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Associated Press Sports
updated 12:42 p.m. ET Jan. 18, 2012
MADRID (AP) -Kaka has denied a newspaper report claiming he has reached an agreement to sign with Paris Saint-German, saying he is committed to Real Madrid.
Italian daily Gazzetta dello Sport reported Wednesday that the Brazil playmaker had agreed to personal terms with the French club.
Kaka wrote on his Twitter account: "It isn't true that I have made any agreement with another club ... I am totally focused on following my personal and collective goals at Real Madrid."
Kaka has disappointed since his ?65 million ($84 million) move from AC Milan in June 2009, as injuries and lackluster play has seen the former world player of the year fail to cement a regular starting place.
The 29-year-old Brazilian has scored four goals in 20 appearances for the Spanish leaders.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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More newsGetty ImagesAFP - Getty ImagesSource: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45355633/ns/sports-soccer/
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Much of the country is in a deep freeze after unseasonably warm weather. The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel reports.
By Jonathan Erdman, weather.com
As we kick off a new week, we may have a sense of deja vu from the Upper Midwest to northern New England.
"We're beginning to see the pattern across the northern United States become a bit more active now," says Tom Niziol, Winter Weather Expert for The Weather Channel. "There's a combination of more storm tracks going across the northern U.S. and Great Lakes and cold air being pulled down from Canada. That combination spells the return of winter."
Niziol has been tracking winter weather, and lake effect snow in particular, for decades. He was formerly the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in Buffalo.
So, let's lay out what we know about this next wintry threat.
Monday, the system will just be in its "organizing stages".
Light rain and drizzle will spread northward from the Lower Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley. By afternoon and evening, light rain (mainly south) or snow (north) will spread into the interior Northeast.
Meanwhile, light snow may swing out of the Rockies Monday into the Plains and Upper Midwest by Monday night.
Tuesday, it gets a bit more interesting.
Low pressure then tracks into the Great Lakes. With cold air in place, we expect a swath of accumulating snow in the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes into northern New England and Upstate New York. Sound familiar?
5-Day Forecasts: Chicago | Milwaukee | Burlington, Vt. | Your location
At this time, here is the latest thinking on rough snowfall accumulation potential:
| 6"+ potential | Lake Ontario snowbelt to northern Vt., northern N.H., northwest Maine |
| 2-4" | Lake Erie snowbelt, Mohawk Valley of N.Y., central/northeast Maine |
| 1-2" | western Great Lakes |
Strong winds may lead to reduced visibility and blowing snow by Wednesday morning in northern New England, creating difficult driving conditions.
For the I-95 urban corridor, you may see some wet snowflakes fall Monday night, but by Tuesday, that should change to rain. Only spotty slushy accumulations over a trace are possible in southern New England. Some light freezing drizzle or freezing rain may fall for a period of time in valley locations from northeast Pennsylvania to western Massachusetts, as well.
5-Day Forecasts: Boston | Hartford | New York | Your location
One other concern may be another "flash freeze" event in parts of the Ohio Valley, then interior Northeast Tuesday into early Wednesday, whereby wet pavement from earlier rain freezes after the Arctic cold front sweeps through. You can see this potential by comparing the Tuesday forecast highs to the Wednesday forecast lows below.
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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. ? Under heavy debate pressure from his rivals, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney defended his record as a venture capitalist, insisted he bears no responsibility for attack ads aired by his allies and grudgingly said in campaign debate Monday night he might release his income tax returns this spring.
"I have nothing in them that suggests there's any problem and I'm happy to do so," he said. "I sort of feel like we're showing a lot of exposure at this point," he added.
Romney came under criticism from Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum across two hours in the first of a pair of debates in the run-up to this weekend's first-in-the-South primary in South Carolina. The former Massachusetts governor won the first two events of the campaign, the Iowa caucuses and last week's New Hampshire primary, leads in the pre-primary polls in South Carolina and won an endorsement from campaign dropout Jon Huntsman earlier in the day.
