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financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from small business t major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news america." >> government forces claim they have driven out gaddafi iryalists from sirte, the last major stronghold. there have been wild celebrations on the front line. interim authorities remain cautious and say that sirte is "almost liberated." >> welcome to gmt. i am naga munchetty. the greek parliament prepares to pass the latest draft of austerity measures. protests continue on day two of the strike.

the government admits it's impossible to protect all bangkok from the worst floods in decades. >> midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 1:00 p.m. in libya. the national transitional council is claiming victory in sirte. we have seen fighters celebrating in the city. it's often the case throughout the conflict that there's no guarantee the city is clear entirely of pro-gaddafi loyalists. our correspondent is in sirte at the moment. what is your impression? >> there's huge amounts of a celebratory gunfire going on. to my right, there's a pickup truck with a man who has clearly been captured. the rebels believe he is a gaddafi fighters. these people believe they

have made huge headway. earlier today, we were told there had been a mass breakout by pro-gaddafi fighters in this small center of the town, where they have been holding out for a number of days. as the morning progressed, we saw the numbers of pickup trucks bearing what looked like captured pro-gaddafi loyalists towards the hospital a little way down the road. i have to say that the largest celebration so far this morning has come from a report that i must emphasize is utterly unconfirmed -- going around on fighters radios that they have captured colonel gaddafi himself. many of these people seem to believe it. they have said "the curly h aired one has been captured." >> delete any details of where

he was captured and in what nature -- do you have any details on where he was captured and in what nature? >> i have trouble hearing that due to the gunfire. i must emphasize, again -- the rumor or at least the speculation that colonel gaddafi may have been captured is unconfirmed. i cannot confirm that. people have said he was captured by a brigade of fighters from the city of misrata, which is to the west of here. they are fiercely independent groups of fighters. they are proud of the fact that they pushed out colonel gaddafi's forces earlier this year in the spring. if that happened, we would fully expect them to take him to misrata and then to tripoli. i must emphasize that i cannot

confirm this allegation that he has been captured. i cannot even confirm that the whole of the city has fallen. when we were inside earlier, there was still fighting going on. that was less than an hour ago. a very confused victory, overall. >> we can now speak to our correspondent, caroline hawley, who is in the capital of tripoli. i'm not sure how much of that report you just heard, but there appears to be speculation, intense rumors that colonel gaddafi may have been caught. is there any speculation of that where you are? >> there are rumors in tripoli, as well. it's what everyone is talking about. we cannot confirm it. officials are telling us that they have heard the rumors. as you can imagine, they are desperately working to a telephone. the telephone system is not working well.

at this stage, it is speculation. officials are frantically trying to ascertain whether or not they are true. obviously, people here would be delighted if it were true. the capture of colonel gaddafi himself would be very important. it would be hugely significant in the country. an official i spoke to said most of sirte was now in the control of the fighters loyal to the new authority. he said they were still -- he said there were still operations going on. as we heard, there's a confused picture in colonel gaddafi's home town. he turned this small village into practically a second capital. >> you will keep us up-to-date on whether or not colonel gaddafi has been captured. caroline hawley, thank you.

in other news, the greek parliament is inching towards a final vote on another austerity bill. international creditors want to see tough money-saving measures before they give greece more cash. however, the country's trade unions say enough is enough and are responding with a general strike, which shut down most of the country for a second day running. chris morris, our correspondent, has the story from athens. >> they have taken to the streets again, surrounding parliament in force. the austerity measures will most certainly be approved. that will not be the end of defiance for many greeks. >> the implementation is another thing. the people will tear it apart. they will dismiss it. >> yesterday, anger spilled outside parliament and the surrounding streets.

many people feel the plan is not working. they feel greece is being simply pushed further into recession. no modern european country has ever been asked to cut so much and so quickly. members of parliament are not voting with any enthusiasm. the government says, at the no choice. has eight ic the alternative, a sudden default, would be catastrophic. more and more austerity and yet, greek debt keeps rising. >> one of the most important decisions eu leaders have to make, how much the greek debt? it has to be substantial. they also have to get the banks on board. that will not be easy. >> let's speak to a

representative of the greek trade union. she is the international general secretary of the civil service confederation. thank you very much for joining made. -- thank you very much for joining me. when we look at the anger of the greek people, how effective do you think this general strike will be? >> you had the picture of what happened in the country, not only in athens, but for the first time, the same situation is happening around the country. the most important thing, once again, the government tried to get a solution to the big problems, to the big financial problems, by cutting wages and salaries. this is impossible to have any result. once again, you have austerity measures.

