Hello and welcome to News Hour from the BBC World Service.
We're coming to you live from London.
I'm Sean Lay.
It's good to have your company this hour.
We begin in Brazil where a state lawyer in Rio de Janeiro says more than 130 people are confirmed dead after a major security operation said to have been aimed at drug trafficking.
On Tuesday,
2,500 police officers and soldiers took part in raids leading to gun battles in two of the city's favelas.
The Public Defender's Office said it was talking to residents and families of the dead to determine the response to what it called unprecedented state violence.
Authorities say they were targeting the Red Command,
a criminal gang they describe as narco-terrorists.
With more, our South America correspondent, Irony Wells.
One by one,
the community of this favela in Rio de Janeiro collected dead bodies from their community and laid them out in the road.
By Wednesday morning, dozens lay in Peña,
one of the sites targeted in Rio's deadliest ever police raid.
The corpses lie mostly shirtless.
Some of their faces are mutilated.
Family members grip the sheets that roughly cover their bloody limbs.
I just want to take my son out of here and bury him.
You know why?