Two fighters, one belt, one champion

Anderson Silva, the best pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world, is expected to step back into the Octagon at UFC 97 in April to defend his middleweight title against Thales Leites in Montreal.

Although UFC has made no official announcement, Intheguard.tv reports that the bout has been agreed upon by both fighters. The UFC has not officially confirmed that UFC 97 will take place in Montreal in April, but that has been widely expected.

For Silva, it’s a second straight middleweight title defense against an opponent who will be a huge underdog. Silva looked bored in winning a ho-hum third-round TKO victory over Patrick Cote at UFC 90, and we can only hope we’ll see a more intense version of Silva at UFC 97.

But while he is an underdog, if Leites can take the fight to the ground, he’s got a shot. Leites has tremendous Brazilian jiu jitsu skills and can at least give Silva something he hasn’t gotten in his last two fights: a challenge.

Watch a little bit of what Anderson Silva is capable of :

A ranking compiled by Transparency International, covering 22 major exporting countries of the world, noted that Brazil is the fifth most dishonest country when does business abroad.

Russia had the worst note (5.9), then China (6.5), Mexico (6.6), India (6.8), Brazil and Italy (tied with 7.4). Belgium and Canada are the least corrupt countries (note 8.8).

The survey is based on interviews with 2742 executives, conducted between Aug. 5 and 29 October, 2008. They scored from 0 to 10 based on the honesty of his colleagues in each country.

The United States finished in ninth place with note 8.1 , along with France and Singapore.

The Transparency International said that the 22 countries covered in the survey answered together for 75% of total exports of goods and services and direct investments in the world.

In previous research, in 2006, India had the lowest note, followed by China and Russia. Switzerland, Sweden and Australia led the ranking.

Ronaldo “phenomenon”, the new Corinthians idol.

Ronaldo has hardly been announced as the new player of Corinthians, and it’s generating profit. In the first six hours after the club confirmed the settlement, the shop in the St. George’s Park sold 80 jerseys of the phenomenon. In just one afternoon, R$ 13.5 thousand was made with the marketing of products.

Minutes after the board reported the purchased of Ronaldo, around noon, the Corinthians’ shop had in his shelves models of the jersey with the number 9 and the name Ronaldo on the back. In the colors white, purple and black, the uniform cost R$ 169.90. The demand was such big that the store ran out of the jersey with number 9.

Many fans, soon they learned of the news, went to the club to buy the jersey of the new idol corintiano.

- I would be among the first to take the shirt of the phenomenon. He has the face of Corinthians, who has always demonstrated his best in the field – says Marcel Camba, 36 years old.

U.S. currency ended the day quoted the R$2,536, a increase of 2.46%.

The trading  dollar surpassed the rate of $ 2.50 this Thursday(4). The currency has gained strength at the end of the trading session and finished the day with recovery of 2.46%, negotiated to $2,536 for the sale.
With this, accumulated in the year, the dollar has been valued 42.71% against the real. Only in the first week of December, the accumulated high is 9.54%. The price for this Thursday is the highest recorded since April 28, 2005.

This Thursday, the chairman of the Central Bank (BC), Henrique Meirelles, said the monetary authority has spent, by the end of November, U.S. $ 6.7 billion of its reserves in direct sales exchange market. Together, all forms of intervention by BC in the exchange market already total $ 49.5 billion.

Itajaí’s seaport export 4% of all Brazilian exports.

Terminal may be closed up to two months.

The flood in Santa Catarina, which has left 114 dead and more than 78 thousand homeless, is also causing problems in the economy. According to the secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Development (MDIC), Welber Barral, exports fell $370 million in November because Itajaí’s seaport problem – which was totally destroyed by the rain. The information was disclosed this Monday (1).

“The seaport of Itajaí is extremely important. It is the second largest container port in the country. It is much more important for exports than for imports. Thorough the port products with higher value are shipped, such as manufacturing,” said Barral.

Due to the damage of the port, Brazil is losing $31 million per day in exports. The Secretary did not provide, however, an estimate for the losses for the month of December.

Government’s data shows that 4% of all Brazilian exports are shipped overseas through the port of Itajaí. According Barral, about 30% of Brazilian exports of meat are made via Itajaí, and 22% of foreign sales of smoke, 26% of exports of furniture, 21% of ceramic products, 32% of exports of compressors and 60% of Brazilian production of apple for the external market.

The Secretary of Foreign Trade also said that the port will be open to work normally in about two months. “There was a process of serious silting the river. It will be necessary do dredging. Between 30 and 60 days, at least 50% of the port will be working again,” said Barral. He pointed out that the government has released $350 million for rebuild the port of Itajaí.

According to the Ministry of Development, about 3,000 trucks are stopped due to the damage at the port of Itajaí. “These trucks will be sent to other ports such as Santos, Paranagua and Sao Francisco do Sul.