horrified when they found out that it was in fact a priceless art treasure," Mr Brand said.

The mosaic was one of a set removed from Panayia Kanakaria church, about 105 kilometres (65 miles) northeast of Nicosia, looted in the 1970s during the Turkish invasion.

"The mosaics of Kanakaria are of immense importance in Christian art and world culture," said Maria Paphiti, a former department head at British auction house Christie’s.

The family agreed to return it "to the people of Cyprus" in return for a small fee to cover restoration and storage costs, he added.

A week ago, Mr Brand – who was working with the Church of Cyprus – returned to Monaco to collect the treasure.

"It was one of the greatest moments of my life," the detective said.

In 2015, Mr Brand make headlines after tracking down two massive bronze statues made by Nazi sculptor Joseph Thorak, referred to as "Hitler’s Horses".

A year later he helped to recover five stolen masterpieces from a criminal group in Ukraine.

A South Korean train rolled into North Korea for the first time in a decade on Friday as the countries began joint surveys on northern railway sections they hope someday to connect with the South.

The weeks-long inspections represent one of the most significant goodwill gestures between the Koreas in past months as they push ahead with engagement amid a stalemate in larger negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang to resolve the nuclear standoff.

Also on Friday, an official from Seoul’s Defence Ministry said the North and South Korean militaries completed removing 20 front-line guard posts and land mines from a border area where they plan to start their first-ever joint search for remains of soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.

The Koreas plan to hold a groundbreaking ceremony by the end of the year on an ambitious project to connect their railways and roads as agreed by their leaders. But beyond surveys and tape-cuttings, the Koreas cannot move much further along without the removal of US-led sanctions against the North, which isn’t likely before it takes firmer steps toward relinquishing its nuclear weapons and missiles.

"Through the railways that will be connected in one, the South and North will prosper together and peace in the Korean Peninsula will become firmer," South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said during a ceremony at Dorasan Station near the border. "We will maintain close consultation with related nations so that the project to connect the South and North’s railways could proceed with international support."

The plan to modernise North Korea’s outdated railways and roads and connect them with the South was among many agreements reached between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who met three times this year as part of a diplomatic push that eased tensions over the North’s nuclear program.

In their most recent summit in Pyongyang in September, Kim and Moon committed to reviving economic cooperation when possible, voicing optimism that international sanctions could end to allow such activity. They also announced measures to reduce conventional military threats, such as creating buffer zones along their land and sea boundaries and a no-fly zone above the border and also removing a number of guard posts and de-mining sections in border areas.

After whistling twice, a South Korean train engine pulling six rail cars slowly departed toward North Korea’s Panmun Station, near the town of Kaesong, where the cars were to be reconnected to a North Korean engine.

According to plans outlined by Cho’s ministry, Korean officials will begin by surveying a 400-kilometre (248-mile) railroad section between Kaesong and Sinuiju that cuts through the North’s central region and northeastern coast. From Dec. 8 to 17, the Koreas will inspect an 800-kilometre (497 mile) railway section along the country’s eastern coast, stretching from an area near the scenic Diamond Mountain to a riverside station near the North’s border with Russia.

During the surveys, a North Korean train engine will pull six South Korean cars – including passenger and sleeping cars, a power-generator car and a fuel tanker – to test operability.

The Unification Ministry said the North will attach its own cars to the engine, but it was unclear how many. Fifty-six South Korean officials will participate in the surveys, 28 each for the inspections on the western and eastern sections, the ministry said.

The Koreas in December 2007 began freight services between South Korea’s Munsan Station in Paju and the North’s Panmun Station to support operations at a now-shuttered joint factory park in Kaesong. The South used the trains to move construction materials north, while clothing and shoes made at the factory park were sent south. The line was cut in November 2008 due to political tensions over North Korea’s nuclear program and the hardline policies of a new conservative government in Seoul.

The Kaesong factory park was shut down under the South’s previous conservative government in February 2016 following a North Korean nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

The joint railway surveys were on hold before the UN Security Council on Saturday granted an exemption to sanctions that allowed them to proceed. Seoul initially said the joint surveys wouldn’t violate UN sanctions but later said that Washington had different views and the two sides had discussed the matter. 

Saudi Arabia must "seize the moment" and bring an end to the war in Yemen, Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, said Monday as he visited Riyadh to put pressure on the kingdom over the conflict and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. 

During a day of intense shuttle diplomacy, flying from Saudi Arabia to the UAE and back again before returning to London, Mr Hunt said he pushed the UK’s Arab allies to move towards a ceasefire in Yemen. 

His visit came as Turkey continued to pressure Saudi Arabia over Mr Khashoggi’s death by sharing with Western countries a graphic audio tape of his final moments inside the Saudi consulate. 

“We have been discussing Khashoggi but also the vital need to seize the moment in Yemen and stop famine and cholera intensifying,” Mr Hunt said.

