Mark Memmott

It's never a good sign for a leader's longevity when he has to issue a statement like this:

"The rumors of my resignation are groundless."

That's from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi this morning, on his official Facebook page.

As The Associated Press writes, earlier today:

There's been a huge increase in the wealth gap between older Americans and those just entering adulthood, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data done by the Pew Research Center.

According to Pew's study:

In 2009, "households headed by adults ages 65 and older ... had 47 times as much net wealth as the typical household headed by someone" under 35 years of age. Pew says that "back in 1984, this had been a less lopsided 10-to-1 ratio."

Good morning.

Our early headlines were:

-- Penn State Abuse Allegations: Paterno 'Deeply Saddened'.

-- Report: Iran On 'Threshold Of Nuclear Capability'.

Other top stories of the day so far:

The alleged sexual abuse of children by a former assistant coach on the Penn State University football team was allowed to continue for at least a decade because of "a culture that did nothing to stop it" at the school, Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan just told reporters in Harrisburg.

"Intelligence provided to U.N. nuclear officials shows that Iran's government has mastered the critical steps needed to build a nuclear weapon, receiving assistance from foreign scientists to overcome key technical hurdles," The Washington Post reports this morning.