Mourinho and Materazzi cry in emotional goodbye

The video began circulating on the Italian and Spanish media on the day that Mourinho officially left Inter Milan, and captures the moment when the Portuguese coach cries on Marco Materazzi’s shoulder.

The video was made last Saturday and shows the moment when José Mourinho was leaving the Bernabéu Stadium, hours after winning the Champions League final. The Portuguese coach was leaving in a private car with his family, then asked to stop the car, got out and went to Materazzi who was waiting for the departure of the bus that would take the team to the airport for the return trip to Milan.

The emotional way that Mourinho hugged the defender Materazzi, who has not played that often in the past two seasons, is proof of how the Portuguese coach can create strong bonds between all members of the teams he manages.

For those who think this man is arrogant, here is an image of his humanity and sensitivity. He just hides his emotions and practices a brand image and charisma that has led to deserved successes.

Farewell to Milan

After having dined with President Massimo Moratti on Monday, everything will become clear. This Tuesday, Mourinho’s agent Jorge Mendes met with Inter Milan management to negotiate the terms of the contract, which has a €16 million compensation clause in favor of the Italian club in case of unilateral termination. It has also been reported that the "Merengues" will spend €40 million to secure Mourinho.

José Mourinho has already collected his belongings from his Milan office and bid farewell to the players, officials and managers who worked with him in Inter Milan. The lure of the challenge of restoring Madrid to former glories, coupled with his disillusionment with Italian football, proved too much for “The Special One” who has become even more special.

It’s not yet confirmed, but it is expected that this week, José Mourinho could return to Madrid to become, officially, the new coach of Real Madrid. “My target now is to win the Champions League with a third club.” said Mourinho.

According to a poll published in the weekly magazine "Diva and Donna," the Portuguese coach is considered the world's sexiest sports personality by Italian women. The results show that 48% of Italian women wanted Mourinho as a lover because "he has an irresistible personality".

See Video of Mourinho and Materazzi in emotional farewell:

Mourinho wins second Italian Championship Title for Inter

Inter beat Siena 1-0, and confirmed the conquest of the Italian Serie A championship, making it a double after winning the Italian Cup a few days back and hoping to make it a “tripple” in the final of the Champions League against Bayern Munich. Roma's 2-0 victory over Chievo turned out to be insufficient to make them champions.
It is the second Italian title with Mourinho and the fifth in a row for Inter. It's also their 18th “Scudetto” in its history.

After the final whistle, Mourinho went straight to the locker room, not joining the players on the pitch. It was up to Inter President Massimo Moratti, to do the partying with the fans. Moratti and José Mourinho just shook hands in the dressing room.

Players gathered afterwards to wear t-shirts depicting the championship win on the pitch, where they received the champions medals, one by one. Mourinho was the last to be called, thus joining the whole group to raise the championship trophy.

As for the game, Milito scored the only goal of the match on 57 minutes, after numerous attempts, with many balls hitting the bar and good saves from the Siena goalkeeper.

Inter came under pressure, with the game still at 0-0, as Roma took a 2-0 lead against Chievo with goals by Vucinic (39) and Rossi (45) but Milito’s goal, at 57, nullified that advantage.

Next season besides Inter, AC Roma and AC Milan have a place in Champions League, with Sampdoria going into a third pre-qualifying round. Palermo, Napoli and Juventus will play in the Europe League.

Atalanta, Siena and Livorno will drop from the Serie A.

After the game, Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti, said that it was the best gift he could get for his 65th anniversary, which he celebrated today and recognized that all the credit goes to the Portuguese coach José Mourinho.

"I am very happy. We suffered a lot until the end but we deserved it, the players were very brave, and Mourinho is the “Special” number 1. He is a marvelous person, a winning coach who gives his heart and soul to the team. Now let's think about the Champions League final in Madrid and complete the “Tripletto” he said shortly after the end of the match in Siena, where “Nerazzurra” began celebrating for winning the “Scudetto”.

Google Page Rank Update on April 3rd 2010

It was by coincidence that just last night I googled about when the next Google page rank updates would take place, but didn't really find enough information except for some outdated stuff from 2006-2007. I did however find a website that showed a list of Google's PR updates for the past two years, which were the following:

Jan 9 + 10, 2008
April 29, 2008
July 26, 2008
Sept 27, 2008
Dec 31, 2008
April 1, 2009
May 28, 2009
Oct 30, 2009
Dec 31, 2009
and today April 3rd, 2010

Being new to blogging I was extemely happy to wake up this morning and see that my Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal Blog which I started mid January, jumped from PR0 to PR2, but a little disappointed that my other blog about the 2010 World Cup remained at PR0, even though it's only 6 weeks old. As a matter of curiosity Facebook made it to PR10.

To check the page rank of your website just google "google page rank checker" and you will find many websites that will check it for you. Or you can go directly to this website, put in your URL and verify.

So it would appear that the next page rank update could be in June, July if the trend continues as it has in the past couple of years. In the meantime lets work on putting some good content in our websites, so that Google may compensate us in a couple months time (we hope).

Chinese buy Volvo from Ford Motor Co.

Volvo, one of the best known car brands in the world, is now in the hands of Chinese entrepreneurs, in what turned out to be a big cash loss for Ford.

The Chinese car manufacturer Geely yesterday sealed a deal to buy the giant Volvo Cars Unit from American car manufacturer Ford Motor Co. for $1.8 billion, announced the official Chinese news agency.

"I can confirm that the final settlement was signed at 14.40 of the sale of Volvo to Geely," told the spokesman for Volvo, Per-Aake Froeberg to the France Press news agency.