The foreign secretary met King Salman and the Saudi foreign minister in the morning and was due to meet Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince accused of ordering Mr Khashoggi’s murder. 

He also met with Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of the UAE, and raised the case of Matthew Hedges, a British academic arrested in Dubai on spying charges.  

Mr Hunt’s visit to the Gulf came as fighting continued in the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, where Saudi-led coalition forces are trying to dislodge Houthi rebel fighters backed by Iran. 

At least 150 people were killed in 24 hours of fighting from Sunday, although there appeared to be a lull in the offensive while Mr Hunt was in the region. 

Hodeidah is the main lifeline for food and aid for northern Yemen and the UN has warned of an "absolutely catastrophic situation" if the port is damaged during the fighting. 

Around 14 million people in Yemen – half the country’s population – are on the brink of famine, according to the UN. More than 100 children are estimated to be dying each day as a result of disease and malnutrition.

While the US and the UK support the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen, both countries have been pressuring Riyadh to bring an end to the disastrous four-year war. 

The US and UK have called for a ceasefire by the end of November, followed swiftly by UN-brokered peace talks in Sweden. So far there is little sign that either the Houthis or the Saudi-led coalition are prepared to end the fighting. 

The International Rescue Committee said Mr Hunt’s trip to the Gulf was a “welcome sign”. “Active and urgent diplomacy at the highest level is needed to stop more civilian deaths,” the group said. 

Meanwhile, Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, became the first Western leader to acknowledge that his country’s intelligence services had listened to a Turkish tape of Mr Khashoggi’s murder. 

Downing Street refused to say if MI6 had listened to the tape. France sparked a row with Turkey by accusing Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, of playing “a political game” with the audio tape.

A spokesman for Mr Erdogan called the French comments “unacceptable” and said that a French intelligence official listened to the tape on October 24 and received a transcript of its contents.

The tapes reportedly capture Mr Khashoggi being strangled to death within a few minutes of entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

A coalition of aid groups called on Mr Hunt to push for "concrete measures" to address the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, including opening up access for aid and commerical goods and agreeing a plan to pay public sector salaries in Yemen. 

The collapse of the economy and government budgets have left many Yemenis unable to buy food, even if it is available on the shelves. 

Rock and roll star Elvis Presley has been posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honour, by President Donald Trump.

Presley’s velvety voice filled the White House briefly on Friday when a recording of one his songs was played at a ceremony hosted by the president to honour the king of rock ‘n roll.

Presley was part of an eclectic group of seven Americans being awarded the Medal of Freedom, including the late baseball legend Babe Ruth and Antonin Scalia, the conservative Supreme Court justice

The living recipients included Miriam Adelson, who, like her casino tycoon husband Sheldon Adelson, is a heavyweight Republican party donor.

Mr Trump’s homage to Presley – who once met with President Richard Nixon at the White House in 1970 – paused for a recording of the gospel song "How great thou art."

Mr Trump said that playing music was his idea but when the richly toned performance stopped after just a few seconds, the disappointed president complained that staff organising the event "have no promotional ability."

Mr Trump also recalled that he had attended an Elvis performance himself decades ago, where overexcited fans were "ripping the place apart, screaming. They were going crazy."

The other recipients were retiring Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, one of the longest-serving senators in US history; Alan Page, who was elected to the Minnesota Supreme Court after an NFL career with the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears; and Roger Staubach, the Hall of Fame Dallas Cowboys quarterback.

Miriam Adelson is a doctor, philanthropist and humanitarian, but is perhaps best known as the wife of Sheldon Adelson, a Las Vegas casino magnate considered one of the nation’s most powerful Republican donors.

The Adelsons gave Mr Trump’s presidential campaign a $30 million (£23 million) boost in the final months of the 2016 race. The couple followed up this election cycle by donating $100 million to the Republican Party for last week’s midterms.

Dr Adelson, 73, is an Israeli-born, naturalised US citizen who earned a medical degree from Tel Aviv University and founded a pair of drug abuse treatment and research centers in Las Vegas and Tel Aviv. She and her husband own the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Israel Hayom newspapers.

The Adelsons are also avid supporters of Israel. Their passion for strengthening the country, along with Israeli-US relations, has helped keep such policy priorities as relocating the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem front and center in the Republican Party and the Trump administration.

Mr Trump moved the embassy in May, and Mr Adelson, who had offered to personally fund the move, sat in the front row for the ceremony.

Robert Weissman, president of the public interest group Public Citizen, questioned whether the decision to recognise Dr Adelson was based on merit.

"It’s emblematic of the corrupt and transactional presidency of Donald Trump, and it is a shame, but not a surprise, that he is corroding and corrupting a civic treasure, an honor like the Medal of Freedom," Mr Weissman said.

