THE AUSTRALIAN: THOUSANDS of Europeans fled the unrest in Libya yesterday and the United States has ordered non-essential personnel to leave the oil-rich north African nation amid escalating violence.
Portugal, Austria and The Netherlands sent military planes to Tripoli to evacuate their nationals and those of other EU states as companies with major interests in the country, including British energy giant BP and Italy's ENI and Finmeccanica, were also set to repatriate their employees.
An Austrian foreign ministry spokesman said regular flights on Austrian Airlines from Tripoli to Vienna were fully booked, adding that the airline would use a larger plane today for the daily round-trip flight.
Russia was to begin evacuating its nationals today, Moscow's emergency situations ministry said. The Russian community totals more than 500.
Earlier yesterday, rail monopoly Russian Railways said that it would evacuate its employees working on a multi-billion euro high-speed railway.
Turkey plans to send four planes and two ferries to evacuate more nationals from Libya after repatriating some 600 at the weekend after rioters stormed construction sites in the Benghazi area, the NTV news channel reported. >>> AFP | Tuesday, February 22, 2011
