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what can we do for you >> and now, "bbc world news." >> a radiation scare in japan, warnings of hot spots and in the capital, but the cause is a mystery. the source of contamination has been tracked to a house in tokyo, thanks to residents armed with a radiation detectors. >> welcome to gmt. i am george alagiah, with a world of news and opinion. also in the program -- colonel gaddafi's die-hard supporters still hold out in his birthplace. what does this say about the opposition forces? blackberry takes a bashing. the company's failure to fix technical problems has critics

saying it is losing its place in the smartphone market. it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 8:00 in tokyo, where radiation hot spots have been reported from parts of the city. using off-the-shelf detectors, they record it radiation levels higher than around the fukushima plant. roland has been following this story and joins me now live from tokyo. we're still getting information about these radiation hot spots. what is the latest? >> people are concerned about setagaya wartoday. basically, local people were checking the area around a nursery school. by a fence, they found a small area where radiation levels were very high, higher than some of

the evacuation zone around the fukushima nuclear plant. that is very surprising and concerning. this area is 230 kiloliters from the plant. why is it there and why such a small area? investigations have been going on all day. officials say they now believe they've found the source, not the crisis at fukushima -- instead, more likely an old wooden box in the basement of a nearby house. exactly what is in those bottles has not been established. they have been taken away for testing. >> roland, even if a link with fukushima is not established, i presume this will add to the kind of paranoia about the aftereffects of fukushima. >> certainly, i think what this story tells us is a lot about the concern and the fears and the worries of the japanese people, as this crisis at

fukushima tracks on. voidle are trying to a from the area -- avoid food from the area around the plant. also, the sales have a grown in this country of the detectors. that's the only reason this hotspot in setagaya was discovered at all. >> thank you very much. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world. there have been conflicting reports about the capture of colonel gaddafi's son, mutassim, near sirte, where it was believed he was commanding gaddafi loyalists fighters. on the ntc -- one the ntc official said he was taken to been gauzy. either way, it is clear the

fight for the town is in its final stages. >> the battle for sirte is almost, but not yet, over. fighters from the transitional government have been celebrating in those areas of the city they now control. - muammar gaddafi fighters are still holding out. reported but unconfirmed capture of colonel gaddafi's son, -- he was thought to lead many of the gaddafi loyalists defending sirte. defenders of the new country have been celebrating.

as the city falls, more evidence of human rights abuse is coming to light, including the discovery of at least 15 bodies -- men with their hands tied behind their backs and shot in the head. every building in this city has been partially or completely destroyed. by the time the fighting is over, sirte will be in ruins. there are no civilians celebrating on the streets. it's difficult to see anybody living here again in the near future. >> a salvage crew has managed to board a cargo ship that spilled hundreds of tons of oil after striking a reef off the coast of new zealand. video film on board the vessel shows a large crack where the oil is leaking. no decisions have been made on whether the oil can be pumped from the ship before it breaks up. an investigation has begun into a bomb that exploded in the center of northern ireland.

it happened at the headquarters of the group organizing the city's year of culture celebrations in 2013. it is the second time the offices have been targets of this year. there were no reports of injuries. liberia is to release the first official results of its first official elections. unofficial results indicate a close contest. if no one wins an outright majority, there will be a second round between the two leading candidates or early next month. the dissident chinese artist has been named to the most powerful person in art. the influential magazine said his activism has reminded the art world of its wider political role. now, police in the united states say eight people have been killed and one other critically injured in a shooting at a hair

salon in southern california. police have arrested a man in connection with the shooting and have seized a number of weapons. peter reports from los angeles. >> of another american town shattered by the horror of a tragedy. seal beach, to the south of los angeles. it's shortly after lunch time when gunshots are reported. officers arrived to a scene of carnage. bodies everywhere. eyewitnesses say a gunman opened fire, apparently shooting at random. the suspect was arrested after someone near the care salon said they saw a man leaving in a car. he was taken into custody about half a mile away. the man told officers he had several weapons with him. the police say they believe the alleged gunman acted alone. it has left this normally quiet community in a state of deep shock. >> a small, six community.

