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sums up the papers' general view about what is happening in Libya.

A row of dominos is collapsing on top of Colonel Gaddafi, who holds, in one hand, a machine gun and, in the other, an umbrella.

Most offer their opinion on the dictator's latest televised speech - at once comic and disturbing, they say.

The

'Lonely old man'

to "a lonely old man ranting on a street corner".

But none misses the sense of menace. The describes the colonel as defiant - and "threatening".

"Damn those who try to stir unrest" is one phrase the Independent picks out.

has "set the stage" for a "final showdown".

"of swift, violent retribution".

One reason the papers dwell on his threats is that reliable information about what is happening in Libya is so hard to come by.

, taken in a hospital in Benghazi, which shows dead men whose legs have been "blown away".

The paper says the injuries were caused by heavy artillery, not "batons, rubber bullets or any conventional method of dealing with protests".

from the streets of Tripoli who says he saw militiamen, not all of them Libyans, "firing at any living thing".

'Oil crisis looming'

Though the Libyans themselves are the immediate victims of the violence, there are widespread fears that, in due course, we may all feel the impact.

The FT says there is a clear risk the political revolt in the Middle East may turn into an oil crisis.

are soaring on the markets.

The

that rising prices could undermine the global economic recovery.

The anguish of people caught up in the sudden devastation wrought by the earthquake in New Zealand is powerfully described in many papers.

was found in the rubble, curled around the child she died protecting.

The tells of another woman - trapped in a collapsed building - who rang her children to say goodbye.

before the disaster, Christchurch was a "picture postcard" city "more English than England".

is what gives New Zealand "its astonishing natural beauty" - mountains and geysers.

It goes on to say "geological beauty can be a double-edged sword".