From Princess Diana To Blake Lively, The Met Costume Gala Through The Years [PHOTOS]

FINAL: Fitch and Penn Fight to a Majority Draw

The long-anticipated Fitch-Penn UFC fight in Sydney, Australia, turned out to be the fight that many people wanted, but the conclusion was what few wanted, ending with a unanimous draw.

A Fitch-Penn rematch now looks like it's on the horizon.

B.J. Penn appeared to have won the first round 10-9, while Jon Fitch appeared to win the second.

Penn appeared to surprise Fitch with his take downs. He also gave Fitch a cut in the match.

Fitch had a big third round, with a relentless series of short punches and elbows. However, many of the blows were not executed with much power.

Like other fights involving Fitch, it didn't make for a exciting match, but since it went three rounds, many UFC fans may say they got what they were looking for. Prior the fight, Fitch had only one loss in his last 21 fights.

After the fight, Penn said he should not have won the fight.

The result diminishes the chances for Penn to have a title fight.

Met Gala Through The Years

Goldcorp's Jeannes sees gold hitting new highs this year and mining costs to ease

Goldcorp (G.TO: Quote) should benefit this year from a continuing reduction in costs combined with a return of gold prices to record high levels, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday.

Chuck Jeannes, CEO of the world's second most valuable gold miner by market capitalization, said rising fears of inflation should push the metal above the record high of $1,030,80 hit last March.

I would be surprised if we don't reach a new high by the end of the year, he said.

Gold has outperformed other resources during the recent recession as investors have embraced its safe-haven reputation.

While gold has come off the highs hit earlier this year as some investors have embraced signs of economic strength, Jeannes expects billions in government stimulus will begin to raise fears of inflation, likely before actual consumer price gains take hold.

Markets move based on fear and expectation of what's going to happen, not when it actually does, he said.

Whether inflation appears in a year or six months or two years, we're focusing long term, and I do think (inflation is) going to dominate the trade for gold for a long time to come.

Gold was at $952 an ounce on Tuesday.

LOWER COSTS

Goldcorp has benefited as costs for energy, steel and reactants have fallen while gold prices have stayed strong.

The company reported a $290.9 million profit in the first quarter, as its cash costs per ounce were a slim $353, or $288 when using byproduct metals production as a cost offset.

Jeannes said he expects costs to continue to ease in the second quarter, despite oil prices that have begun to rise from lows hit early this year, and despite recent strengthening of the Canadian and Mexican currencies, which raises production costs in those countries.

He said Goldcorp has hedged about 50 percent of its fuel usage for the year at sub $50 per barrel prices -- which compares with oil at $62 on Tuesday -- and has locked in about 40 percent of its Canadian and Mexican currency exposure at levels better than its budgeted assumptions.

Both the Canadian dollar  and Mexican peso have risen more than 15 percent since early March.

Jeannes reaffirmed the company's production expectations of 2.3 million ounces this year, rising to 3.5 million ounces by 2013.

He said those forecasts did not factor in potential output from the Cochenour mine, which Goldcorp acquired when it bought Gold Eagle Mines last year.

Cochenour, which lies close to Goldcorp's flagship Red Lake mine in northwestern Ontario, could begin to produce in 2011 or 2012, Jeannes said. The richer Bruce Channel deposit, which lies below Cochenour, could begin to yield gold in 2014.

Goldcorp, which operates mines throughout the Americas, expects its huge Pensaquito project in Mexico to begin commercial production early next year, Jeannes said.

The company's shares rose 2 percent to C$42.25 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

($1=$1.12 Canadian) (Reporting by Cameron French; editing by Peter Galloway)

© Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

Met Gala Through The Years

Fundamental analysis for precious metals gold - 4/22/2009

As we discussed in our yesterday’s mid-day report that the price action was trending downward towards 881.00 to re-test the broken upper line of the minor descending channel and also to re-test 38.2% Fibonacci level of the entire rally started at 679.00 and topped out at 1006.00 before resuming the main upside action as the bullish harmonic pattern still has targets to be reached particularly if it succeeds to hit the cloud’s spans of Ichimoku indicator-currently located at 889.00- while the stochastic positive overlapping attempt supports our intraday bullish outlook. Only a break of 864.00 can invalidate our expected scenario.

