[nukkad] Viva Brazil !!

["Pravin Walunjkar" <"Pravin Walunjkar" <Pravin@mahabank.co.in>>]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sad is his lot, who, once at least in his life, has not been a poet.
-Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine, poet, statesman (1790-1869)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=81
4391&tw=wn_wire_story

U.S. Pilot Freed as Brazil Speeds Up Fingerprinting  

Thursday, January 15, 2004 5:32 p.m. ET

By Nicholas Winning

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Police at Sao Paulo's airport were deluged
with calls of congratulations on Thursday for arresting an American
Airlines pilot who made an obscene gesture while being photographed by
immigration officials as part of a policy that has soured U.S.-Brazilian
relations.

The pilot, Dale Robin Hersh, 52, who was arrested for raising his middle
finger in a photograph that was splashed across Brazilian newspapers,
was fined nearly $13,000 before being allowed to leave the country,
officials said.

The American pilot's defiant gesture brought renewed focus to a new
Brazilian policy of fingerprinting and photographing all U.S. visitors
in retaliation for a similar measure introduced by the United States for
many foreigners.

Many Brazilians are annoyed by what they perceive as Washington's
arrogance when dealing with Latin America and welcomed Hersh's arrest as
well as the knowledge that the new airport controls have irked the
United States.

A Reuters photographer at Sao Paulo airport said police had received
almost nonstop phone calls of congratulations for arresting Hersh and
forcing him to surrender his passport.

Veronique Genevieve Claude, an official at the court where Hersh's case
was heard, said the pilot had paid a $12,775 fine and was free to leave
the country.

U.S. passport holders have been subjected to long lines at Brazilian
ports of entry since the new controls were implemented, prompting
Secretary of State Colin Powell to complain that Americans were being
discriminated against.

At a regional summit in Mexico this week, Brazilian President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva appealed to President Bush to suspend visa
requirements so the two countries could drop the fingerprint checks.

In a bid to ease the tension for American travelers ahead of its famous
Carnival in February, Rio de Janeiro's tourism body laid on Samba
dancers for arriving U.S. tourists at the airport and handed them roses
and T-shirts bearing the message "Rio loves you."

Airports in Rio and Sao Paulo also began using an electronic
fingerprinting and photographing system to speed up the processing of
U.S. citizens, which began on Jan. 1.

"The process was quick and easy," said actor Kevin Boguel on clearing
immigration at Rio's Tom Jobim airport. "I only feel a bit embarrassed
because we North Americans are getting presents and the other tourists
are not."

American housewife Marilyn Ross also had no complaints after going
through the immigration procedure at Rio airport. "I think it's normal,"
she said. "If the United States wants to fingerprint then Brazil also
has the right to do so."

Brazilian government lawyers have challenged a ruling by a 34-year-old
regional judge that introduced the new immigration controls on the
grounds that they want to restore the government's "exclusive
competence" over foreign policy.

But officials said the legal challenge, which aims to prevent judges
across the country from dictating foreign policy, would have no impact
on the controls on U.S visitors. (Additional reporting Rodrigo Gaier in
Rio de Janeiro and Jon Herskovitz in Dallas) 

Copyright (c) 2003 Reuters Limited.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
have a great day !
- pravin walunjkar. 
__________________________________________
Disclaimer:
This e-mail may contain Privileged/Confidential information and is
intended only for the individual(s) named. Please notify the sender, if
you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete it from your system.
Information in this message that do not relate to the official business
of  the company shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by it.
E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free. The
sender does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the
contents of this message which arise as a result of e-mail transmission.
If verification is required please request a hard-copy version. Visit us
at 


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To join/leave, use the form at: http://www.mumbai-central.com/nukkad/#options
This list is archived at: http://www.mumbai-central.com/nukkad/archive.html