Temperatures will continue to fall over the next few days

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Just seven weeks before the opening ceremony of the Olympics, the governor of Rio de Janeiro has declared a "state of calamity." Interim Governor Francisco Dornelles says the state's government is bankrupt and can't meet its financial commitments ahead of the games.


The financial emergency is just the latest crisis to hit Brazil. The country's president is facing impeachment proceedings and the country is in the middle of an economic recession. A security crisis and the Zika virus have also rattled Brazil, 

Lulu tells our Newscast unit that finances in Rio "have been so dire ... that civil servants haven't been paid and hospitals are operating on a shoe string." She adds that even amid a countrywide recession, "the state that is hosting the Olympics has been particularly hard hit." Here's more from Lulu:

In a decree, Dornelles said the state requires emergency measures to prevent "a total collapse in public security, health, education, transport and environmental management," Reuters reported.


Dornelles said the decree is meant to "call the attention of the whole society of Rio to the problems the state has, opening the way for us to take very tough measures," 

And "while the majority of Olympic infrastructure costs have been spread across city, state and federal budgets," the wire service says, the state of Rio has shouldered the cost of "most day-to-day security and health services."


Mário Andrada, executive director of communication for Rio 2016, told the 

 that the Games would not be impacted by the emergency decree:



Rio state Finance Minister Julio Bueno said "security was the state's biggest cost," according to the 

. As Lulu reported, the dire financial situation is visible on the streets of Rio: "Crime is soaring because cops don't even have gas for their cars."
It's also visible in the crime statistics, 

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Just seven weeks before the opening ceremony of the Olympics, the governor of Rio de Janeiro has declared a "state of calamity." He says the state's government is bankrupt.

Rio's governor declares 'state of calamity' ahead of Olympic games

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