Gingrich has virtually conceded that a victory for Romney in South Carolina would assure his nomination as Democratic President Barack Obama's Republican rival in the fall, and none of the other remaining contenders has challenged that conclusion.
That only elevated the stakes for Monday night's debate, feisty from the outset as former House Speaker Gingrich, Texas Gov. Perry and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum sought to knock Romney off stride while generally being careful to wrap their criticism in anti-Obama rhetoric.
"We need to satisfy the country that whoever we nominate has a record that can stand up to Barack Obama in a very effective way," said Gingrich.
The five men on stage also sought to outdo one another in calling for lower taxes.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul won that competition handily, saying he thought the top personal tax rate should be zero.
In South Carolina, a state with a heavy military presence, the tone turned muscular at times.
Gingrich drew strong applause when he said: "Andrew Jackson had a pretty clear idea about America's enemies. Kill them."
Perry also won favor from the crowd when he said the Obama administration had overreacted in criticizing Marines who were videotaped urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
The former House speaker and Perry led the assault against Romney's record at Bain Capital, a private equity firm that bought companies and sought to remake them into more competitive enterprises, with uneven results.
"There was a pattern in some companies ... of leaving them with enormous debt and then within a year or two or three having them go broke," Gingrich said. "I think that's something he ought to answer."
Perry referred to a steel mill in Georgetown, S.C. where, he said, "Bain swept in, they picked that company over and a lot of people lost jobs there."
Romney said that the steel industry was battered by unfair competition from China. As for other firms, he said, "Four of the companies that we invested in ... ended up today having some 120,000 jobs.
"Some of the businesses we invested in were not successful and lost jobs," he acknowledged.
It was Perry who challenged Romney, a multimillionaire, to release his income tax returns. The Texas governor said he has already done so, adding he believes Gingrich will do likewise later in the week.
"Mitt, we need for you to release your income tax so the people of this country can see how you made your money. ... We cannot fire our nominee in September. We need to know now."
Later, a debate moderator pressed Romney on releasing his tax returns.
His answer was anything but crisp.
"But you know if that's been the tradition I'm not opposed to doing that. Time will tell. But I anticipate that most likely I'm going to get asked to do that in the April time period and I'll keep that open," he said.
Prodded again, he said, "I think I've heard enough from folks saying look, you know, let's see your tax records. I have nothing in them that suggests there's any problem and I'm happy to do so. I sort of feel like we're showing a lot of exposure at this point, and if I become our nominee and what's happened in history is people have released them in about April of the coming year and that's probably what I'd do."
Santorum stayed away from the clash over taxes, instead starting a dispute of his own. He said a campaign group supporting Romney has been attacking him for supporting voter rights for convicted felons, and asked Romney what his position was on the issue.
Romney initially ducked a direct answer, preferring to ask Santorum if the ad was accurate.
He then said he doesn't believe convicted violent felons should have the right to vote, even after serving their terms. Santorum instantly said that as governor of Massachusetts, Romney hadn't made any attempt to change a law that permitted convicted felons to vote while still on parole, a law that the former Pennsylvania senator said was more liberal than the one he has been assailed for supporting.
Romney replied that as Republican governor, he was confronted with a legislature that was heavily Democratic and held a different position.
He also reminded Santorum that candidates have no control over the campaign groups that have played a pivotal role in the race to date.
"It is inaccurate," Santorum said of the ad assailing him, seeking the last word. "I would go out and say, `Stop it. That you're representing me and you're representing my campaign. Stop it.'"
That issue returned more than an hour later, when Gingrich said he, too, faces false attacks from the same group that is criticizing Santorum. He noted that Romney says he lacks sway over the group, "which makes you wonder how much influence he would have if he were president."
Romney said he hoped no group would run inaccurate ads, and he said the organization backing Gingrich was airing a commercial that is so false that "it's probably the biggest hoax since bigfoot."