The trading range for today is among the key support now at 840.00 and key resistance now at 925.00.

The general trend is to the upside as far as 820.00 remains intact with targets at 1035.00 and 1060.00.

NBA PREVIEW: Lakers vs. Oklahoma City (Sunday, 2:30 PM EST; TV: ABC)

The Lakers look like a fresh new team, and that's bad news for the other Western Conference contenders.

When the Oklahoma City Thunder (36-21) host the Lakers (41-19) at Oklahoma City Arena on Sunday, perhaps the two best teams in the West will go head-to-head along with perhaps the two best players in the NBA.

The Lakers have won their last three games since the All-Star break, including an overtime victory against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden, a place the Lakers have struggled at since the arena opened in 1995.

The Thunder have lost their last two road games against teams who are also in the hunt to go to the NBA Finals: the Orlando Magic, and the San Antonio Spurs.

A loss to the Lakers on Sunday would mean the first three-game losing streak for the Thunder all season.

The Thunder are led by Kevin Durant, the NBA's leading scorer. Durant's numbers are down a bit from last season, but he's still likely to win the scoring title like he did last season.

Now he's joined by defensive center Kendrick Perkins, and speedy point guard Nate Robinson, two players picked up at the trade deadline. The Thunder have their eyes on going deep in the playoffs and acquiring Perkins means they care about slowing down a big man like the Lakers' Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.

The Lakers are led by Kobe Bryant, who poured in 37 points against the Blazers on Wednesday, and shot 10 for 16 from the field against the Clippers.

In their only meeting of the season, the Lakers defeated the Thunder 101-94 at Staples Center, with Durant leading all scorers with 32 points.

The teams also met in a first-round playoff series last season, with Los Angeles winning it in six games.

Sweden April Trade Surplus Narrows

RTTNews - Wednesday, the Statistics Sweden announced that the net trade surplus stood at SEK 8.4 billion in April, narrowing from SEK 8.8 billion surplus in the previous month. Economists had expected a trade surplus of SEK 8.1 billion. A year ago, the trade surplus amounted to SEK 10.3 billion.

Exports value decreased 27% year-on-year to SEK 80.9 billion in April, while imports dropped 28% to SEK 72.5 billion.

Separately, the statistical office said the trade surplus stood at SEK 26 billion in the January to March period, narrowing from SEK 35 billion in the previous year.

The value of exports decreased 19% year-on-year to SEK 250 billion in the January to March period, while imports value declined 18% to SEK 224 billion.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

PREDICTION: Why Jon Fitch will Beat B.J. Penn

Tonight's UFC welterweight contest between Jon Fitch and B.J. Penn promises to be a great fight.

Fitch is favored, and will win for four reasons:

4) Confidence. Fitch only has one loss in his last 21 fights, and that was to Georges St. Pierre, perhaps the best pound-for-pound MMA fighter alive. When you win as often as Fitch, you have the swagger it takes to keep winning.

3) Penn may be slipping. Penn has lost two of his last three matches, with both losses to the same guy: Frankie Edgar. You'd think Penn would have come back and won the rematch, but he didn't. He defeated Mark Hughes in his last match, and it was convincing, but Hughes is a very good fighter, while Fitch is great.

2) More experience as a welterweight. Fitch is more accustomed to the weight class than Penn. Fitch has fought roughly 20 matches as a welterweight, while Penn has only fought 6.

1) Fitch is simply better. A great wrestler, Fitch is also excellent at ground-and-pound fighting. He can take Penn down, and when he does, he will hold him. This one should go the distance, and Fitch is great at winning decisions.

Met Gala Through The Years

French May Business Confidence Improves

RTTNews - Wednesday, the French Statistical Office INSEE announced that the business confidence indicator increased to 72 in May from 71 in April. Economists had expected an increase of 73 for May. The business confidence was 68 in March.

