:00:27. > :00:32.Good afternoon. China has strongly criticised the United States after
:00:32. > :00:38.the American economy had its AAA credit status downgraded for the
:00:38. > :00:42.first time ever. China holds more than $1 trillion of US Government
:00:42. > :00:48.debt. Joe Lynham reports. Americans are waking up today to a new
:00:48. > :00:52.feeling - no longer being the safest economic kid on the global
:00:52. > :00:58.block. We haven't gotten any good news lately. Everything's costing
:00:58. > :01:02.more and more, jobs are hard to get. I don't think we are bad at
:01:02. > :01:05.investment but we've got some very bad leadership and bad interest
:01:05. > :01:09.groups that are affecting things negatively. Standard & Poor's are
:01:09. > :01:12.one of the three main credit rating agencys who provide their opinion
:01:12. > :01:17.on the credit worthiness of countries and companies. It is just
:01:17. > :01:20.an opinion, and as we saw three years ago it is often very wrong,
:01:20. > :01:26.but that opinion still matters to Government and market. That will
:01:26. > :01:31.almost certainly trickle down and result in ordinary consumers paying
:01:31. > :01:36.more to take out car or home loans. India called for urgent action from
:01:36. > :01:42.Washington to cut its ballooning debt mountain. China, America's
:01:42. > :01:45.largest single creditor, was even more forthright. The Xinhua
:01:45. > :01:47.official Government agency said China had the right to demand the
:01:47. > :01:52.United States address its structural debt problems, and
:01:52. > :01:55.called for a new, stable global reserve currency to avert a
:01:56. > :01:59.catastrophe caused by any single country.
:01:59. > :02:03.The consequences of the US downgrade won't go unnoticed here
:02:03. > :02:06.either. Though the Government was being optimistic. There is clearly
:02:06. > :02:10.a lot of turbulence in international financial markets.
:02:10. > :02:15.People saying it is like 2008, but it is fundamentally different. That
:02:15. > :02:19.was a crisis of collapsing banks. Britain was at the heart of that
:02:19. > :02:22.storm. We are very much at the edge of this storm as our public
:02:23. > :02:31.finances are under control, our deficit has been reduced and there
:02:31. > :02:37.is confidence in Britain. The real concern is the impact on global
:02:37. > :02:39.confidence. It might snap entirely after this downgrade. 31 US Special
:02:39. > :02:42.Forces personnel have been killed in a helicopter crash in eastern
:02:42. > :02:45.Afghanistan. It's one of the biggest single losses suffered by
:02:45. > :02:48.the US in the country. Seven Afghan soldiers were also killed. It's not
:02:48. > :02:58.clear how the crash happened, but the Taliban are claiming they shot
:02:58. > :02:59.
:02:59. > :03:03.the helicopter down. Our Kabul correspondent joins me now. What
:03:03. > :03:07.more do we know? We know that this Chinook helicopter, one of the
:03:07. > :03:11.workhorses of the war here in Afghanistan, was engaging in an
:03:11. > :03:16.operation against the Taliban. After that operation was complete,
:03:16. > :03:19.it took off. For reasons unknown it was brought down. It may have been
:03:19. > :03:24.mechanical failure, the Taliban are saying they brought it down. On
:03:24. > :03:27.board, 31 US Special Forces and seven Afghan special commandos.
:03:27. > :03:31.This loss of life makes at this time blackest day for the NATO
:03:31. > :03:39.mission here in Afghanistan in almost ten years. What sort of an
:03:39. > :03:43.area is it where this happened? reason that Chinooks operate in
:03:43. > :03:48.this area is it is a mountainous area, a difficult area to reach,
:03:48. > :03:55.like much of the terrain in Afghanistan. US troops have been
:03:55. > :04:00.moving in and out of that area for some time. President Karzai has
:04:00. > :04:02.expressed regrets for the loss of the 31 US service personnel.
:04:02. > :04:06.Medical staff at a hospital in Norway say four British tourists
:04:06. > :04:09.who were mauled by a polar bear are in a serious but stable condition.
:04:09. > :04:12.One of their companions, 17-year- old Horatio Chapple, was killed in
:04:12. > :04:20.the attack. Doctors say they hope the survivors can be transferred to
:04:20. > :04:24.hospitals in Britain soon. Ben Ando reports. A terrible tragedy, a
:04:24. > :04:29.precious life lost. Tributes to Horatio Chapple posted on the
:04:29. > :04:36.internet following his death in Norway. At an isolated camp on a
:04:36. > :04:39.glacier inside the Arctic Circle Horatio was part of the group
:04:39. > :04:44.exploring the Svalbard archipelago when they were attacked bay polar
:04:44. > :04:54.bear. The bear was shot dead but not before four were injured, two
:04:54. > :04:56.
:04:56. > :05:00.seriously and two killed. His parents told the BBC they had
:05:00. > :05:05.received an e-mail from their son- in-law hospital in Norway. He is
:05:05. > :05:09.completely devastated that one of the best members of his group, the
:05:09. > :05:14.lad from Wiltshire, died. We can't imagine what it is like for that
:05:14. > :05:17.family. We are upset but their must be unimaginable. This survivors
:05:17. > :05:22.were airlifted to hospital in northern Norway but arrangements
:05:22. > :05:28.are being made to transfer them back to the UK as soon as possible.
:05:28. > :05:33.They were all communicating and giving me thes up and saying we are
:05:33. > :05:37.going to get through this, we are going to recover. They are in a
:05:37. > :05:42.severe but stable condition, and have received very good treatment
:05:42. > :05:44.here, so I think they are extremely brave people, all of them. The trip
:05:44. > :05:48.was organised by the British Schools Exploring Society and the
:05:48. > :05:53.team had been given training. But polar bears are the largest
:05:53. > :05:58.predator in one of the worldest last great wildernesss. No journey
:05:58. > :06:01.into their habitat can ever be truly risk free. A three-year-old
:06:01. > :06:04.boy has died after being hit by a car in Stockton-on-Tees. Cleveland
:06:04. > :06:11.Police said the toddler had visited an ice cream van moments before the
:06:11. > :06:15.incident happened. Police are appealing for witnesses. The boy
:06:15. > :06:17.hasn't yet been named. The M25 in Surrey is still shut
:06:17. > :06:20.after a lorry went through the central reservation yesterday.
:06:20. > :06:23.Three people were hurt in the crash between junctions seven and eight.
:06:23. > :06:30.It's hoped the lanes will reopen at around 3.00pm. Tailbacks stretched
:06:30. > :06:34.for 28 miles, and there is still congestion in the area.