He called for scuttling the current system of campaign finance laws to permit individuals to donate as much money as they want to the candidates of their choice.
Noting that the debate was occurring on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, one moderator asked Gingrich if his previous statements about poor children lacking a work ethic were "insulting to all Americans, but particularly to black Americans?
"No," he said emphatically, adding his aim was to break dependence on government programs.
"I'm going to continue to find ways to help poor people learn how to get a job, learn to get a better job and learn someday to own the job," he said.
Romney is the leader in the public opinion polls in South Carolina, although his rivals hope the state's 9.9 percent unemployment rate and the presence of large numbers of socially conservative evangelical voters will allow one of them to slip by him.
Huntsman was the second campaign dropout to endorse Romney, after former Minnesota Gov. Tom Pawlenty. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who quit after a last-place finish in Iowa, has not yet said which of the remaining contenders she supports. Herman Cain, who left the race in December after facing allegations of sexual impropriety, has promised an endorsement soon.
Huntsman's parting announcement included a reference to the differences he and Romney had. But he left the podium without responding to questions about his remark last week, in the run-up to the New Hampshire primary, that Romney was unelectable and out of touch.
It was unclear why Romney did not attend the announcement. He was in town for a later campaign appearance and then the debate.
___
Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Columbia and Beth Fouhy in Myrtle Beach contributed to this report.
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COMMENTARY | Politicians are elected to office to represent their constituents; comedians are self-appointed word troubadours with their fingers on the pulse of the populace. The success of a comedian, both financially and in popularity, is dependent on his ability to say what's on the minds of his audience with a twist of humor. The success of a politician seems to be less dependent on popularity among the people -- and financially, he can depend on a super PAC to succeed, or so says Stephen Colbert.
Should comedy be the venue, the voice of a conscience of a nation? With the general population trying so diligently just to keep their heads above water in these economically difficult times, it stands to reason that most people don't have any time or energy left to wade through the political mumbo jumbo, much less something as supercilious as a super PAC.
Colbert's consideration to run for president, as reported by FoxNews.com, is his tongue-in-cheek method of bringing attention to super PACs. As ABCNews.com explains, the comedian is utilizing his brand of comedy to bring attention to these Supreme Court approved new campaign finance laws that allow anonymous donors to give unlimited funds to what are referred to as the super PACs. The funds can then be used to financially support political candidates -- as long as the super PAC is not directly coordinated with a candidate.
In essence, there is no campaign finance law, or at least very little which Colbert exposed on his Comedy Central show the same night he announced his decision to decide whether to run for president. He turned over his super PAC, formerly known as "Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow" to fellow comedian and business partner Jon Stewart after first conferring with legal counsel that business partners did not fall under the definition of "direct coordination."
Again, Colbert becomes the teacher and the voice of his fellow Americans who would have the same thoughts on the legitimacy of super PACs -- if they had the time and energy to be aware of their existence. And now they do. The question becomes will Colbert's efforts move the powers-that-be to take appropriate action?
Smack dab in the middle of the baby boomer generation, L.L. Woodard is a proud resident of "The Red Man" state. With what he hopes is an everyman's view of life's concerns both in his state and throughout the nation, Woodard presents facts and opinions based on common-sense solutions.
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BERLIN ? German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Standard & Poor's downgrades of nine eurozone countries underline the fact that Europe has a "long road" in front of it to win back investors' confidence.
Merkel pushed Saturday for European countries to implement "as soon as possible" a planned pact to strengthen budget discipline and said eurozone countries also must move quickly to implement their permanent rescue fund ? the so-called European Stability Mechanism.
Germany wasn't downgraded by S&P, but France, with which it has co-piloted the rescue effort, lost its top-notch AAA rating.
Merkel said the decision "won't torpedo" the work of the current, temporary eurozone rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
PARIS (AP) ? France's prime minister said Saturday his country will push ahead with cost-cutting measures after its top-tier debt rating was downgraded, a blow with repercussions across financially beleaguered Europe.