you have the same people. that's why there's this anger in all the greek people. >> there's an understanding that cuts need to be made. austerity measures need to be taken. is there any leeway? >> i can say -- i cannot say which is the right way. if you ask any professors or someone else, they can find a solution. even if the solution is just to save banks, on the other side, to sacrifice people in the whole society -- i think the most important thing is all these measures are in their own direction. tomorrow, after the greek parliament and the members of the parliament vote today, the

most important thing is that they destroy fundamental labor rights. it's enough with austerity measures. that's why we are saying once again that they have to stop this policy. they have to stop these types of reforms. of course, the country needs reforms and a half to support a reform program, but not in this direction. not to get more and more from the same people again. >> thank you very much for joining us. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world. the thai government has admitted it will be impossible to protect all of bangkok from the worst floods in decades. it says it is inevitable that

some parts of the capital will be affected. areas to the northeast have been told to prepare for the worse as the authorities struggle to cope with the sheer volume of water. more than 300 people have lost their lives. 1/3 of the province is now under water. rachel harvey, r southeast corresponding, has traveled to one of the affected regions north of bangkok. >> this is the main street of the city. thailand's banks and capital now swamped. beyond this point, cars are no use at all. we transport up river into this flood-drenched province. the sailors marks something, a red flag marking a house were a family is stuck. the navy hands over some milk

before moving on. there's more people to reach. there's more aid to be delivered. we make our way along what used to be a side street, heading through a road bridge. helping hands appear over the concrete barrier. it is hard to believe, but out there is actually a main highway. it's called the asian highway. it has completely disappeared underwater. this bridge is the only bit of dry, high ground now. as we move up in this direction, here are the piles of supplies the navy has just delivered, including food and essential supplies. unbelievable, -- unbelievably, there have been people living on this bridge for three weeks. they could leave by boat, but they do not want to. they prefer to stay close to their homes and neighbors. >> [speaking foreign language] >> get supplies to where my house is. aid is taken before it gets to

us. i need to find a way to get food to the people who are still over there. >> communities cut off by the rising waters. these people are living on the upper floors of their partially-submerged homes. others have decided to move to safety. they need a better alternative than this. the british charity is providing tents, but finding places to put them has been tricky. >> this is just the water everywhere. it's incredibly difficult when you have a tent to pitch. as you can imagine, the water is coming up. this situation is changing all the time. >> the first families settled in. they are likely to be here for several weeks, perhaps months. the water shows no sign of receding. racial harvey, bbc news, thailand -- rachel harvey,

abc news, thailand. thailand.ws, >> serbs do not recognize the authority, made up of ethnic albanians. in the horn of africa, the british secretary for international development, andrew mitchell, has warned that the scale of crisis remains huge. in somalia alone, more than 400,000 children remain at risk of dying. the long awaited satellite navigation system, galileo, has been delayed. the project has been criticized, as it has taken years to reach this point and it is over budget. still to come on gmtñ -- nicolas

sarkozy makes room in his busy schedule to visit his wife and newborn daughter. thousands of people in bolivia have turned out to welcome indigenous demonstrators who have marched to protest against a controversial road project in the amazon. they say they will not return home until the project is stopped. >> indigenous protesters have finally arrived. they paraded like heroes through the streets of la paz, where people of all ages were there to greet them. >> [speaking foreign language] >> soon we will be held the seat of the government. >> no one is happy that we had to come here to the city of la paz in order that they respect our right to life.

>> one resident said not even the pope had received such a festive reception in bolivia. the indigenous marchers have much more serious intentions. they say they're here to save the way of life from the government's controversial road project. >> after 65 days marching, the protesters have finally made it to la paz. right behind me, the presidential palace. they say they will not meet the president until he scraps the construction process altogether. >> the protesters had entered fatigue, heat exhaustion. hundreds of police officers by let me try to hold their -- officers violently tried to hold their march from reaching la

paz. the protesters are determined to stay in la paz until he changes his mind. mattia cabitza, bbc news, la paz. >> this is gmt from "bbc world news." i am naga munchetty. front-line troops claimed to have driven gaddafi's supporters from sirte, but the situation on the ground remains unclear. another day of stray kids greece as parliament prepares for more -- another day of strike hits greece as parliament prepares for more austerity measures. we can bring you some live pictures from the city of sirte in libya. we have seen rebels celebrated wildly. there are rumors and speculation that misrata rebels have captured colonel gaddafi. they claim that the "curly

