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8 LIBYA'S prime minister Abdullah Al-Thinni was yesterday stopped from boarding his official plane at Labraq airport for the second time in a week. No details were given about who ordered the move nor where Thinni was heading, but it comes only five days after soldiers acting on orders from a top commander stopped him boarding a flight to Malta to address a conference organised by the Na- tional Oil Corporation. The Libyan Herald reported that this was "the latest episode in a turbulent term in office for a prime minister who has been stopped from boarding planes four times, has resigned twice and once been attacked in his car". In March guards at Labraq, the airport serving the present govern- ment base at Beida prevented him boarding a plane in protest over his choice of home affairs minis- ter. This protest came shortly after army units blocked his official car from taking him to visit the front line in nearby Benghazi. In August 2014 it was Libya Dawn militias doing the blocking, refusing to let him fly out of Tripoli's Mitiga airport as the city erupted into open war. With Thinni narrowly escaping an assassination attempt in May close to the House of Representa- tives' (HoR) headquarters at Tobruk naval base, he has had every excuse for quitting and has done so twice. Less than a month into the his ap- pointment as caretaker prime min- ister in April last year he resigned, citing threats to his family, but later said he had not submitted his resig- nation letter. Then last month he again an- nounced his resignation, this time live on television after a barrage of angry comments during a phone-in programme. "I officially resign and I will submit my resignation to the House of Representatives on Sun- day," he said. Later he changed his mind, officials saying he meant to say he would quit if the Libyan peo- ple demanded it. Thinni's predecessor, Ali Zeidan, had escaped via Tripoli airport fear- ing for his life when the General National Congress (GNC) tried to impeach him. When the GNC was dissolved, in UN-supervised elec- tions for the HoR, Thinni was cho- sen as the new parliament's first prime minister. Libya finds itself today in the odd position of having two rival govern- ments, each of them vying for inter- national legitimacy and dwindling resources as the North African na- tion slips deeper into civil war. The country has two central banks, two national oil companies, and three anti-corruption commissions. Brit- ish courts are now mulling which of the two Libyan investment chair- men has authority over the country's $67 billion sovereign wealth fund. Despite failed attempts to foster stability, Western officials say the time is right to reconcile the inter- nationally recognized legislature in the city of Tobruk, which supports Thinni, and its rival in Tripoli, the Islamist-dominated General Na- tional Congress. maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER 2015 News Libya envoy Bernardino Leon says text of peace deal finalized The United Nations has handed Libya's warring factions a final draft of a peace accord to end their conflict. Hardliners from both sides had long resisted peace talks, hoping they could gain more from the conflict UN envoy Bernardino Leon said late on Monday that a final text of a peace deal for war-torn Libya had been reached at talks in the Mo- roccan resort of Skhirate. Handing the final draft of a peace accord to Libya's warring factions, Leon said the UN's work was over and they had to take the deal or leave it. "We have now a text that is a final text, and our part in the process is now finished," the envoy said after a lengthy day of negotiations be- tween delegates. "Now it is up to the parties, the participants to react to this text." Leon added that the factions inside Libya would now have to agree to the text and that he hoped discussions on the makeup of a national unity government would take place after the end of this week's Islamic Eid festival. He further explained that all parties had confirmed their will- ingness to return to discuss repre- sentatives for a united government within days and for a deal to be signed in Libya before October 20. Libya's chaotic civil war saw the country's numerous militias line up behind the internationally rec- ognized government based in the far eastern city of Tobruk and a ri- val Islamist administration in the capital Tripoli, in the west. The conflict in Libya has added to the number of refugees entering Europe in recent months The conflict has allowed the "Is- lamic State" extremist group to gain territory in the centre of the country and has added to the flow of refugees and migrants leaving its Mediterranean coast in the hope of reaching Europe. Recent days saw an uptick in fighting, as Tobruk's army com- mander General Khalifa Haftar launched a renewed assault on hard-line Islamist militias in the eastern city of Benghazi, drawing criticism from the United Nations. On Sunday, the UN accused the army of Libya's internationally rec- ognized government of deliberately trying to sabotage the peace talks with a new offensive in Benghazi. Libya has suffered constant in- stability since the overthrow and killing of long-time ruler Muam- mar Gaddafi in 2011. Libyan prime minister again prevented from leaving country Libya's prime minister Abdullah Al-Thinni 'Defeat device' leads to Volkswagen crisis SOFTWARE discrepancies have revealed a shocking case of alleged emissions fraud by Volkswagen, it was revealed earlier this week. On Monday, the German carmaker revealed that said discrepancies could apply to 11 million of their vehicles worldwide. Fallout from the case has led to VW's shares to tumble dramatically, while yes- terday evening German chancel- lor Angela Merkel called for "full transparency" during ongoing in- vestigations into the matter. "Given the difficult situation, this is about showing complete transparency, clearing up the en- tire case. The Transport Minister is in close contact with the com- pany, Volkswagen. And I hope that the facts will be put on the table as quickly as possible," Merkel said in Berlin yesterday. The case hangs on the presence of a "defeat device" in nearly 500,000 VW cars sold in the US between 2009 and 2015. The US Environ- mental Protection Agency, which revealed this information earlier this week, explained how the de- vice is sensitive to whenever the car is being tested for emissions, and automatically lowers them to acceptable levels. The Agency said that as a result, each of these cars released 40 times more pollution than what is currently allowed by law. In a statement, Volkswagen were quick to reassure customers that the allegations have no bearing on the safety of their vehicles, adding that all efforts are being focused on finding a solution to the problem. "Volkswagen is working at full speed to clarify irregularities concerning a particular software used in diesel engines. New vehi- cles from the Volkswagen Group with EU 6 diesel engines currently available in the European Union comply with legal requirements and environmental standards. The software in question does not affect handling, consumption or emissions. This gives clarity to customers and dealers," the group said in a statement. They added: "Discrepancies re- late to vehicles with Type EA 189 engines, involving some eleven million vehicles worldwide. A no- ticeable deviation between bench test results and actual road use was established solely for this type of engine. Volkswagen is working intensely to eliminate these de- viations through technical meas- ures. The company is therefore in contact with the relevant authori- ties and the German Federal Mo- tor Transport Authority (KBA – Kraftfahrtbundesamt)." Though the VW group said that it would set dedicate €6.5 billion to mitigate any required service measures and accommodate "oth- er efforts to win back the trust of [their] customers" it is believed that this will be far from enough to cover the fallout from the scandal, as analysts suggest that VW could be fined $18 billion by the US alone; to say nothing of the poten- tial class-action lawsuits, criminal charges and recalls that are likely to follow. Some analysts are even suggesting that the scale of the fi- nancial fall-out for VW could be comparable to the "blockbuster fines" leveled at British Petroleum following the oil spill in 2010. South Korea has opened a probe into some of its VW models, with Europe likely to follow suit soon enough. As the story was devel- oping yesterday evening, German media reported that Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn – whose contract was to last until Friday – was to have his contract terminat- ed and to be replaced by current Porche CEO Matthias Mueller. However, a spokesperson for VW quickly took to Twitter to shoot down the rumour as "ridiculous". UN envoy Bernardino Leon