Brazil's top court halts boy's return to US dad

The AP reports: David Goldman has spent more than five years trying to gain custody of his son, Sean, 9, who was taken to Brazil in 2004 by Goldman's then-wife Bruna Bianchi. She decided to stay, divorced Goldman and remarried before dying while giving birth to a daughter last year.

Yesterday, he arrived in Rio, looking weary and cautious but hoping to finally return to the United States with his son after a federal court ruled Wednesday that the boy had to be turned over.

But the Supreme Court suspended that decision just four hours after Goldman landed, deciding the boy must remain in Brazil pending a motion to hear the child testify on where he wants to live.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey responded by placing on hold a trade bill that would benefit Brazil and other countries to export some products duty-free to the United States.

The reversal means the boy will be in Brazil at least until Feb. 1, following the justices' return from a recess, according to a court spokesman who commented on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the case.

The Brazilian family celebrated, and their lawyer produced for reporters a drawing he said Sean had made: "I want to stay in Brazil forever," it read in big, green lettering in Portuguese.

But Goldman called the ruling "ridiculous" and said he could not believe the Brazilian courts would "allow a child to remain separated from their only parent and try to turn that child against that parent."