Republicans have launched a bid to remove the Department of Justice official overseeing the Russia inquiry dogging Donald Trump's presidency. House of Representatives conservatives have filed articles of impeachment in an effort to oust Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The articles were introduced by Representatives Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan, who accuse him of stonewalling their requests for information. Mr Rosenstein denies the accusations. The articles of impeachment, which were filed on Wednesday evening, criticise Mr Rosenstein for allegedly failing to comply with requests for documents relating to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. "Rod Rosenstein has been in charge of the Department of Justice as the agency has made every effort to obstruct legitimate attempts of congressional oversight," Mr Meadows said in a statement. Mr Rosenstein has overseen the investigation since Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself last year. Impeachment would have to be approved by a majority in the House and backed by two-thirds of the US Senate to convict Mr Rosenstein, which makes the plan a long shot. Who is Rod Rosenstein? Within weeks of becoming deputy attorney general in April 2017, Mr Rosenstein found himself in controversy after a memo he wrote was cited as the reason for President Trump's decision to fire FBI chief James Comey, who was investigating Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 US elections. Mr Rosenstein then appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to take over the inquiry. Earlier this month, the Department of Justice charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with hacking Democratic officials during the 2016 vote. Although Mr Rosenstein has said there is no evidence they "altered the vote count or changed any election result", the announcement came just before Mr Trump's controversial summit with President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. What is the Mueller investigation? President Trump's campaign team has been accused of colluding with Russia to influence the outcome of the presidential election. In 2016, US intelligence agencies concluded that Russia had used a state-authorised campaign of cyber attacks and fake news stories planted on social media in an attempt to turn the election against Hillary Clinton. Thirty-two people have now been indicted, including four members of Mr Trump's campaign team and 25 Russians. Both Mr Trump and Russia have denied the allegations, with Mr Trump repeatedly describing the investigation as a "witch hunt".

A newly married Irishman is confirmed dead after being caught up in wildfires in Greece. Brian O'Callaghan-Westropp, who was on honeymoon with his wife Zoe Holohan, became separated trying to escape the flames in the seaside resort of Mati. In a statement, the two families said they were "deeply saddened" by his death. They also asked for privacy "as we grieve and as Zoe makes her recovery". Mr O'Callaghan-Westropp, who was originally from County Clare, worked for a catering company and volunteered for Blood Bikes East, which provides an emergency medical transport service around hospitals in Dublin. The organisation paid tribute to Mr O'Callaghan-Westropp in a post on its Facebook page, describing him as a diligent colleague and dear friend whose influence will last for decades to come. Ms Holohan, from Dublin, remains in hospital after suffering burns to her head and hands. The couple were travelling in a vehicle when they were forced to flee. Ms Holohan was able to escape to a nearby beach and was admitted to hospital last night. Death of Irish citizen Orla O'Hanrahan, the Irish Ambassador to Greece, confirmed the death of Mr O'Callaghan-Westropp in an interview with RTÉ. "Our sympathies and hearts go out to his family at this time," she said. More than 70 people have died in the wildfires which have devastated a number of Greek villages and holiday resorts. Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney confirmed one Irish citizen had been hospitalised with burns. Mr Coveney said his department was also providing consular assistance to the person's family. Devastating wildfires More than 70 people have died in the wildfires, which have devastated a number of Greek villages and holiday resorts Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has declared three days of mourning, while Italy, Germany, Poland and France have all sent help in the form of planes, vehicles and fire fighters. Spain and Cyprus have also offered assistance.

