Brazilian police arrested 10 heavily armed men and rescued 35 people who had been held hostage for almost two hours at a five-star hotel in one of Rio de Janeiro's

Brazilian police on Saturday arrested 10 heavily armed men and rescued 35 people who had been held hostage for almost two hours at a five-star hotel in one of Rio de Janeiro’s richest neighborhoods.The gunmen, armed with automatic weapons and grenades, were driving in several cars on a scenic road along the ocean when they met with police patrols.

A shootout followed in Rio’s Sao Conrado neighborhood and the hooded suspects escaped into the Intercontinental Hotel, which last year hosted the World Economic Forum on Latin America. A woman bystander was killed and two police officers were hurt in the exchange of gunfire, police said.”I have never seen so many criminals together. All of them were wearing the same outfit, like uniforms, and were on the streets shooting into the open air,” a resident who witnessed the event and asked not to be named told Reuters. “It was a war zone.”TV images showed suspects wearing black bullet-proof vests and hiding behind a garbage truck during the shootout with police, before running into the hotel.

Colonel Lima Castro, a spokesman for Rio’s military police, said the 35 hostages were freed without harm. Police swept the entire hotel and arrested 10 people.Violent crime is a major concern in Rio, where heavily armed drug gangs control its many slums. The sprawling city is Brazil’s biggest tourist destination and will host the 2016 Olympic games, as well as be a venue for the 2014 World Cup.(Reuters)

Rio de Janeiro The most torrential rains in decades has caused flooding and landslides that killed at least 79 people in the state of Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro The most torrential rains in decades has caused flooding and landslides that killed at least 79 people in the state of Rio de Janeiro, stop the transport and trade in Tuesday’s second city in Brazil. Landslides sweep over the huts on the hillside slums of Rio, the city was an important change of the lake and the sea became brown after 15 hours of heavy rain.

Morning flights in and out of the city of six million people who will be hosting the Olympics in 2006 were canceled or seriously delayed, and many neighborhood cut off from electricity and transportation. Most victims were killed at least 180 landslides caused by rain, the government said. According to a spokesman for Rio fire department, at least 40 people were injured have been taken to the hospital and that they are looking for others who were reported missing.

“The situation is critical. The streets flooded and blocked,” said Mayor Eduardo Paes told Reuters. “We recommend people to stay home.” Paes explained to reporters that at least 26 people were killed in the metropolitan area, and firefighters said that all 79 people had died. The mayor claimed 10,000 homes remained at risk, mostly in slums where about a fifth of the population of Rio live, often in huts which are highly vulnerable to heavy rains. Heavy rains that began Monday night in Rio was the worst recorded in 30 years, according to authorized parties. In less than 24 hours, the clouds have float  28.8 cm of rain in the city.

Meteorology experts say that more than the number that is expected during the month of April. The science of weather experts predict more rain in the coming few days, causing landslides will again. Floods and transport chaos last may renew attention on the city’s poor infrastructure when the city was preparing to carry out the 2014 football World Cup and the Olympics in 2006.(Reuters)