13/09/2012 Newsround

Hello, and welcome to your Thursday night Newsround, with Hayley and

Ricky. We've got all the big stories from around the world

coming up, as well as a bit of this. The fight to save the UK's sharks.

And we'll whizz through the weird and wonderful things making their

way into the latest record books. Let's start with some good news in

the fight to keep children in some of the world's poorest countries

safe and healthy. New figures show almost twice as many kids are

living past the age of five compared to 20 years ago. The

charity UNICEF says 12 million kids under five died from things like

famine and disease in 1990. But now that figure's been reduced to 7

million. The biggest improvements have been in parts of South East

Asia and Africa. It's mainly because of better medical treatment

and education. But numbers did go up elsewhere in the world. UNICEF

say there's still lots of work to be done to get help to the places

that need it most. Well, those figures have reignited

the debate over how much money Britain should give to poorer

countries. This week the Government's been forced to defend

plans to increase the amount of aid it sends to some of those places by

more than �3 billion. Critics say the money doesn't always go to

places that need it most, and that the UK can't afford to keep giving

so much. Last year the UK gave away about

�7.8 billion in aid to other countries. They say they'll raise

this to almost �12 billion in the next few years, which would be 0.7%

of the whole country's income. That's less than gets spent on

education, and less than is spent Some people think because of the

financial problems in the UK, we should not send money overseas. But

while we are having problems in the UK, many other problems are having

just as difficult a time, and most of the poorest countries of the

world are having the worst time. One of the places that people think

shouldn't be getting so much is India. At the moment we give about

�280 million a year in aid to the country. But recently the Indian

government announced plans to spend billions on a new space programme,

leading some to ask why a country that can afford to send astronauts

into space needs so much extra cash? One third of the world's

poorest people live in India. Many children in India are still

undernourished, and that is where the money is going.

The UK say their aid doesn't go directly to foreign governments but

is given to specially chosen charities that they think will help

the people most in need. This money is going to the communities that

need it most, for education and health. The Government say they're

going to have a good look at the budget to make sure that it goes

exactly where it can make the biggest difference.

Violence has spread across several Middle Eastern countries today. The

American embassy in Yemen has been stormed by protestors, and American

flags have been burned in Egypt. Protestors are angry about a film

made in the US which they say is offensive to the Muslim Prophet

Mohammed. Four American officials were killed in similar protests in

Libya on Tuesday. The Scottish wildcat could be

closer to extinction than some experts originally thought. Last

year, Leah went to one of the wildcat projects in the Cairngorm

mountains in Scotland. In the summer, they told us the cats could

be breeding again. But figures show there may be just 35 left.

Let's continue the animal watch with these guys. They've been

around for 400 million years. But they're not just found in films or

far-off seas. They're here in the UK and it turns out they're under

threat. The charity the Sharks Trust say more than 70% of sharks

in British waters are facing extinction. But the fight to save

them is well under way, as I've Sharks - the deadliest predator in

our oceans. But now the hunter has become the prey. Tracked down for

its meat, liver oil and its fins. Surprisingly, there are more than

30 different species of shark in UK waters, but numbers are going down

fast. So fishermen in Scotland now monitor six different species.

Today, they are tagging and releasing sharks off the south-west

coast. This is what they are looking for - the basking shark. At

10 metres long, it looks frightening but it is no risk to

humans. Experts warn that saving shots will be a long battle. Able

take an awful long time to recover because of their nature. One of

them is 20 years old before it has pups and it is pregnant for two

years, as long as an elephant. first catch of the day. She is

tagged, measured and a DNA sample is taken. The shark is not armed

and within minutes that is back in the water. Next, they really in a

cat shark. They are increasing in numbers, which is great news for

the fishermen trying to protect them. But with many other species

down by 95%, conservationists warned that the UK shark population

might never fully recover. Well, it's not all bad news in the

animal kingdom. A brand new type of monkey has just been found in

Africa. It's called the le'zoola, here on the right. Experts say it's

most similar to the owl-faced monkey on the left but is a totally

new species. Exciting. It's been an amazing summer of

sport but you might not know that some of GB's biggest stars are

still in action in a town near you. The Tour of Britain cycling event

is one of the lesser known races on the calendar. It's currently

working its way across the UK, and Leah went to Blackpool to find out

Since the Beijing Olympics, Britain's cycling success had gone

through the roof, and this summer has shown that we still have plenty

of pedal power. Bradley Wiggins won the world's biggest cycling road

race, the Tour de France, to kick it off. And he won again in the

Olympic time trials, and the likes of Sir Chris Hoy and Laura Trott

dominated in the velodrome, and there was still more to come. The

Tour of Britain is made up of eight stages. There is everything from

the flat roads of Norfolk, perfect for a sprint finish, to the steep

climbs of the Lake District and the Welsh mountains. The race finishes

back on familiar roads for Cavendish and Wiggins in London, a

massive 1,349.9 kilometres. The Tour of Britain has been going for

seven years, but this time the big names are drawing the big crowds.

Cycling has seen a real boost, so the result is when cycling events

like this come to your town, it makes people want to get out and

watch it around their streets. is good to support everyone and it

is good fun to watch. Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins. They

are very special. They inspire me so much, I want to do it every day.

It is not just the fans getting excited. You do not need a ticket

to London or the French Alps to get in on the action, because this is

the Tour of Britain, where the likes of Wiggins and Cavendish

battle it out. And Wiggins has crossed the finish line. And the

excitement is sure to build, with three stages still to go. More

people than ever have turned out for the Tour of Britain, cheering

on the stars and clinging on for that last bit of sporting fever.

Before we go, let's look at the latest crop of madcap record

breakers making the Guinness Book of Records. They include the

world's tallest dog, the smallest woman, the biggest drum kit with