Other European countries from Austria to Cyprus assailed ratings agency Standard & Poor's after a raft of downgrades Friday night. The move may make it more expensive for struggling countries to borrow money, reduce debts and avoid a new recession.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon struck a somber, measured tone when responding Saturday to the downgrade, which was particularly wounding to France's self-image and could hurt bailout efforts for struggling eurozone countries. France is central to those efforts, and the downgrade, by pushing up its own borrowing costs, could make it harder for France to help others.
Fillon said the downgrade confirmed his conservative government's plans for more reforms to bring down debts, despite worries that more austerity measures could suffocate growth.
The downgrade, coming three months before France holds presidential elections, was "an alert that should not be dramatized any more than it should be under-estimated," he said. He insisted that France is a reliable investment.
Standard & Poor's stripped France of its coveted AAA status, knocking it down one notch to AA+. It dropped Italy even lower. Germany retained its top-notch rating, but Portugal's debt was consigned to junk.
Cyprus' finance minister called Standard & Poor's two-notch downgrade of his eurozone country to junk status "arbitrary and unfounded."
Kikis Kazamias said on Saturday that the agency ignored the island's deficit-cutting measures as well as the discovery of significant offshore natural gas deposits. He said the action illustrates once more how credit ratings agencies exacerbate Europe's debt crisis.
Austria's chancellor criticized S&P's decision to strip his country of the top AAA rating, and noted that his coalition government is working on an austerity package.
Werner Faymann wrote on his Facebook page that "Austria's economic data remain very good." He added that the decision showed "that Austria must become more independent from the financial markets."
The man who tops polls ahead of France's presidential elections, Socialist Francois Hollande, said the downgrade was a punishment for conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy's policies. He lashed out Saturday at austerity measures saying they were stifling growth and France's competitivity.
The downgrade brought a downbeat end to a mildly encouraging week for Europe's heavily indebted nations and served a reminder the 17-country eurozone faces another tough year.
France's downgrade to AA+ lowers it to the level of U.S. long-term debt, which S&P downgraded last summer. S&P had warned 15 European nations in December that they were at risk for a downgrade.
Stocks fell Friday as downgrade rumors reached the trading floors of Europe and the United States. But the declines were nothing like the wrenching swings of last summer and fall, when the debt crisis threw the markets into turmoil.
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The author of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) announced Friday that he will remove the DNS-blocking provisions of the bill. SOPA, designed to combat digital piracy and copyright infringement, has been considered dangerous to the foundations of the Internet by many in the Internet and technology communities. As originally written, the bill would have blocked DNS requests for websites considered to be hosting content illegally.
[More from Mashable: Nuke the Net: How to Get the Mainstream Talking About the Dangers of SOPA]
SOPA's interference with the DNS system, which is a sort of phone book for the Internet, was considered particularly onerous by the legislation's detractors.
"After consultation with industry groups across the country," SOPA author Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) said in a statement released by his office, "I feel we should remove DNS-blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the [U.S. House Judiciary] Committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision."
[More from Mashable: Soapy: Can This Plug-In Kill SOPA?]
The change will be considered a victory for SOPA opponents. Google, Facebook and Twitter announced their opposition to SOPA in a public letter published in November of last year.
GoDaddy, an Internet domain registration service, experienced a severe public backlash when it announced it was in favor of the legislation.
Smith isn't giving up the fight against online piracy, though. "We will continue to look for ways to ensure that foreign Web sites cannot sell and distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers," Smith added. "Congress must address the widespread problem of online theft of America?s technology and products from foreign thieves."
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the author of the Protect IP Act (PIPA), also said in a separate statement he would be taking out the portions of his bill designed for DNS blocking and redirection Thursday. PIPA is SOPA's sister bill in the Senate.
An anti-SOPA protest is still planned for New York next Wednesday afternoon.
Are you glad the DNS blocking and redirecting portion of SOPA is gone? Let us know in the comments below.
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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