Xml + namespace oddity

Greetings all

i got this xml that i want to trace out a few nodes from into flash
with all the guts i got i immediately took it in to AS3.

now, heres the blanked out original xml


<response xmlns="http://developer.aim.com/xsd/presence.xsd">
  <statusCode>200</statusCode>
  <statusText>Ok</statusText>
  <data>
    <users>
      <user>
        <aimId>HIMYNAMEIS</aimId>
        <displayId>HIMYNAMEIS</displayId>
        <state>offline</state>
        <presenceIcon>http://o.aolcdn.com/aim/img/offline.gif</presenceIcon>
      </user>
    </users>
  </data>
</response>

for the obscure reason i can perfectly trace out the xml in flash
but i simply can’t get around the xmlns url

by now iam too tired to actually write my guesses down but here is my WIP code
any help is more then welcome Thanks


var loader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
loader.addEventListener (Event.COMPLETE, onLoaded);
var xml:XML;
var NS:Namespace = new Namespace("http://developer.aim.com/xsd/presence.xsd");

function onLoaded (e:Event):void
{
    //
    var xml = new XML(e.target.data);
    var xmlLIST = xml.NS::data;
    trace ("xmlLIST = " +  xmlLIST);
}

which traces out


xmlLIST = <data xmlns="http://developer.aim.com/xsd/presence.xsd">
  <users>
    <user>
      <aimId>HIMYNAMEIS</aimId>
      <displayId>HIMYNAMEIS</displayId>
      <state>offline</state>
      <presenceIcon>http://o.aolcdn.com/aim/img/offline.gif</presenceIcon>
    </user>
  </users>
</data>

in other words i can’t get past the xmlns url by any means
according to my books/online tutorials i found about name spaces
i have to do xmlLIST.NS::data::users::user::aimId to acces my aim name
usually you first setup a xmlList but that doesn’t work in this case.

but it just doesn’t go beyond the data tag.
pretty annoying as i got it to work in AS2 in a matter of minutes.
any help is more! then welcome cuz i am baffled.