we do not experience of these things ever. it has been a long time. we do not often have homicides, and especially anything of this magnitude. >> the owner of the hair salon is among the dead. there are some reports from eyewitnesses that suggest the gunmen was targeting his ex- wife. police say they're still trying to establish a positive mode tive. >> as politicians try to drag europe out of its debt crisis, it's not difficult to find examples of why action is so desperately needed. in greece, public transport ground to a halt yet again. workers are striking to protest against the country's austerity measures. rubbish is piling up on streets across the country as collectors stay away from work. from athens, malcolm reports. >> hitting the country where it hurts, both in the pockets and

the image department. tons of rubbish on the streets of the capital. if that was not enough to leave a bad smell for tourists, key archaeological attractions were closed. >> we got here a moment after the close to the gate. we cannot wait any longer. >> the country is badly bankrupt. >> virtually every day now, ministers are being occupied and sealed off by civil servants, angry that many have been suspended before christmas. their demise was one of the prime conditions that greece's

creditors had to release the austerity package. >> the goal is to create a new model of development, like in china and india. >> the union strategy appears to target ministries at the heart of revenue collection. the tax and customs departments are also planning lengthy walkouts. the government has got to be aware that this type of action will make it more difficult for greece to reach its financial targets for this year. although the november installment of the rescue package is looking secure, the next one may be jeopardized. the money collectors maintain a string of will on the country's financial jugular. >> still to come on gmt -- they are calling it the anniversary of a rebirth. they prepared to mark one year since the dramatic rescue since

the dramatic rescue of miners trapped under ground for more than three months. tens of thousands of people have rallied in the bolivian capital to show their support for supportmorales. his approval rating stands at the lowest since he came to power six years ago and the poll results are seen as a vote of confidence. >> the atmosphere could have been mistaken for a party. thousands of government supporters from all over bolivia paraded in outfits through the streets. they threw firecrackers and blew up dynamite, garden in a sea of -- in a sea of the libyan flaks, listening to their president. >> we are once again -- of bolivian flags, to listen to

their president. >> not all rallied of their own will. government -- >> his government is enjoying a low popularity levels. >> there's growing discontent that he has not delivered on his promises. and last month -- the protesters have been marching for almost two months. they plan to arrive next week to ask the president to scrub the construction project of the road all together, saying it will harm the environment. he is adamant that the road is needed to bring development to four communities. amid the controversy, people

will vote on tuesday. >> this is gmt from "bbc world news." i am george alagiah. the headlines -- there have been warnings of radiation hot spots in tokyo. the source of contamination has been tracked to a house in the capital. conflicting reports from the interim government in libya that colonel gaddafi's son, mutassim, has been captured in sirte. time now for the business news. i guess we are going to have to talk about black berry. the third or fourth day, what is it? millions of people cannot do what they want to do. >> absolutely. not to say that all blackberry users have been affected, but many of them have been, george. it started on monday.

a good few days people have to suffer without their e-mails and messaging service. blackberry says the system has improved. the problem is not that there have been more outages, but there's a backlog of messages. >> people have these messages coming in. suddenly, they will all flood in. >> yes. in north america, they say that perhaps by later on thursday, we will see the system improving. this is a hugely damaging thing for blackberry. it could not have happened for a worse time for the company. it's already suffering a loss of market share with the likes of the android and iphone. we have seen a criticized for sales of its tablet recently. it could not come at a worse time for the company. the one thing we have learned from this is corporate clients have been affected. initially, we were not sure if they have been affected. that's where the money is, big companies.

they give their staff blackberrys. to not have e-mail service for three days is totally unthinkable. that is damaging to the business. will people in up leaving blackberry? that's debatable. a three-day outage is not going to stop someone from loving their blackberry. you do tend to have allegiance to different phones. >> they have high profile critics in britain. >> he tweeted about it. >> he said his company could have solved the problem more quickly than blackberry could pick it is perhaps slightly unfair. research in motion has come under criticism before. blacker has always had a great reputation for -- blackberry has always had a great reputation for reliability. >> the kind of invented the messaging. >> they are very popular, among

the young people especially. e-mail for work or social purposes. blackberry has always said, "we are the ones to choose for e- mail." this is going to damage that. >> anything else? >> yes. china has come out with important news. it's feeling the effects of a weakening global economy. trade figures for some timber show a slowdown in growth in -- for september show a slowdown in growth for both imports and exports. >> the exports, people are suggesting that lower because of a europe and the problems going on in europe right now. there's weaker demand there. fewer people want chinese goods. imports in china might be down because of commodities. china's economy has slowed slightly over the last few months. it just does not need as many