The general production outlook indicator increased to minus 50 from minus 57 in the previous month.

The gauge for personal production outlook decreased to minus 13 in May from minus 10 in April.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

Very poor iron ore demand this year, but things will get better--BMO

BMO Capital Markets Global Commodity Strategist Bart Melek says the light at the end of the iron ore outlook tunnel is getting brighter.

Read Full Article >>

USD/JPY Weekly Outlook

USD/JPY's sharp fall last week suggests that rebound from 81.12 has completed at 83.96 already. Intraday bias remains on the downside for 81.12 support first. 80.93/81.12 support first. Decisive break there will strong suggests that consolidation pattern from 80.29 is completed at 83.96 already and should send USD/JPY through 80.29 low. On the upside, above 82.17 minor resistance will turn bias neutral to extend recent choppy sideway trading.

In the bigger picture, with 85.92 cluster resistance (38.2% retracement of 94.97 to 80.29 at 85.89) intact, there is no confirmation of reversal yet and the longer term down trend in USD/JPY is possibly still in progress for another test on 79.75 (1995 low). Decisive break of 79.75 will target 61.8% projection of 94.97 to 80.29 from 84.49 at 75.41 next. On the upside, break of 84.49 resistance, though, will argue that a medium term bottom is likely formed and will turn focus back to 85.92 cluster resistance for confirmation.

In the long term picture, there is no indication of trend reversal yet and USD/JPY's long term down trend could still extend further to 1995 low of 79.75. We'd anticipate some strong support from 79.75 initially to bring rebound. Focus will be on whether 79.75 would hold or USD/JPY is indeed resuming the multi decade decline that started back in the 80's.

EUR/USD Weekly Outlook

EUR/USD rose further to 1.3837 last week but faced some resistance ahead of 1.3860 and retreated. A temporary top is at least formed and initial bias is neutral this week. As noted before, we're favoring the case that consolidations from 1.3860 is not over yet. That is, rise from 1.3427 is possibly the second leg of the consolidation. Hence, even in case of another rise, the pair would face strong resistance at 1.3860 and bring another fall. Below 1.3704 minor support will flip bias back to the downside for 1.3427 as the third leg consolidations. But after all, outlook in EUR/USD will remain cautiously bullish with 1.3253 cluster support (61.8% retracement of 1.2873 to 1.3860 at 1.3250) intact. Rise from 1.2873 is still expected to resume sooner or later. Meanwhile, decisive break of 1.3860 will confirm that rise from 1.2873 has resumed and should target 1.4281 high next.

In the bigger picture, main question remains on whether medium term correction from 1.6039 has finished with three waves down to 1.1875. The firm break above 1.35 psychological level again affirm the case that fall from 1.4281 was merely a correction only and whole rise from 1.1875 is still in progress. Also, note that break of 1.4281 will revive the case that medium term correction from 1.6039 was completed with three waves down to 1.1875 and the long term up trend might be resuming. On the downside, though, below 1.2873 will turn focus back to 1.1875 low.

In the long term picture, considering the five wave impulsive structure of the long term up trend from 2000 low of 0.8223 to 2008 high of 1.6039, price actions from 1.6039 are viewed as a correction only. Hence, firstly, we'd expect strong support between 61.8% retracement of 0.8223 to 1.6039 at 1.1209 and 1.1639 to contain downside. Secondly, we'd expect another high above 1.6039 eventually, after correction from 1.6039 is confirmed to be finished.

BHP CEO casts doubts on durability of recent metals commodities rally

The head of BHP Billiton , the world's top miner, voiced doubts on Wednesday about the durability of recent strong Chinese demand for commodities and said the picture for global demand was unclear.

Signs of a strong pick-up in Chinese demand for industrial raw materials have fuelled a rally in commodity prices, with three-month copper surging more than 50 percent so far this year.

But BHP Chief Executive Marius Kloppers, in giving a cautious market outlook in a speech to a mining conference, pointed out that average commodity prices were still about 50 percent below their peaks, though he later declined to comment to reporters on recently renegotiated iron ore prices.

