More than 1,400 police officers and Brazilian Marines rolled into a massive complex of slums near Rio de Janeiro’s international airport before dawn yesterday in the latest security push ahead of the World Cup.

About 1,000 Brazilian police officers have begun invading a massive complex of slums near Rio de Janeiro’s international airport, the latest impoverished area to be targeted for the government’s “pacification” programme.

The 2007 Breeders’ Cup will be remembered for all the wrong reasons after the untimely death of George Washington.