French police have searched the office of a former senior security aide embroiled in a scandal at the Elysée Palace on Wednesday. Alexandre Benalla, 26, was fired last week and faces several charges after footage emerged showing him assault demonstrators at May Day protests. The president's office said the former bodyguard was present for the search. President Emmanuel Macron has spoken for the first time on the scandal - lashing out at press coverage of it. He told guests at a closed-door reception on Tuesday evening: "We have a media that does not seek the truth... I see a media power that want to be a judicial power." "What happened on 1 May is terrible, serious, and for me it was a disappointment and a betrayal," President Macron told lawmakers. "The only person responsible for this affair is me," he said. "If they're looking for someone to hold responsible, he's right in front of you. They can come and get me." Lawmakers have been demanding to know why the presidency did not act sooner as the interior minister admitted he knew of the video on 2 May. Mr Macron again criticised members of the media on Wednesday, telling journalists from two outlets: "You've been saying a whole lot of nonsense over the past few days." Mr Macron dismissed Mr Benalla from his position as assistant to the French president's chief of staff on Friday. On Sunday, charges were brought against Mr Benalla, who is accused of assault with an accomplice, interfering in police work, impersonating a police officer and illegally receiving surveillance footage. On Monday, the president's top bodyguard during last year's election campaign defended his actions, claiming that he was "lending a hand" to the riot officers at the scene after he was "invited to observe" their operations. He believes his behaviour was being exploited for "media and political ends", his lawyers said.

Colombia's powerful former President Alvaro Uribe has resigned his Senate seat to face a bribery and fraud investigation in the Supreme Court. He is seen as the power behind the country's incoming President, Ivan Duque, who is due to take office in August. Mr Uribe, who was president from 2002 to 2010, faces charges of making false accusations and witness tampering. It is the first time a Colombian court has asked an ex-president to testify. Alvaro Uribe's exit from the Senate removes a vocal critic of the peace deal signed with the Farc rebels in 2016, which ended more than 50 years of armed conflict. His eight-year presidency was marked by his hard-line stance against the guerillas, who killed his father in 1983. Mr Aribe has always called for tougher treatment for former Farc rebels in the courts. Why did Mr Uribe resign? In a Tweet on Tuesday, Mr Uribe said he felt "morally impeded to be a senator" and explained that he was resigning to ensure that "my defence does not interfere with the work of the Senate". However, his decision has prompted press speculation about his real reasons for leaving office. In Colombia, the Supreme Court is in charge of investigations against elected officials, while ordinary citizens are investigated by the Prosecutor General's Office. According to his critics, Mr Uribe's resignation will help him to avoid being called before the Supreme Court. The cases against him are likely to be transferred to Colombia's notoriously corrupt and inefficient Public Prosecution Service. Why is Mr Uribe being investigated? The case that led to the Supreme Court investigation began in 2012, when the former president accused leftwing lawmaker Ivan Cepeda of orchestrating a plot to link him to right-wing paramilitary groups. But the Supreme Court dismissed the charges against Mr Cepeda and said that it appeared Mr Uribe had threatened witnesses. Mr Cepeda hailed the Supreme Court's decision to press charges against Mr Uribe as a historical milestone. "Uribe was considered untouchable and all powerful until yesterday. This marks a very important precedent," he said. Alvaro Uribe and his family have long been accused of paramilitary involvement but previous investigations have not borne fruit. The family has denied all links. Mr Uribe's brother, Santiago, is currently awaiting trial for allegedly running a paramilitary group known as the Twelve Apostles. Paramilitary groups in Colombia were originally funded by landowners to protect them from left-wing rebel groups such as the Farc. However, they later became feared death squads linked to rural massacres, drug trafficking and sexual violence.

At least 215 people have died in a series of apparently co-ordinated attacks in south-western Syria, local officials and a monitoring group say. Several suicide bombings struck in and around the government-held city of Suweida - the main city in the province - on Wednesday. The Islamic State group (IS) said it carried out the attacks. Pro-government forces were later reported to be engaged in gun battles with IS militants east of the city. The Syrian government, backed by Russia, recently launched a campaign to retake the remaining rebel-held areas across the south of the country. Wednesday's wave of attacks was the deadliest on government-held territory in months, correspondents say. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported a string of suicide blasts in Suweida, south of the capital Damascus, and in villages to the north and east. It said militants also stormed homes in the villages and killed the occupants. It said at least 221 people had been killed, 127 of them civilians. "It's the bloodiest death toll in Suweida province since the start of the war [in 2011]," observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP news agency. The Suweida health authority told pro-government radio station Sham FM that 215 people had been killed and 180 injured. State news agency Sana earlier reported one suicide attack at a market in Suweida and said security forces had killed two other attackers before they could blow themselves up. Militants also attacked three villages north-east of the city, it said. State TV also said government forces were "targeting positions of the Daesh [IS] terrorist group" in countryside to the east of Suweida. Suweida governor Amer al-Eshi told state-run Ikhbariyah TV that the city was now "secure and calm". Over the past year, IS has lost most of the land it once held across Syria and neighbouring Iraq. At the peak of its power, around 10 million people lived in IS-controlled areas, but the US military said earlier this year that the jihadist group had been ousted from 98% of its former territory. In Syria, the group is still present in small pockets in the southern provinces of Suweida and Deraa, as well as parts of the country's east. What is happening elsewhere in the country? The Syrian military, backed by Russian forces, recently launched an operation to drive rebels from their remaining strongholds in the south-west. On Wednesday, Russia-backed government forces were also reported to be bombarding pockets of IS-held territory in Deraa, west of Suweida. At least 270,000 people have fled their homes in the region as fighting continues, the UN says. On Sunday, Israel allowed the evacuation of hundreds of White Helmets civil defence workers who were trapped in a war zone in southern Syria. The Syrian government condemned the move, describing it as a "criminal operation" by Israel and others.

