17/12/2011 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon. A leading credit agency says that

it is considering downgrading the credit worthiness of six countries

that use the Euro. It claims that a solution to Europe's debt crisis is

beyond reach. The agency, Fitch, says it is not convinced that a

political solution can be found to the crisis, it says it is

considering downgrading the status of eurozone countries, including

Italy and Spain. Here is Joe Lynam. A few days before Christmas and the

shoppers are feeling the chill physically and economically. It is

no season of goodwill from the credit ratings agencies, the

companies that assess the health or otherwise of companies and

countries. Fimp Fitch has given its most pes mystic assessment of the

eurozone. Saying that the chances of finding a comprehensive solution

is technically beyond reach it placed Italy, Spain, Belgium,

Slovenia and Ireland on negative watch, meaning that the cost of

brogue may rise higher and thus deepening the crisis further. The

former Chancellor stayed was an ominous side.

I think that this must be taken seriously by the eurozone. So far

they have been in a state of denial about the nature of the crisis and

the extent of the crisis. The credit rating agency may be

right, it may be wrong, but the fact that people hold this opinion

it needs to be taken extremely seriously.

Meanwhile, countries within the eurozone as well as nine others are

working on a treaty to save the single currency with much tougher

rules for borrowing and budgets, but will it succeed? It is a

problem. It is an agreement to have so many issues between so many

countries. To have majority within all of these countries is difficult

to do, but the crisis is so dangerous for everyone within the

Euro or outside of the Euro that we should find a solution that has

contribute for the markets. While most Europeans are looking

forward to the holiday season, many do so with a sense of foreboding

about what is happening economically and politically all

around them. David Cameron has said that Britain

should not be afraid to call itself a Christian country. In his speech

to church leaders in Oxford he said that bog "morally neutral"

concerning issues such as the financial crisis and the terrorist

threat is no longer an option. The Prime Minister said that promoting

Christian values does not demean other faiths.

So, why is he saying this, Alan? recent months, Dr Rowan Williams

has been among those in the Church who has been critical of the

Government's public spending cuts. David Cameron, part lir, I think

has in mind in making the comments does not want his Government

policies to be seen at odds with Christian beliefs and valuables,

but there are many politicians who would not go anywhere near talking

about religion, but he thinks that they are wrong, that they should do.

Not that he believes that everyone should abChristian. He says that

there are similar values in most faiths and even those without a

faith share the same moral values, but he said after the riots in

August, after the MPs' expenses scandal, the excesss in the City of

London, even religious extremism being tolerated, as he sees it, and

pile being unable to speak out about it, that something must be

done. It chimes with when he talks about the Big Society, the greater

sense of compassion for people. That is where the church is coming

in. That it is OK for the Church to have their own say, on what is

being said in Government, but that they have a job to do as well.

More than 180 people have been killed and hundreds more are

missing after a storm caused floods on the Philippines island of

Mindano. It has been said that whole

villages have been swept out to sea and a large proportion of those

killed are children. The UK's fishing fleets face fewer days at

sea but bigger catch quotas. There are to be increases in cod

and haddock, but some fishing communities in Scotland remain

unhappy about the number of days that they can spend at sea. Britain

stayed had the support of France and Germany in battle against cuts

that could have been disastrous for the UK fishing fleet. One of the

proposals to cut cod fishermen's days at sea to a fortnight. That

threat is lefted, but Richard Lochhead said that big challenges

remain. The European approach is to not to

let us go to sea unless we catch cod, but we argue to go to sea,

avoiding the cod and catching other stock. That argument is there. It

is causing huge problems for Scotland and the UK as well.

Richard Benyon said that allowable catches for a number of species

would go up. Fishing in the north- east of England would double for

herring and haddock caught off the west coast much Scotland would

treble. Some fishing stock in some areas has been covered well, but it

is a complicated picture. Within the last few minutes in Edinburgh,

Labour has elected its new leader in Scotland. Let me show you the

live pictures coming from there. That is Johann Lamont who has won

from among three candidates. She says that her priorities are

tacklingout unemployment, creating jobs, growing the economy and

providing support for carers. It is the busiest shopping weekend

of the year as millions head out to finish off or in some cases start

our Christmas present shopping. It is estimated that the tills are to

ring at over �1 million a minute today. Our correspondent is in

London's Covent Garden this lunch time. How busy is it there Rebecca?

Well, the retailers are pulling out the stops to attract the shoppers

this weekend. Who could miss out on the opportunity to meet these chaps

this weekend? 11 million are expected to hit the shops here

today. It is estimated we will spend up to