Three people have been killed and at least nine others injured by stray bullets over the past ten days in Rio, state security officials said Monday after an upsurge in urban violence.

In the most recent incident, a woman was hospitalized after she was shot in the head in the western dormitory town of Bangu while she lay in bed at home.

After more than five months stranded off southern Brazil amid reports of unpaid wages and mechanical woes, the remnant crew of Liberian-registered bulk carrier Adamastos was rescued Saturday, Brazilian media reported.

Half of the 23-strong crew had been taken off the vessel in December as sanitary conditions deteriorated and supplies began to run low off the southern port of Rio Grande.

A police officer and an inmate were killed and 29 prisoners wounded Monday in the latest riot to hit Brazil's overcrowded prison system, authorities said.

The violence erupted in a Recife jail when an orderly protest broke down, and was brought under control only after police arrived.

Halfway through the rainy season, the key reservoir for the hemisphere's largest city holds just 6 percent of its capacity, and experts warned Friday that Sao Paulo authorities must take urgent steps to prevent the worst drought in more than 80 years from drying it out.

The system of reservoirs and rivers that provide water to millions in this city have received less rainfall than hoped during the first weeks of the wet season, raising fears they won't be replenished as hoped. Rainfall during the first two weeks of January totaled just 2.9 inches (7.1 centimeters), well below the historic average for the month of 10.7 inches (27.1 centimeters).

Hundreds in Washington, New York and Canada rallied Wednesday night in the frigid cold proclaiming "I am Charlie" in solidarity with those killed in a deadly attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Some 200 to 300 French and American protesters gathered in the nation's capital in front of the Newseum, a museum dedicated to news, waving signs and French flags emblazoned with the now ubiquitous rallying cry "Je suis Charlie."

At least 69 people were injured late Monday when two commuter trains collided in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state, authorities said. 

The accident occurred around 8:20 pm (22:20 GMT) when one of the trains, which had stopped at a station, was rammed from behind by another on the same track, said Rio state Transportation chief Carlos Osorio.

Brazil's ruling Workers Party would back former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to seek a third term in 2018, the country's chief of staff said in an interview published Sunday.

Aloizio Mercadante told the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper that the popular ex-president is the only choice for the PT in the next election.

Customs agents at Rafik Hariri International Airport thwarted on Sunday an attempt to smuggle narcotic pills, in the third such operation in the past 24 hours, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said the agents arrested an Egyptian arriving from Cairo at around 1:30 am after finding 2,050 red-colored pills inside two icons made of wood.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called for "respectful relations" when he shook hands with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on the sidelines of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's swearing in, he said Friday.

The encounter marked the first top-level meeting between the countries since U.S. President Barack Obama signed a law allowing sanctions against Venezuelan officials suspected of violating the rights of protesters who held anti-government demonstrations last year.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday announced that Lebanon's chargés d'affaires in Chile and Brazil have fallen victim to robbery attacks, revealing that it has sent letters of protest to demand protection for Lebanon's missions.

The complaints were filed with the foreign ministries of the two countries, the ministry said in a statement.