In the World

Police backed by seven tanks and helicopters charged into Rio de Janeiro's biggest slum Sunday to take control from drug traffickers as part of the battle to secure the Brazilian city before it hosts the 2016 Olympic Games.

A 3,000-strong security force faced no resistance as it advanced into Rocinha, a maze of dwellings that house an estimated 100,000 people on a hillside overlooking some of Rio's wealthiest communities. Neighboring areas of Vidigal and Chacara do Ceu were also occupied. There was no conflict and no shots were fired during the action. The drive comes three days after police captured Antonio Francisco Bonfim Lopes, known as Nem, leader of the drug gang that has controlled Rocinha for more than a decade.

- Bloomberg News

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard says a commander killed in an explosion at an ammunition depot west of Tehran was a key figure in Iran's missile program.

Gen. Hasan Moghaddam was killed along with 16 other guard members Saturday at a military site outside Bidganeh village, 25 miles southwest of Tehran. The guard said the accidental explosion occurred while military personnel were transporting munitions.

In a statement released Sunday, the guard praised Moghaddam, saying the military force will not forget his "effective role in the development of the country's defense."

The Revolutionary Guard is a key Iranian military force closely tied to the country's powerful clerics. -AP

Mexican investigators presented radar and video images supporting their findings that fog in the mountains around the capital caused the helicopter crash that killed the country's second-highest official.

The reports Sunday eased concerns Interior Minister Francisco Blake Mora may have fallen victim to assassination as President Felipe Calderon eulogized his top cabinet member.

Blake Mora, 45, was among eight people killed Friday when his Super Puma helicopter went down en route from Mexico City to a prosecutors' meeting in the central city of Cuernavaca. Cameras captured foggy conditions around the capital that morning, and radar showed how the pilot left his planned route, presumably to find a clearer course, according to evidence presented by the government.

- Bloomberg News

KARACHI, Pakistan - Twenty-one people were killed in a collision between a bus and a passenger van in southern Pakistan, a government health official said Sunday.

Sagheer Ahmed, health minister in Sindh province, said the vehicles were traveling to Karachi from Thatta, 80 miles to the east, when the accident happened Sunday. More than a dozen people were injured.

Pakistan has one of the worst records for traffic fatalities, blamed on poor roads, badly maintained vehicles, and reckless driving. -AP