At least 49 people were killed Saturday when a tour bus plunged hundreds of meters into a densely wooded ravine in southern Brazil, authorities said.

Among the dead were eight children and 24 women, regional government spokeswoman Ana Paula Keller told AFP.

Police in Brazil arrested Thursday the Italian extremist and writer Cesare Battisti, who was convicted of murder in his home country and has been on the run for decades.

Battisti, who faces deportation, was detained in Embu das Artes, a city in the state of Sao Paulo. 

A probe into a multibillion-dollar graft scandal at state oil giant Petrobras will not extend to President Dilma Rousseff, Brazilian media reported Thursday.

Prosecutor general Rodrigo Janot on Tuesday said he wants to open investigations into 54 people, including politicians who would normally enjoy parliamentary immunity.

A Brazilian federal judge on Tuesday ordered the deportation of Italian extremist and writer Cesare Battisti, convicted of murder in his homeland, citing legislation providing for the removal of wanted foreign nationals.

Battisti's defense said it would appeal after judge Adverci Mendes de Abreu ruled that the former member of a violent far-left group should be expelled because he is "a foreigner in an irregular situation in Brazil who, as a criminal sentenced in his country for murder, does not have the right to stay."

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Friday refused to accept the credentials of the Indonesian ambassador to demonstrate her anger at last month's execution of a Brazilian citizen for drug smuggling.

"We think it is important that there is an evolution in the situation in order to clarify the state of Indonesia's relations with Brazil," Rousseff said as she received the credentials of ambassadors from five other countries.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Friday refused to accept the credentials of the Indonesian ambassador to demonstrate her anger at last month's execution of a Brazilian citizen for drug smuggling.

"We think it is important that there is an evolution in the situation in order to clarify the state of Indonesia's relations with Brazil," Rousseff said as she received the credentials of ambassadors from five other countries.

Three men were killed early Tuesday when a Carnival float ran into a power line in the southeastern Brazilian city of Nova Iguacu, local media reported.

The Palmerinha samba school was getting ready to go on parade when one of its floats hit the power line, electrocuting the three men riding it.

Tens of thousands of people defied a thunderstorm Sunday to pack Rio's Sambadrome as elite dance schools paraded in dazzling costumes and revelers shed inhibitions at street parties.

An estimated crowd of more than 72,000, from great-grandmothers to babes in arms, swayed and cheered on their favorite samba school in hours-long parades in Rio's annual party to end all parties.

The death toll from a blast which ripped through a Petrobras oil rig off Brazil has risen to five, with another four people still missing, the rig's owner said Thursday.

Wednesday's explosion -- which the oil workers' union said was caused by a gas leak -- also left two people injured, according to Norwegian owner BW Offshore.

An explosion ripped through a Petrobras oil rig off Brazil's southeastern coast Wednesday, injuring several people, a spokesperson for the state government of Espirito Santo told Agence France-Presse.

Globo television reported three deaths and 15 seriously injured in the blast about 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the shore but neither Petrobras nor the state government would confirm the toll.