On Tuesday, rival global miner Rio Tinto Ltd and Japanese steel mills agreed to cut key iron ore prices by a third in this year's first contract deal, setting a benchmark that China's embattled mills will almost certainly resist.

China reported record imports of iron ore for April, another sign for commodity-market bulls that the wider rally has firm foundations, but Kloppers said the global demand picture was still unclear and should take around six months to resolve.

He said China's current build-up of stocks did not entirely reflect underlying demand and was tied to China's massive $587 billion economic stimulus package announced late last year.

We have some residual concern in the very short term that there may have been some over-buying in anticipation of the stimulus package, which may have led to some stock-build ahead of real demand, Kloppers told the conference.

He said the picture was further muddied by uncertainty over when members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the global club of rich nations, would start re-stocking after running down inventories as demand collapsed.

We do see stabilisation in the next six months as the OECD finds its base level and re-stocking commences, and as China's re-stocking exercise evens out, Kloppers said.

Importantly, in the medium term we don't expect a sharp rebound in overall economic activity; in fact, we probably believe that economic recovery will be both slow and protracted.

BHP shares were up 1.4 percent at A$34.78 in a broader market up 1.18 percent. Rio Tinto was unchanged at A$65.46. (Reporting by Bruce Hextall; writing by Mark Bendeich)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009.

What Time are the Oscars?

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards begin at 8:30 Eastern time live on ABC on Sunday night, and the program will last three hours.

The films that are nominated for Best Picture are: 127 Hours, Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids are All Right, The King's Speech, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Winter's Bone.

The favorites are considered The King's Speech, The Fighter, True Grit, and The Social Network.

Last year's winner was The Hurt Locker.

Actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway will host the program from Kodak Theater in Hollywood, California.

83rd Annual Academy Awards Coverage

Spanish Retail Sales Drop In April

RTTNews - Wednesday, the National Statistics Institute, or INE report showed that Spanish retail sales declined 8.4% in April over the same period of prior year. On a calendar adjusted terms, sales were down 7.5% versus an annual 8.2% decrease seen in March.

Food sales slid 3.2%, while non-food product sales dipped 9.4% in April. Supermarket sales recorded a decline of 5.3% in real terms.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

China's Wen puts social stability at heart of economy

Fighting inflation is a priority for the government in China where rapid price rises and pressure to sharply raise the value of the yuan are a threat to social stability, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday.

Wen's comments at an online forum ahead of China's annual parliament session from March 5, reflect the sensitivity among top Communist Party leaders to public grumbling about rising real estate and food prices.

That wariness has been amplified by official jitters about a fallout from the unseating of authoritarian rulers in the Middle East.

Rapid price rises have affected the public and even social stability, Wen said.

The Party and government have always made a priority of keeping prices at a generally stable level, he said during the online chat, adding that China has ample grain and abundant foreign exchange reserves that would help to keep price rises in check.

Wen said maintaining social stability was also central to the country's foreign exchange policy, requiring a step-by-step increase in yuan flexibility so that Chinese businesses could adapt to the changes.

If the yuan saw a one-off large appreciation, that would cause many closures of our processing enterprises and make many export orders shift to other countries and many of our workers will lose jobs.

Wen sought to deflect criticism from foreign governments, particularly the United States, that have been urging a more rapid rise in the currency.

Let them think about that: if businesses go bankrupt, workers become unemployed and rural migrant workers go home, then what do we have to expand domestic consumption, where will increased consumption come from?

STAMPING OUT CORRUPTION

Wen, whose term ends in early 2013, highlighted the political risks if the public starts to associate inflation with official corruption.

He said the government was determined to stamp out corruption, citing the recent dismissal of the Liu Zhijun, the former railways minister who is suspected of corruption.

I have in fact said before that if price rises become linked to the problems of graft and corruption, that will be enough to spark public discontent, and even create serious social problems, Wen said.

Wen also said the official GDP target was 7 percent per year for the 2011-2015 developmental plan. That rate is significantly below the average annual 11.2 percent growth during the last five-year period, but growth targets tend to undershoot actual performance.