Facebook shares tumbled by more than 20% on Wednesday after the social media network's revenue and user growth fell short of investor expectations. The firm, which is facing backlash for its handling of fake news and privacy, said it had 2.23 billion monthly active users at the end of June. This was up 11% on June 2017, the slowest growth in more than two years. It also warned investors that spending growth would outstrip revenue gains in 2019, pinching profits. Facebook said it expected revenue gains to slow, as people make use of new options to limit advertising and less profitable overseas markets drive growth. The firm also plans to spend billions to improve the way it monitors content, tracks advertisers and treats user data - areas where it has faced regulator scrutiny. The firm, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp, is also investing in new features, such as virtual reality and video. Shares in Facebook initially fell about 12% in after-hours trade in New York, but losses accelerated as the firm outlined its spending plans. Daniel Ives, chief strategy officer at GBH Insights, said the firm's forecast was "nightmareish". "They gave a very disappointing outlook for the second half of the year and 2019 and that's going to significantly weigh on the stock in the near term," he said. Facebook profits in the quarter were $5.1bn, up 31% from the same period in 2017. Revenue was $13.2bn, up 42% year-on-year, but expenses grew even faster, rising 50% to about $7.4bn. User growth has flattened in the US and Canada, key markets for the company due to the high prices ads there command. The number of EU users fell amid the rollout of tighter privacy regulations, though Facebook continued to attract new users in countries like Indonesia. Mr Ives said the popularity of Instagram should help Facebook to blunt fallout from challenges at its namesake network. In February, the research firm eMarketer estimated that the number of Facebook users under the age of 25 would fall by about 2 million this year. But it forecast that Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, would add about 1.6 million users in that age range in 2018.

South Sudan's government has defended its decision to give each parliamentarian the sum of $40,000 (£30,300), which it says is a loan to buy cars "because they [currently] use motorbikes". Reports from Juba say the MPs were handed the money in cash. The country's economy has been wrecked by a five-year civil war, and earlier this month a UN report warned that atrocities committed in the conflict may amount to war crimes. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the violent conflict and and which the UN says may amount to war crimes. "Mobility is part of the rights of the parliamentarian," presidential spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny told BBC Newsday. He said the money had been set aside as part of this year's national budget.

Police in Ethiopia are investigating the death of engineer Simegnew Bekele, the man leading the Grand Renaissance Dam project, who was found in a car in the main square of the capital, Addis Ababa. The cause of death is not yet known. The plan to build a hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile in northern Ethiopia has been a source of controversy with Egypt, which has said that it will have an impact on its use of the river.

A new report on the violence between herders and farmers in Nigeria says that the conflict has now claimed six times more lives than the Boko Haram insurgency. The International Crisis Group, a non-governmental organisation working to prevent war, says more than 1,300 people have been killed in clashes in Nigeria's middle belt since January and 300,000 have been displaced. The report says that the conflict stems from wider issues, including climate change and the expansion of farmland. But it says the escalation of violence in 2018 is due to the growing number of ethnic militias with illegal weapons. It also blames the failure of the government to prosecute perpetrators, and the introduction of anti-grazing laws, widely opposed by herders. The report also warns that the conflict has dangerous religious and ethnic dimensions because the herders are mainly Muslim Fulanis and the farmers tend to be Christians.

