Why is Libya being governed from a Greek car ferry?

Libya's parliament has decamped to a ship in the country's east, while Islamist militants roam the capital of Tripoli

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

A Greek car ferry has been hired at short notice to house Libya's embattled parliament, who have been driven from the capital of Tripoli and fled to the far eastern town of Tobruk.

The gleaming white 17,000-ton Elyros liner, along with its crew, was brought to the coastal town as a temporary home for a government in exile from its usual seat of power. Islamists and their allies have now taken control of Tripoli and the country's second city Benghazi.

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