Chinese inflation was lower than forecast in January at 4.9 percent, compared with a year ago, but price pressures remain strong enough to demand deeper tightening. Food prices rose 10.3 percent.

To help rein in inflation, China raised interest rates on February 8, the third rate increase since China began a monetary tightening cycle in earnest in October.

Beijing has also imposed a slew of measures to target property prices that have stayed stubbornly high. The country's leaders, aware of public anger over unaffordable housing, have said they would not tolerate property inflation and speculation.

Even so, housing prices have continued to climb. New home prices climbed in January from a year earlier in 68 of the 70 major cities tracked by the National Bureau of Statistics, with 10 of them registering double-digit growth.

There must be unwavering determination to contain investment and speculative demand in housing. We're adopting economic and legal measures, as well as when necessary administrative ones, Wen said.

I'm confident that through our efforts, we'll see results in reining in speculative and investment purchases of housing.

There is no indication price pressures in China will spark major social unrest, but the ruling Communist Party is wary of any signs that public complaints could coalesce into deeper discontent.

The Premier did not say how the government might use its foreign exchange reserves to combat inflation.

The head of China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), Yi Gang, said on Saturday that the government could not invest much of the forex reserves in the global commodities market because doing so would only push up the prices of the raw materials the economy depends on.

(Editing by Sugita Katyal)

GBP/USD Technical Analysis 27 May 2009

Pound/Dollar made indecisive movement on Tuesday. The Cable tried to decrease, reaching a bottom at 1.5778, then increasing sharply upwards to 1.5957, and closing the day lower at 1.5928. On the 1 hour chart is seen how the Sterling moves in a rectangle, indicating significant consolidation phase after the increasing momentum. Break upwards of the rectangle at 1.6010 may trigger further upward movement towards 1.6130. The nearest support is 1.5825, followed by 1.5730. The CCI indicator is about to cross over the 100 line on the 1 hour chart, signaling a potential ascending pressures.

Technical resistance levels: 1.6010 1.6130 1.6250

Technical support levels: 1.5825 1.5730 1.5635

Today we made already +53 pips profit on GBP/USD from the following signal:

5:47 GMT+1 Sell GBP/USD at 1.5975 SL 1.6001 TP 1.5915 exited at 7:01 GMT

Today so far +145, yesterday +172, as shown at www.zifx.com/performance.php

Iraq’s biggest oil refinery shut down after attack

Gunmen have attacked and bombed Iraq's largest oil refinery, Baiji, shutting down the facility and killing at least five employees.

Armed men entered the refinery and shot dead two of the engineers, said Abdul Qader al-Saab, the facility's deputy chief.

Then they detonated bombs at one unit, the al-Shamal unit, of the refinery, which represents 25 percent of the refinery's production. In the morning, we came to put out the fire, which erupted as a result of the bombs.

Baiji, located in Salaheddin province north of Baghdad, was badly damaged by a fire. It was one of Iraq’s three most important refineries and at one time was controlled by Sunni insurgents to finance their activities. It produced about 150,000 barrels of oil per day (other sources its capacity is almost double that figure)

Analysts said that while attacks on pipelines are common, targeting a refinery itself is rare.

Ahmed al-Jubouri, the governor of Salaheddin province, told Reuters it's a big loss for the whole country. All Iraqi cities depend on its production..

Officials said the damage was severe and would take at least two weeks to repair.

The attack followed days of protests across Iraq against the corruption of the current regime of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and its perceived failure to provide jobs and basic services, including fuel.

Another oil refinery, in Samawa in southern Iraq was also shut down by fire, but reports indicate this was not due to a terrorist attack.

“Yet another concern is the attack's impact on the country's oil industry as a whole, which only recently has begun to spring back to life. The government has been trying to lure foreign investors to build four new refineries, without much success said Ruba Husari, editor of Iraq Oil Forum, according to the Washington Post. It has been difficult to get international companies to come to construct these. Now you have another element of risk.