South Sudan's government and the main rebel group have provisionally approved a power-sharing deal at talks in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Rebel leader and former Vice-President Riek Machar, who is expected to resume his government role, was at the signing ceremony. Smaller opposition groups have not signed the agreement. In June, the warring sides agreed on a permanent ceasefire, ending five years of civil war. That agreement called for a transitional government to be created within four months that would govern for three years. The war broke out in 2013, when the country divided largely along ethnic lines. Tens of thousands have been killed.

Two mountain gorillas have been born in the Democratic Republic of Congo's famous Virunga National Park, bringing to nine the number of babies born this year, the park has said in a tweet. A 19-year-old mountain gorilla named Kayenga gave birth to her third child, a boy, while eight-year-old Anangana gave birth to her first baby, a girl, the park said in a statement. The mountain gorilla is one of the world's most endangered animals. "Over the last decade, Virunga National Park’s mountain gorilla families have played a major role in increasing the worldwide population, which now stands at over 1,000," the park said. "This is a significant jump from the 790 individuals recorded in 2010 and it is fantastic to see this magnificent, yet highly endangered species, continue to thrive," it added.

China's President Xi Jinping has opened a summit of emerging economies in South Africa's main city, Johannesburg, with a warning that the world is facing a choice between cooperation or confrontation. In a speech aimed largely at the Trump administration in the US, Mr Xi said there could be no winner in any trade war. He believed the countries taking part in the summit - China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa - should be resolute against closed-door protectionism. The Chinese leader said: A trade war should be rejected because there will be no winner. Unilateralism and protectionism are mounting, dealing a severe blow to multilateralism and the multilateral trading regime. We are facing a choice between cooperation and confrontation, between opening up and closed-door policy and between mutual benefit and a beggar-thy-neighbour approach. The international community has again reached a new crossroads." The Brics group - as it is known - comprises more than 40% of the global population. Analysts say its members have struggled to find a unified voice, but their common opposition to US trade policy could help to galvanise them.

Few had expected Zimbabwe's main opposition group, the MDC Alliance, to pull out of Monday's general election, despite speculation to the contrary. There is so much at stake - the first opportunity for its presidential candidate, Nelson Chamisa, to test his strength. He emerged as the main opposition candidate following the death of Morgan Tsvangirai in February. At the press conference Mr Chamisa held in the capital, Harare, he hinted at differences within the seven-party opposition alliance. Mr Chamisa told journalists that if the decision had been his alone, he would have opted to boycott the elections. “Who am I to say no to the will of the people,” he added. The opposition is in a deadlock with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission over the administration of the elections. They have a raft of concerns - the printing and storage of the ballot papers, the ink that will used to confirm voting, the number of polling stations, the inconsistencies in the voter’s roll and the vetting of personnel. They are also concerned about intimidation in the rural areas, and the alleged use of food aid to get people to vote for President Mnangagwa and the ruling Zanu-PF party. The election commission says it is working within the law, and is confident of delivering a credible election. The MDC Alliance is now pinning its hopes on the intervention of the regional body, the Southern African Development Community. But though most observers have raised concerns they seem reluctant to pass outright judgement until after the elections.

While a lot of places around the world have been experiencing heatwave conditions in the past few weeks, Kenya has been hit by unusually cold weather. Cloud cover has been a factor in Kenya's colder than normal weather in July, which is usually the coolest month of the year in the East African country. The cool conditions follow an abnormally wet and rainy season up to late June, impacting crops and livestock. Kenya is not the only country seeing cooler than average temperatures. Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Namibia, and eastern Zimbabwe have also seen a cooler month, with more than 2C below the average.

Hundreds of people have been left homeless after heavy floods swept through north-eastern Nigeria's Damaturu city on Tuesday. The floods were the worst to hit the city in 20 years, said Musa Jidawa, a senior official with the government's emergency management agency after visiting the affected areas. Local media report that between 100 and 200 homes were destroyed. Shops were also swept away. "We have gone round for first-hand information to determine areas of immediate needs and intervention,” Mr Jidawa was quoted by the Nigeria News Agency as saying.

