This is how Libya distributes cash around the country. A Libyan teenager poses proudly next to currency worth more than £1 million that, he says, he was told by the interim government to distribute.
Abd El Khader sits on a sofa with two million Libyan dinars in a picture that illustrates problems posed by the collapse of the country’s banking system.
Libya’s government is unable to account for unfrozen assets of $1 billion, according to documents leaked to Exaro. The reports show that the funds may have gone missing. The money was due to be paid to public-sector workers in Libya. In addition, the documents reveal that at least $3.5 million failed to reach victims of the conflict.
CAIRO: Egyptians love their dates. The eight-lane highway – known as “the spine of Cairo” – that runs from the business district of Egypt’s capital towards the ancient pyramids crosses the Nile over the ‘6 October Bridge’. The date marks the day when Egypt invaded Israeli territory in 1973. Egypt faces more troubled dates ahead as its main opposition says that it will boycott parliamentary elections.
TUNIS: Young Tunisians are taking to the streets again two years after what became known as the “Arab Spring” was triggered in this country. Mohammed Bouazizi, a young fruit and vegetable seller, set himself on fire in southern Tunisia two years ago today, after a row about a licence for a market stall. Exaro assesses the mood today of the fledgling democracy in north Africa.
ABU DHABI: Managers at Emirates, the largest airline in the Middle East, like to tell a crude joke about Arabs working for them. Crude as it is, the joke nonetheless betrays a deep unease in the country in which the airline is based, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). And it helps explain why the Arab uprising is yet to reach this place.
Airlines are forcing captains to exceed safety limits on flying hours by routinely using additional time meant for contingencies, according to a European pilots’ group. The European Cockpit Association says that pilots are regularly made to use this extra time so that airlines do not have to pay for other air crew to take over once the time limit has been reached.
Think helium, think balloons for children’s parties. And, of course, think silly voices. But the US military, for one, does not think that helium is a laughing matter. A spate of media reports has recently focussed on how we have been wasting helium. But the key role of helium in military applications means that the potential crisis is even more wide-reaching.
HONG KONG: Children here are taught about the evils of corruption even before they are old enough for infant school. The Independent Commission Against Corruption is credited with cleaning up much of the corruption that once plagued the former British colony. It spends £13 million a year on “educating” children as well as adults in Hong Kong. And cartoon characters are part of the master plan.
Both candidates in the US presidential election have been embarrassed by a new app that claims to unmask fake Twitter followers. Transparency in the Twittersphere has become a moral issue. ‘Twittergate’ first erupted late last month. But both the Romney and Obama campaigns have denied buying followers. There is, though, a thriving market in bogus popularity – and a sliding scale of deceit.
Dire conditions that fuelled unrest among communities around Lonmin’s operations in South Africa were revealed in an internal report commissioned by the London-based mining company. Exaro has obtained a copy of the report that was produced in 2006. More recent independent research suggests that little has changed, despite the company’s claim to be a leader on corporate social responsibility.
Pilots at a major European airline are being offered bonuses to encourage them to minimise how much fuel they carry. Exaro can reveal that shocking evidence of the practice is to be passed to the European Aviation Safety Agency, which regulates airlines. It says that it will examine the claims, which were first received by a European pilots’ group.
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