raw materials from countries like australia. that is what has been suggested is behind today's figures. >> the u.s. congress has finally approved a free trade deal with south korea. the u.s. aims to increase trade with asia's fourth biggest economy by 50% over the next four years. is the biggest pact signed under the north america free trade agreement. >> america's competitors overseas have increased their share of the market's in panama, colombia, and south korea, and operated without the barriers american job creators have faced prior to tonight. today we are leveling the playing field. the playing field is level. american businesses and workers will come out on top. >> let's take a look at what the european stock markets are doing. of course, europe is very much

in focus after yesterday. the dow is down nearly 1% at the close in the middle of the trading day. we have seen the china trade figures having a huge impact on mining stocks. of course, there are worries about global demand. the paris and german exchanges are down quite heavily today. that's a roundup of the business from me. george, back to you. >> thank you very much. thank you. the prime minister of italy has demonstrated his staying power on numerous occasions. he has taken punches, laughed off scandals, and sailed through political crises. another one has been brewing for a while may come to a head tomorrow. he is facing a confidence vote in parliament. it is thought of as a major embarrassment -- failure to pass a routine budget provision on tuesday. the prime minister has addressed the problem of this morning. let's get the latest from our correspondent in rome. is he going to survive this

time? >> we will note tomorrow. >> his performance this morning in front of the chamber of deputies, -- waiting for a fight from his corner. he noted sarcastically that the entire opposition had moved out of the chamber in protest against what they claim is dithering over the economic austerity measures silvio berlusconi has put into force after an austerity budget last month. silvio berlusconi is adamant he is a of going to resign, he says. if he loses the confidence vote tomorrow in parliament, he would be forced to resign. he is still hoping to discover an agreement with members of his own party -- they have been rather lukewarm recently.

>> david, given the list of things he has managed to get through in the past, i suppose it would be silly person to bet against him tomorrow. >> i would not exclude that he is going to survive this time. however, i must say that most analysts who watch italian politics and the bickering -- feel that we are reaching the end of mr. silvio berlusconi's short life. 18 years. he has done very well to keep afloat in the present economic climate. i think many of his critics have good reason to complain that he does not seem to be acting on

the behalf of italy. do not forget that he is a wealthy businessman. he has problems with the law. he's facing no fewer than four separate trials here and another case in which he is involved with having sex with an underage prostitutes. he has a lot of personal troubles. >> david, we will leave it there. thank you. >> it was a feel-good story of 2010 and it made gripping television. at this time last year, millions of people around the world watched the dramatic operation to rescue 33 miners trapped underground for two months. many of the rescued men have returned to the mine to celebrate what they call a rebirth. [applause]

[applause] >> the first man to the surface after 69 days underground. he was greeted first of all by his young son with scenes of joy and disbelief. [applause] everyone's watching these moments. after such a long time, this is happening now. here he comes out. [laughter] hugs by his family and his children. his rescue queued for wild celebrations. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> emotional, very emotional. if the first one comes out, they will all come out. >> the build up to this moment has been followed for months by the world. cameras sent down an initial whole show in the 33 working with their rescuers. one by one, they came not from their underground hell into the cold nighttime air, the tension never tweezineasing. what it all go well for the others -- would it all go well for the others? it did. balloons, streamers, everyone watching these last few moments. this is it, the moment the 33 miners were saved in 22 hours.

can you believe it? one year on from all the euphoria that turned these men into global superstars, what is life like now for the 33 who entered such trauma, but survived by sticking together as a team? for many, the champagne bubbles today mask a much darker reality. >> [speaking foreign language] >> what he describes as complicated emotions -- others have had to go to clinics. others still have trouble sleeping. many are on the anti psychotic drugs. a lot say they feel abandoned by their country. the reality of survival has been tough. few have steady jobs, but they still have each other. >> we have got by video link

from benghazi -- reporting on the story of the capture or not from libya. can you tell us once and for all whether or not colonel gaddafi's son has been captured? we lost that line. we were going to talk about whether fighters belonging to the national transitional council are indeed taking control of sirte. there is still fighting there. we have heard that from our reporter in the city itself. course, there are rumors about one of mr. gaddafi's sons being captured. that's all for gmt. there's plenty more to come on "bbc world news."

do stay with us. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. union bank. and shell. >> this is kim - about to feel one of his favorite sensations. at shell, we're developing more efficient fuels in countries like malaysia that can help us get the most from our energy resources. let's use energy more efficiently. let's go.