Youth from Mali's Arab community have brought the ancient city of Timbuktu to a standstill in a protest against the worsening security situation in the region, Reuters news agency reports. The protesters - many of whom were traders - fired shots in the air, burnt tyres and torched vehicles, it reports. Mali is due to hold presidential elections on Sunday, but the north of the country is unstable. UN and government forces have been battling to end an insurgency by militant Islamists. Tuareg separatists - who were once in an alliance with the militants - are also demanding greater autonomy for the north.

Eritrea's Information Minister Yemane Gebre Meskel has said that he was surprised by the speed at which relations with Ethiopia have improved. He told the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza that he was not expecting the level of goodwill that has been witnessed. Just a few weeks ago the idea that the leaders of the two countries would meet face-to-face was unthinkable. But following the declaration by Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki that the "state of war" is over things have changed rapidly. Some activists are now asking whether the situation within Eritrea will change. President Isaias has been in power since independence in 1993 and has never been elected. His government has been accused of a raft of human rights violations. Amnesty International says freedom of expression is restricted and "arbitrary detention without charge or trial continue to be the norm for thousands of prisoners of conscience". But Mr Yemane dismissed these accusations. "Yes, Eritrea may have... shortcomings here and there," he admitted, "but to portray Eritrea as the worst violator has no basis in fact". He said that the "so-called human rights agenda" has been pedalled for political purposes and that Eritrea has been stigmatised and demonised. Of particular concern to rights groups is the indefinite national service. But Mr Yemane said this was a misnomer as it was never intended to be indefinite. He said the 1994 national service law was about reducing the size of the standing army but the state of tension with Ethiopia meant that people had to serve longer than planned. He would not say whether this would now change.

Zimbabwe's main opposition presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa has said he was confident of victory, despite the "machinations and shenanigans" of the electoral commission to help President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Zanu-PF party to stay in power. Zimbabwe's electoral commission was biased, and it had "thrown away the whistle" to join Mr Mnangagwa's team, Mr Chamisa added. "We will defeat the referee and player. We will not allow them to get away with murder, literally and metaphorically," he said at a press conference. The electoral commission was "stubborn and "arrogant" and had violated the law in its preparations for Monday's poll. The commission had, for instance, failed to disclose how many ballot papers had been printed, and what measures had been taken to ensure they were secure, Mr Chamisa said. The opposition would not accept a "fake" result, but was confident of winning even with "our hands tied at the back", Mr Chamisa said.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari appears to be putting on a brave face following a wave of defections of lawmakers from his All Progressives Congress (APC) party. In a tweet he wished them "the very best". Fifteen senators have left the APC, which means that Mr Buhari no longer has a majority in the upper house of parliament. More than 30 APC members of the lower house have also left the party.

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa has warned that he will not tolerate anarchy, as tensions mount ahead of Monday's elections - the first since long-serving ruler Robert Mugabe was forced to resign. His comments came as police banned an opposition demonstration due to take place on Wednesday against the electoral commission in the capital, Harare. Police said they were too busy making final preparations for the elections to provide security at the march. The main opposition MDC Alliance had called the protest to demand greater transparency in the handling of ballot papers, saying this was vital to guarantee a free and fair poll. Speaking at an election rally on Tuesday, Mr Mnangagwa said: “If anyone causes anarchy, the rule of law will prevail. We will not allow chaos in our country. We want peace." Mr Mnangagwa's comments were seen as directed at his main challenger, Nelson Chamisa, who has said that the opposition will “shut down the country” if its demands for electoral reform were not met.

The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will be addressing the Ugandan parliament shortly as part of his official visit to the country. This is the first time a serving Indian prime minister will be addressing the Ugandan parliament. On Tuesday, thousands of members of Uganda's Asian community turned out to welcome Mr Modi, who is seeking to improve business ties between the two countries. People of Indian origin are key to the Ugandan economy, contributing more than half of its tax revenues despite making up less that 1% of its population. Mr Modi has been tweeting about his meeting with them. Later today, Mr Modi will join the leaders of China, Brazil, Russia, South Africa and several African countries at the Brics summit of emerging economies in Johannesburg.

