considering calling off the exploration so salvage work can start. face-off in the debates in south carolinament they talked about jobs, tax returns, health care and who s best qualified to take on president barack obama in november. newt gingrich lashed out at the media when asked to comment on his ex-wife s claims about their marriage. six nato troops are dead. their nationalities haven t been released. nato says there was no hostile activity in the area when the chopper went down. but the taliban are claiming responsibility. those are the headlines from cnn. i m zain verjee, world business today starts now. hello. and a very happy friday too you. welcome to world business today. activists strike back after celebrity-ebb endorse web site megaup load to shut down over privacy claims. google pulls back on the stock market. and why the captain of a wrecked cruise liner was ordering dinner and desert when he should have been evacuating the ship. all of that and more to
as search and rescue attempts continue, the focus moves 0en to who is to blame for the sinking of a giant ocean liner off the italian coast. and we ll tell you which production houses is big at the golden globes and what these awards tell us about the upcoming oscar ceremonies. first up, though, if the new year promised a new europe, well, some people could be disappointed. standard & poors last week had other ideas completely. to nobody s great surprise, this particular influential company decided to downgrade the credit scores of nine countries across the euro zone on friday. these particular downgrades apply to a large swath of central and southern europe. it is this country in the center here, france, that is commanding all the headlines today. this after france lost its treasured aaa rating. that in turn, some economists say could undermine the a aa rating of the total esfs. one country as well that s hitting the headlines, one country that will ill afford any more b