haired one" has been captured. that's. quote from gabriel gatehouse. i must stress this is rumor and speculation at the moment. the wild speculations we had earlier -- there were two points. one was that colonel gaddafi has been captured, and also that gaddafi loyalists have been driven out of the last stronghold of sirte. as we gain some confirmation, we will bring you that news as it arrives. let's focus on the world of business. we have had an emergency meeting -- another one. this one is in frankfurt. >> the road ran speculation, again, about what these -- the

rumor and speculation, again about what they're going to do about the crisis. there are massive problems to sort out. at the heart is the european stability fund. how big to make that and who will step up with the money? there's some talk that the ecb should be the guarantor. there are reluctant people of that. it would undermine its independence. it would boil down to the german taxpayer, essentially. help it would it need to be to satisfy investors, to satisfy the market's? anything up to one trillion euros is what we're talking about now. as you can see the germans are reluctant. they are the ones who would put up the cash. >> it gets bigger and bigger. >> it would have to be big to satisfy the market's. nokia has reported a loss in the third quarter. it lost $94 million.

sales fell 13%. the company is phasing out its line of smartphones. a senior trader says nokia is at a turning point. >> year on year, sales are down significantly. this is a company that's very much in a restructuring mode. it has a lot of cash on its books at the moment from job losses and structural changes. it's making new moves in the market. the cash will get burned very quickly. >> germany has lowered its forecast for economic growth last year. it says it shall now grow by 1%, instead of the previously predicted 1.8%. continues to cause concern. despite the slowdown, the economic minister says the country is not headed for recession. the prime minister of australia -- the airline has canceled

almost 500 flights over the last few months. they are worried about plans to restructure the international business. former ubs trader has appeared at the city of london magistrate court today accused of fraud. he was arrested one month ago over an alleged trade. it also led to the resignation of senior executives, including the banks ceo. a quick look at the markets. problems in the eurozone are causing investors to flee the market. we saw a similar sell-off in asia and also on wall street overnight. that's the business news. we'll have more later. >> thank you very much. this is the dilemma. for all the future fathers out there, you can be present at the

birth of your own child or you can save the world. what would you do? french president nicolas sarkozy chose to do the latter. it was in frankfurt, deeply in talks. meanwhile, carla bruni-sarkozy was giving birth. mr sarkozy pay her a visit thursday morning, and again on his way to another series of official duty. let's talk about this. agnes, a french journalist and commentator joins us. i'm very pleased you are able to join us today. what do you do? do you say the euro or do you see a moment that will never come again? >> i'm quite happy my president was with prime minister david camer-- german chancellor angela merkel.

perhaps, you know, it's not a retirement -- it's not a requirement. they're both experienced parents, both of them. >> i will have to cut this interview short. thank you very much for your time. the reason we're cutting it short, we are returning to our main story the national transitional council council in sirte are celebrating on rumors that gaddafi has been captured. these rumors have come out in the last 15 to 20 minutes. caroline hawley, bring us up-to- date. >> there are rumors and news that has filtered through to tripoli. in the last few minutes, we've heard a lot of celebratory gunfire and ship horns and car

horns. we're only hearing from one official at the moment that colonel gaddafi has been captured. obviously, if this has happened, -- i do not think anyone believes that the authorities here could sirte could and capture colonel gaddafi in one day. we wait for more information. even capturing sirte is hugely significant. a huge milestone. authorities have said they can declare total victory, the full liberation of libya, and that paves the way for a political process that leads to the writing of a new constitution and democratic elections for the first time after 42 years of colonel gaddafi's dictatorship. >> thank you very much for bringing us up to date. i know you will carry on chasing this story. let me just remind you, we have

been celebrating -- we have been covering brought celebrations in sirte. the ntc has claimed two things, that colonel gaddafi has been captured by the ntc forces. there's also the claim that the town of sirte, the last official stronghold for gaddafi loyalists, has been rid of the last of these gaddafi loyalists. we have also heard that the national transitional council official has told reuters that the former libyan leader has been wounded in both legs, as well. this is room were and speculation. our correspondents are on the ground in sirte and in tripoli chasing confirmation from the national transitional council and to gather any evidence of this potential capture of the former libyan leader. of course, we will keep you up- to-date with the news. that's all from gmt at the

moment. stay with us on "bbc world news." of course, there is plenty more to come >> 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.