During nearly 42 years in power in Libya, Muammar Gaddafi was one of the world’s most eccentric dictators.

In a fiery broadcast from hiding, Muammar Gaddafi has warned that loyalist tribes in his main strongholds were armed and preparing for battle, a show of defiance hours after rebels extended a deadline for the surrender of the fugitive leader’s home town.

LEADERS of the Libyan uprising that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi sat down with world powers to map out the country’s rebuilding, 42 years to the day after the former strongman seized power in a coup.

Rebels hunting the top officials in Muammar’s Gaddafi’s ousted regime have captured his foreign minister and are closing in on Gaddafi himself, rebel officials said today.