Ford and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group signed the agreement at the headquarters of the Swedish brand in Gothenburg, added the “New China”, official Chinese news agency.

The U.S. car company had announced in December it had reached an agreement on the main conditions with Geely, to sell Volvo to the Chinese company, for about two billion dollars, according to the newspaper Financial Times.

Ford Motor Co. bought Volvo in 1999 for 6.4 billion dollars representing a coup for the Chinese automaker, one of the largest private manufacturers of China which is aiming to expand in Europe.

The union workers at Volvo, which account for 22 thousand people eventually approved the deal on Saturday, but were initially against the take over, on the basis of what they considered very vague expansion plans and possible redundancies.

According to Per-Aake Froeberg, the financial director of Ford, Lewis Booth and the chairman of Geely, Li Shufu, signed the agreement today to sell the main Swedish car manufacturer. Geely aims to produce 600 thousand vehicles by 2015.

Obama humiliates Netanyahu

The President of the United States, Barack Obama “humiliated” the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he held a meeting, says the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth today.

The meeting was held on Tuesday evening in Washington, away from the eyes of the press, was an "ambush" by Obama, feeling “bloated” after the adoption of the health reform, wrote the newspaper, which publishes details of what may have been the meeting.

Soon after the start of the meeting, the U.S. president had asked the head of the Israeli government, what gestures was he willing to make toward the Palestinians, to persuade them to resume the peace talks that have been interrupted for more than a year.

Obama was not satisfied with the vague answers and called for concrete steps, while Netanyahu continued to speak in a theoretical framework of possible measures.

Also discussed was the controversial issue of the construction of Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, which put the long time allies on opposite sides when Israel announced the building of 1,600 homes, during the visit of Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden to Israel.

Washington saw the announcement as a humiliation to his vice president and, according to some local commentators, Obama wanted to return it to Netanyahu, especially after knowing that, hours earlier, Israel had given the green light to build another 20 buildings in East Jerusalem.

After an hour and a half of debate without agreements, Obama rose from his chair and said, “I’m going to the White House for dinner with Michelle and the girls”. ”I'll be around here. Tell me if there is something new”, answered Netanyahu, according to the report of the newspaper.Later, Netanyahu had requested a second meeting with Obama, which lasted just under half an hour.

The White House did not allow access to the press before or after the meeting, nor release official photos, as required by the protocol, which can be interpreted as another way to humiliate their guest.

Cape Verde Islands - the new Caribbean

One of the most beautiful countries in Africa, Cape Verde is one of those places where you feel at home. The population speaks Portuguese and the country has an interesting mix of European and African cultures. Cape Verde is an archipelago of volcanic origin that contains ten islands with breathtaking beauty.

The country is full of small markets scattered all over with a wide variety of products that are sure to meet any immediate needs you have. These markets are animated and show a wide variety of local products such as ceramics, embroidery, shells and coconut shells, as well as carpets of various designs, all rich in detail.

The entertainment and activities that you find in the Cape Verde Islands are varied. The nightlife is mostly found in the good restaurants and bars located in the hotels. During the day you can practice water sports, diving and deep sea fishing with several species to choose from.
The Island of SAL is one of the places you need to visit, offering beautiful sandy beaches with crystal clear waters. Santa Maria is the biggest beach in the island and receives the most tourists. But you can also go to Asparagus, where young people gather for walks at night or meet in restaurants.

There is also SANTIAGO Island where Praia, the capital of Cape Verde is located. Here you will find the beaches of Praiamar and Quebra Canela, which attract thousands of tourists. Some 20 kilometers inland from the beach you will find São Domingos and São Jorge, two very interesting villages that are worth a visit.

The best way to get to know the beauty of Cape Verde Islands is by boat. A modern ferry service will take you to the best places in the archipelago, in a relatively fast and cheap way. This way you can explore all the islands without spending much and still have fun listening to the local stories.

As for the Cape Verde weather, all that can be said is that it is summer all year round. The temperatures vary from a low of about 20º C to a high of 30° C, which are just right. The months of April, May and June are typically dry, while August and September are the rainiest. If you enjoy lots of sun all year round, endless sandy beaches and variety then some well deserved Cape Verde Holidays is just what the doctor ordered.

Polluted water kills more people than wars

The lack of drinking water kills each year at least 1.8 million children under the age of 5 throughout the world, according to a UN report released yesterday on World Water Day.

Every day, about two million tones of domestic, industrial and agricultural waste contaminate two billion tons of water, poisoning marine life and spreading diseases that eventually kill, millions of children all over the world every year.

According to a report presented yesterday by the UN, the use and consumption of polluted water kills more than all forms of violence, including wars. ”These deaths are an affront to humanity and undermine the efforts of many countries to achieve development”, said the United Nations Secretary-General yesterday. To Ban Ki-Moon, it is an unacceptable situation, because "man already has enough scientific knowledge to better manage natural resources".

”Sick Water” Report

The ”Sick Water” Report of the UNEP Program for the Environment of the United Nations warns of the need for urgent action, particularly as urban populations will double in the next four decades from the current 3.4 billion people to 6 billion.

The problem is that in big cities they already have a lack of proper management of water waste, due to the aging of the system, failures in the infrastructure or inadequate drainage.

The UN report points out that diarrhea, mainly caused by dirty water, kills alone some 2.2 million people a year, adding that "more than half of the hospital beds are occupied by people whose diseases are water contamination related.

"If we plan to survive on a planet with 6 billion people and heading to more than 9 billion by 2050, we need to be smarter on the management of domestic waste. The sewers are literally killing people," said the Director of UNEP, Achim Steiner.