Cotaje uranium mine restart possible in Bolivia's Potosi

Potosi Province Mining Secretary Carlos Colque says the government will consider restarting a uranium mine at the Cotaje deposit.

In comments broadcast by Radio Fides and reported  by Bloomberg Tuesday, Colque said the government is considering beginning production by 2010 if uranium reserves are confirmed.

He added that the province has invested about 2 million bolivianos ($283,000) in the project.

On March 27th, the United Nations atomic energy program said it would cooperate with Bolivia on the exploration and exploitation of uranium mines.

The National Service of Geology and Mining (Sergeomin) identified 11 locations with uranium deposits in the district of Cotaje between the towns of Huari in Oruro and Sevaruyo in the border area between both departments and the Mulato River in Potosi.

However, Mining Ministry Director Freddy Beltran said the central government isn't involved in the project at the Cotaje deposit. Bloomberg reported that Beltran said a uranium production plant in the same location closed 25 years ago.

Rejected El Pauji Concession not part of Gold Reserve Las Brisas orebody

Yet another Venezuelan Government roadblock has been thrown into the path of the development of the Las Brisas copper and gold project; this time denial of a concession needed for infrastructure.

Read Full Article >>

Libya evacuations by country

Following are details of countries evacuating nationals and employees from Libya or closing operations because of the political turmoil.

* Denotes new or updated entry:

COUNTRIES:

BOSNIA: Evacuation of Bosnians continued on Friday with 150 leaving Libya on Turkish boats from Benghazi and a number by air. Some 1,500 Bosnians lived in Libya.

BRAZIL: Malta harbor authorities said on Friday 3,000 Brazilian workers on a cruise ship were set to arrive overnight.

BRITAIN: Britain was drawing up plans to pull out British oil workers stranded in desert camps, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday. Six flights had left Libya in the past 24 hours carrying Britons, and the frigate HMS Cumberland had evacuated Britons and other foreigners from Benghazi, he said.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the last British government-sponsored charter plane would leave Tripoli on Saturday. The HMS Cumberland will return to Benghazi, possibly on Sunday, to pick up any remaining Britons there, he said.

BULGARIA: Around 100 Bulgarians living in Benghazi are expected to leave on a Turkish ship which docked in Benghazi on Thursday but has not left because of bad weather. Earlier, 10 Bulgarian citizens were evacuated on a Romanian aircraft.

CANADA: Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said on Thursday nearly 200 Canadians had been, or were about to be, evacuated on planes and ships arranged by other nations. He said a C-17 military transport plane with 156 seats was on its way to Italy from Germany and would fly to Tripoli as soon as Libyan authorities gave permission.

-- He also said a charter plane from Amman would arrive in Tripoli early on Friday. So far, 213 Canadians have said they want to leave Libya.

CHINA: China had evacuated almost 16,000 of its citizens by Saturday, Xinhua news agency quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying.

China's Ministry of Commerce has said 75 Chinese companies have operations in Libya, including the state-owned energy giant CNPC, parent company of PetroChina Co Ltd.

More than 3,000 Chinese nationals working in Libya boarded two chartered Greek vessels Friday evening at Benghazi port. They would be taken to Greece before returning home. (See Greece section for further details from Athens.)

China's Eastern Airlines will send eight chartered flights in the coming days to evacuate the Chinese from Malta, and the first two planes will arrive in the Mediterranean island nation on Saturday afternoon, according to the Chinese embassy.

CROATIA: Croatia said 28 Croatian workers have left Benghazi on an Italian military ship bound for Malta. A plane from Zagreb landed in Tripoli and Croatian officials were trying to reach the remaining workers at three different sites. There are around 125 Croat workers still in Libya.

GERMANY: Military sources have said Germany is sending three ships to the Libyan coast to help evacuate German citizens. The military is sending a supply vessel Berlin and the frigates Brandenburg and Rheinland-Pfalz, with about 600 soldiers aboard. They are currently anchored off Valetta.

The Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that up to 150 Germans were still in Libya.

