Security forces and drug traffickers battled with guns and grenades in a Rio de Janeiro slum on Wednesday after more than 1,000 policemen backed by armored cars invaded the area in a show of force before the Pan American Games. About 450 soldiers occupied the main entrances to the area that groups more than 20 slums in the north of the city.

Gang members set up barricades and created oil slicks to slow down the police assault. The BBC's Gary Duffy in Sao Paulo says the police face a formidable opposition as many members of the drug gangs have high-calibre weapons. In a recent exchange of gunfire a man was killed at a petrol station up to 2km (1.2 miles) from where the shot was originally fired.

Britain's tourism industry is warning that "woeful" government underfunding could jeopardise its prospects of achieving the target of a £2bn windfall from the London 2012 Olympics. It says that cuts to overseas marketing budgets are symptomatic of the government's failure to treat tourism seriously, and claims that the benefits of staging the games have been hyped by ministers.

Greetings everybody. Welcome to the first day of my Solar New Year. Which day I hereby name Kelsang Nortso Day. Read and see the video of my story of the day below.

Martin Slavin

The Chinese authorities are trying to limit the number of climbers on Mount Everest’s north side in Tibet. Officially the Chinese are preparing a trial run of the torch relay for the Olympic Games on the summit, but many speculate that the real reason is that Everest is close to Cho Oyu where Chinese army guards shot at Tibetan refugees in September.