Washington, Aug 29 : Reese Witherspoon has spoken against domestic violence during her recent visit to Brazil.

The Legally Blonde star is touring the South American country as part of her duties as she is the global ambassador of Speak Out Against Domestic Violence campaign.

The initiative was launched by the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the Avon cosmetics company in 2004.

And Witherspoon is hoping her involvement will help stamp out the abuse of women - insisting she herself has been close to people who were the victims of domestic violence.

Cologne - German and Brazilian industry leaders launched a business conference Monday against the backdrop of rapidly growing economic ties between the two countries.

"German company investment in Brazil is already at a record level," said Juergen Thumann, the president of Germany's Federation of Industry (BDI).

"An investment program of about 200 billion euros (296 million dollars), a stable economy and a steady hand on the nation's finances, along with recent positive reports from rating agencies would help German investment in Brazil to increase," said Thumann on opening the conference, held in the west German city of Cologne.

Luxembourg - ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel company, announced Wednesday that it was expanding its operations in Brazil with the acquisition of London Mining Brasil for about 810 million dollars (551 million euros).

The Luxembourg-based company also said it would develop an iron ore port facility in Sepetiba Bay, some 70 kilometres west of Rio de Janeiro.

ArcelorMittal wants to use the port to export iron ore extracted from the London Mining Brasil mine in the state of Minas Gerais to its steel facilities in the Atlantic basin.

World's

Rio de Janeiro - At least 10 people were killed in an hourlong gun battle with police in a Rio de Janeiro slum as officers were hunting for a stolen beer truck.

Police told Brazilian media that all the dead were criminals and the only casualty among law enforcement was an injured officer in Monday's operation in the town of Duque de Caxias in the Mangueirinha slum.