GREECE: Greece has evacuated 227 Greeks and Cypriots from Tripoli and Sabha aboard three C-130 military aircraft. It has also sent two frigates off Libya and the Greek island of Crete.

Two ships with a total of 4,500 evacuees, mainly Chinese, arrived in Crete from Libya on Thursday. Greeks, Russians, Romanians, Ukrainians and Italians were also among the passengers. Another ferry, with 2,900 evacuees on board docked at the port of Heraklion on Saturday morning.

About 15,000 Chinese in total will be evacuated from Libya on Greek ships, the government has said. They will return home from Greece on chartered flights, officials said.

INDIA: The foreign ministry said it has sent a ship to Benghazi to evacuate at least 1,200 Indians and is seeking permission for its planes to land in Tripoli for other evacuations. There are 18,000 Indians in Libya, mostly in the oil, construction and health sectors.

IRELAND: Ireland is to try again to get a plane back to Tripoli. Irish media said an Irish air force plane returned to Malta from Tripoli with no passengers on board. There are around 70 Irish people in Libya, 54 of them Tripoli.

-- Ireland confirmed on Friday that members of the emergency civil assistance team are on the ground in Tripoli airport and are making contact with Irish nationals at the airport and elsewhere in Tripoli.

ITALY: Italy's foreign ministry said it planned to send a C130 aircraft on Friday to evacuate remaining Italians in Libya. A naval operation was underway to evacuate 150 Italians in Misrata and another 1,100 have left Libya in the last few days. The rest were expected back within the next 48 hours.

NETHERLANDS: The Dutch foreign ministry said on Friday 50 Dutch nationals remained in Libya, 25 of whom were looking to leave. However, communication with them was tough and sometimes impossible as they were spread out throughout the country.

PHILIPPINES: President Benigno Aquino said on Thursday his government was making preparations to repatriate about half of the 26,000 Filipino workers in Libya, most of them working in the medical and oil and gas sectors.

-- The government has also set aside 100 million pesos ($2.3 million) to lease planes to ferry Filipinos from Libya.

* ROMANIA: Romania's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday 270 citizens had been evacuated from Libya. Another 50 are being evacuated by air and 44 more by sea.

SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa said on Thursday it was arranging for a flight to evacuate some embassy staff and 30-40 nationals from Libya.

SOUTH KOREA: A chartered plane carrying about 200 nationals took off from Tripoli on Friday for Cairo and another is scheduled, the Foreign Ministry said. A total of 1,300 South Koreans were in Libya working for construction companies.

SPAIN: A Spanish armed forces plane carrying 124 people evacuated from Tripoli, landed in Madrid on Friday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. The evacuees included 40 Spaniards as well as Mexican, British, Canadian and Portuguese nationals. Spain is planning the evacuation of a small number of Spaniards from outside Tripoli, the spokesman said.

SYRIA: Syria has sent vessels to pick up Syrian nationals from different areas in Libya, in addition to continuing

TUNISIA: Tunisia had at least 30,000 nationals in Libya. At least 7,000 have been able to leave. Tunisia sent five flights to Libya on Wednesday and two before that. Tunisia has scheduled a ferry to travel to Benghazi.

* International Federation of the Red Cross, the world's largest disaster relief organization, said on Saturday 25,000 people had crossed from Libya to Tunisia.

The number of arrivals has already reached 25,000 -- of which 5,000 are foreign nationals -- in five days since last Monday, it said in a statement.

* TURKEY: Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Saturday that Turkey had evacuated 14,776 people, including 579 foreigners.

UNITED STATES: A U.S.-chartered ferry, Maria Dolores, carrying more than 300 passengers, more than half of them U.S. citizens, arrived in Malta after being delayed by high winds and choppy seas. Another catamaran carrying more U.S. citizens was due to dock later in the day.

-- Separately, the State Department said a chartered aircraft would leave a Tripoli airfield on Friday for Istanbul.

VIETNAM: Vietnam has evacuated about 1,300 of its citizens from Libya out of 10,482 living and working there. The first 300 evacuees will reach home late on Friday.