This week: Brazil is definitely ready for World Cup. Maybe.

This week turned out to be an “all American continent news week”. Sure, there were updates from outside this land mass, but none of those passed our curator’s strict criteria (apparently).

So, first up was NORTH America when Fox News reported that an Atlanta airport (ATL) worker turns in $7,000 in lost cash. According to the article an Alabama foot doctor said he is grateful for the honesty of a part-time parking cashier at Atlanta’s airport, who found $7,000 in cash on the curb outside the international terminal and promptly turned it in. Let’s hope this honest worker gets her reward!

Next up was New York when Wired reported that The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday it is investigating an unidentified black drone an Alitalia pilot said he encountered while approaching John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). Apparently the Flight #608 pilot said he saw the 3-foot-wide drone, with four propellers, at about 1,750 feet Monday, three miles before touching down. Whether it was a hobbyist breaking the Federal Aviation Administration’s 400-foot-altitude rule or a real spy vessel from the Evil Empire is unknown. Either way, there’s a UFO out there and it came within 200 feet of the plane, the FBI said.

In between all the North American news, an article from Forbes reached us from further SOUTH, Brazil to be precise and headlined with “Brazil’s Busiest Airport Says Ready For FIFA World Cup”. In the article the reporter outlines what still needs to be built at São Paulo’s Guarulhos Airport (GRU), Brazil’s busiest: They’re building a new terminal, which will be bigger than terminals 1 and 2. They’re building more parking places for airplanes and increasing aircraft capacity before 2014.  Right now, they only have slots for 58 aircraft at a time. They’re working on increasing efficiency, too, by deploying new technology for better baggage claim services, among other things. And in response to this, GRU’s CIO was quoted saying “It’s going to be ready by April next year. We are being very aggressive about it and sticking to this timeline. […] Terminal 3 will be totally new and the entire upgrade of the airport will be done by 2016.” Got it – definitely maybe, right?

And to finish the week off, we found a slightly concerning article from the USA again: Fox News reported on Saturday that an undercover Transportation Security Administration inspector reportedly brought a mock improvised explosive device stashed in his pants through two layers of security and was cleared to board a commercial flight last month. The incident happened at New York’s Newark airport (EWR). According to the article the TSA wouldn’t confirm the details of the report but in statement said it regularly puts screeners through “the most difficult and isolated training scenarios to ensure officers are able to detect even the most difficult to find devices.”

That’s all for this week – safe travels!

[Photo from Wikipedia – some rights reserved]