A fire broke out early this morning at a mosque in a residential area in South Africa's coastal city of Durban, in a suspected arson attack, local media report. The fire has been extinguished and the police explosives unit has arrived at the Masjid-e-Mukhtar mosque in Croftdene, declaring it a crime scene. Saleem Adam‚ a local Muslim leader‚ told South Africa's Times Live news site that those first at the scene had spotted three men jumping over a wall and fleeing. In May, at least one man was killed in a knife attack at the mosque in Verulam, a town about 30km (18.6 miles) north of Durban. In June, two men were killed, also in a knife attack, at a mosque near Cape Town. The motive for the attacks are unclear.

India plans to open 18 new embassies in Africa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, in the latest sign that the Asian state is seeking to strengthen its presence on the continent. Mr Modi made the announcement during a speech in the Ugandan parliament - the first by a serving Indian prime minister. India currently has 29 full diplomatic missions in Africa, AFP news agency quotes officials as saying. Mr Modi welcomed President Yoweri Museveni's policy of encouraging Ugandan Asians to return following the expulsion of many of them during the rule of Idi Amin in the 1970s. "Our people are among the many threads that connect Uganda and India together," Mr Modi said. "Your visionary leadership has enabled Ugandan people of Indian origin to return to their cherished home, regain their lives and help rebuild the nation that they deeply love," he told Mr Museveni. India will boost its investments in Africa, and will keep its markets open to African states to "make it easier and more attractive to trade with India", Mr Modi said. He added that more than 6,000 Indians serve in UN peacekeeping missions in Africa. More than 160 of them have died in the line of duty, the highest number for any country, Mr Modi said. "India will work for you and with you; we will stand with you in your endeavours. We will speak for you and with you," Mr Modi added. He said two-thirds of Indians and Ugandans was under the age of 35, and "if the future belongs to the youth then this is the time to build". Mr Modi also unveiled plans to build a culture centre, named after India's anti-colonial campaigner Mahatma Gandhi, in Uganda's eastern town of Jinga, at the source of the River Nile. Uganda's parliament tweeted details of the speech, including the scene as the special session drew to a close.

A topiarist says he is having to make regular repairs to his hedge due to drunk people pretending to have sex with it. Keith Tyssen has maintained his "privet lady" at his Sheffield home since 2000, but is often woken up in the night by distracted passers-by. "They're climbing on top of her and pulling her legs apart - you know, it's disgusting," he said. Mr Tyssen has considered putting up a sign or an alarm to curb the behaviour. The hedge, which he has sculpted over the past 40 years, started off as a Greek god but he changed it into a reclining woman at the turn of the millennium. "I just peered out at about 04:30 in the morning and there was a guy on top of her and going through the motions of having sex with her," he said. "It makes me feel a bit sick, really. That's just not the way to behave - in lots of ways." He added: "It's not always a guy actually, sometimes it's women who climb on her." The artist and silversmith said the idea for the woman was inspired by a renowned 16th Century gold sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini called the Saliera. Mr Tyssen added: "I don't want them to behave like that with my privet lady. "She's too privet, or private you know?"

Self-balancing electric roller skates developed by personal transportation company Segway-Ninebot are to be banned on the UK's public pavements and roads. The Department for Transport (DfT) told the BBC the skates fell under the same rules as powered rideables such as electric scooters and "hoverboards". Segway-Ninebot said its new skates had a top speed of 12 km/h (7.5mph). However, they are classed as "carriages" under the Highways Act of 1835 and are banned from the pavement. Video-maker Casey Neistat, who was given a pair of the skates to test in New York City, also faced difficulty finding places to try them out. He said he preferred riding them on smooth surfaces, but was quickly stopped riding inside Grand Central Station by a security officer. The DfT added that powered transporters were usually not allowed on UK roads. It said: "For most powered transporters, their construction is such that they clearly would not comply with the normal vehicle construction rules or with type approval." This would limit their use to private property with the landowner's permission. The same rules apply to electric scooters, electric unicycles and the two-wheeled "hoverboards". The Drift W1 electric skates were revealed in June and described by the company as "a new trendy way to move". On Tuesday, it revealed a pair would cost $399 (£303). The company says on its website: "Rules and regulations for riding Segway products on public roads differ for every country."