Elliott Abrams, who held foreign policy roles under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W Bush, called the complaints "ridiculous." Mr Abrams noted that Dr Adelson has donated her time and her money to combatting addiction. He contrasted her award with those given by President Barack Obama to Chita Rivera, Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand, Ellen DeGeneres and Warren Buffett, among others.

"People who said nothing about all of that and now criticise the medal for Dr Adelson are simply being nasty and partisan, and are not actually taking a look at her remarkable knowledge and charity in the chemical addiction field," Mr Abrams said.

White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said Mr Trump used the process followed by previous administrations to settle on his group of honorees. It was coordinated by the staff secretary’s office, incorporating recommendations from the public, relevant presidential advisory bodies, the Cabinet and senior White House staff, she said.

The award is given to individuals "who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."

Dr Adelson said she was "deeply humbled and moved by this exceptional honor."

"Liberty is at the heart of my decades of work against substance abuse. Drug dependency is enslavement, for the user and his or her family and society, and treatment an emancipation," she said in a statement Thursday.

Fletcher McClellan, a political science professor at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, said presidents have no limits on making these awards.

"He has total discretion as to who and when and how," said Prof McClellan, who has studied the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

A survey commissioned to celebrate “Good Husband and Wife Day” in Japan has backfired after less than 30 per cent of the people interviewed said their marriage was “harmonious” while nearly 60 per cent said that, given the choice, would not marry their present spouse again.

Underlining the disharmony in many Japanese marriages, the survey also showed that 76 per cent of wives were unhappy with their husband’s behaviour, with nearly 30 per cent complaining their menfolk failed to show sufficient “consideration” towards them. 

The study was conducted in October by the Tokyo-based Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co and quizzed 1,620 married people between the ages of 20 and 79. 

The company played down the fact that just 29.9 per cent of the people interviewed said their marriage was “harmonious” by claiming that married couples might not have wanted to suggest their relationship was perfect. Those couples replied their marriage was “relatively harmonious”, the company claimed, accounting for 45.4 percent of the total respondents. 

The life insurance firm would have found it more difficult to explain away the fact that just 42.6 per cent of people replied that they would definitely or probably marry their same spouse again or the three-quarters of the women taking part who complained about their husbands. 

How to make an average marriage amazing

Disharmony in Japanese households often appears after retirement, when a husband suddenly has time on his hands and no hobbies or interests after devoting so much of his life to his employer. Similarly, a wife who is used to being able to do her own thing for many years grows resentful after finding a husband under her feet. 

Around 607,000 couples tied the knot in the first 10 months of 2017, down 13,000 on the same period of 2016 and the lowest figure recorded since the end of World War II. The declining marriage rate is mirrored by the nation’s contracting birth rate, which is causing concern as the “baby-boomer” generation retire and require pensions and healthcare paid for by a shrinking working population. 

Madrid has ordered electric scooters off the city’s streets within 72 hours amid claims they are a public nuisance and just days after a 90-year-old pedestrian was killed in a collision. 

The council told the three main e-scooter companies operating in the Spanish capital – Lime, Wind and VOI – that their apps do not abide by rules that restrict the vehicles to bicycle lanes and single-lane streets where the speed limit is 30kmh. 

“They were given a deadline and told that to continue they had to fulfill a series of conditions, including avoiding agglomerations and that the start and end of rides must take place in permitted areas,” said Inés Sabanés, Madrid city environment and mobility coordinator.   

Madrid’s ban forms part of a global push-back against the whizzy two-wheeled devices that has seen them cleared from parts of Los Angeles and other US cities. 

The three-companies began operating in Madrid before any regulations were in place, starting with Lime in the summer. The council says it told them that they must adjust their scooters’ apps to ensure they were used in appropriate areas and not left to block pavements.  

Ms Sabanés said that the council would remove any scooters belonging to the three companies once the three-day warning period had elapsed. 

A spokesperson for Wind confirmed that it had received the order to remove its scooters from Madrid’s streets and that its team in Spain had met with council representatives on Tuesday. 

Madrid’s streets will likely only be free of scooters for a short while as the council is currently evaluating licensing applications from a dozen companies. Lime, Wind and VOI are welcome to apply again if they make adjustments to their apps, Ms Sabanes said. 

Madrid police have reported 22 accidents involving e-scooters since the start of the summer, including 8 where pedestrians were run-over.

Last week it emerged that two men are facing trial for manslaughter in Barcelona after they fatally knocked down a 90-year-old woman walking with a zimmerframe in a zone reserved for pedestrians.    

Spain’s DGT road agency said in response that it was drawing up rules on electric vehicles that would include a maximum speed of 25kmh. 

Responding to the situation, a Lime spokesperson said: "We have discussed the situation with Madrid authorities and are currently evaluating City Hall’s recent announcement around the temporary suspension of the main electric scooter providers in the city.

"We fully believe that LimeMadrid is an integral part of Madrid’s sustainable urban life and supports the framework of the recently launched Madrid Central Alternative Means of Mobility Plan."