Massa given all-clear by Ferrari to begin comeback bid

Injured Formula One star Felipe Massa is looking forward to taking his first steps towards driving again after passing a series of mental and physical tests in Miami. His team Ferrari reported on its Web site on Tuesday that the Brazilian, who suffered horrific head wounds in Hungary in July, had come through the tests satisfactorily on Monday

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Motorsport: Massa wakes for family

Felipe Massa has been woken successfully three times to make contact with his family, one of the surgeons who operated on the Brazilian Formula One star told CNN on Monday, after a horror crash in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix left the driver needing surgery on a fractured skull. Peter Bazso, the medical director of the AEK hospital in Budapest, confirmed that Massa’s injuries had been “life-threatening” after he careered off the Hungaroring at 200kph in his Ferrari, but that his condition was now “slightly improving.” Bazso told CNN said he had watched the accident on television and his team, who specialize in brain injuries, was immediately put on standby to operate as Massa was airlifted to his hospital

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Kaka unveiled as Real Madrid’s number eight

Brazilian playmaker Kaka was officially presented as a Real Madrid player, after being handed the number eight jersey in front of thousands of supporters and a huge media contingent at the club’s Bernabeu stadium on Tuesday evening. An estimated 50,000-strong crowd, almost three times the anticipated number, turned up to watch the ceremony as Kaka was unveiled as Madrid’s latest addition by club president Florentino Perez and honorary president Alfredo di Stefano. Latest transfer gossip and rumors Kaka, who completed his medical earlier in the day having landed in the Spanish capital in the morning, has penned a six-year contract and has cost Madrid a reported 56 million euros ($79m).

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Real Madrid defy recession to buy success

Should Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid go through, the Spanish giants will have spent an incredible $230 million on just two players in less than a week. On Monday, Brazilian playmaker Kaka joined the Madrid club from AC Milan for a fee of around $100 million, while Ronaldo will cost $130 million — a world record.

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U.S. dad’s custody case returns to Brazilian appeals court

Brazil’s highest court said Wednesday it does not have jurisdiction over who should have custody of a U.S.-born 9-year-old boy — his Brazilian stepfather or his father in the United States. The high court’s ruling sends the ongoing case back to an appeals court in Rio de Janeiro. In the unanimous vote, Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court said it could not rule over The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, of which Brazil is a signatory.

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French sub joins plane crash search

A French nuclear submarine joined the hunt Wednesday for the "black box" flight data recorder and other wreckage of Air France Flight 447 as Brazilian air force and navy crews continued to pull bodies from the Atlantic. France is leading the investigation into what caused last week’s accident when the Paris-bound flight from Rio de Janeiro plunged into the sea off the Brazilian coast with 228 passengers and crew on board. The French nuclear submarine Emeraude began patrolling the area Wednesday morning, the French defense ministry said.

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