Brazil’s sexy Carnival puts Pentecostal mayor in tight spot

While campaigning last year to become Rio de Janeiro’s mayor, Marcelo Crivella, a retired Pentecostal bishop, insisted his faith would not get in the way of governing the nation’s most famous city. The former gospel singer and missionary, a high-profile member of one of Brazil’s most powerful evangelical churches, captured 59 percent of the vote and took office Jan. 1. But less than two months into his four-year term, Crivella’s promises are about to be tested by Carnival, Rio’s annual weeklong party often marked by heavy drinking and drug use, wild sex and round-the-clock dancing.

Rio Carnival revelers hunt for bargains amid economic crisis

” Instead of costly and elaborate costumes with glittering sequins, expect more cheap getups featuring fake mustaches, hats and tiaras at this year’s Carnival. Revelers are bargain-hunting ahead of Rio de Janeiro’s world famous party, which is about to kick off amid a prolonged economic crisis that is hurting pocketbooks and the myriad businesses that depend on the bash for a large part of their annual incomes.