Nudity rules breached at Rio carnival

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- Samba group Beija Flor was declared Brazil's carnival champion for the fifth time in six years, wowing judges with gold-encrusted, winged dancers and green jungle display floats.

Beija Flor's lavishly decorated float scooped the top prize at the Rio carnival.

While Beija Flor's dancers were topless, the judges drew the line at going bottomless, penalizing the rival Sao Clemente group for breaking a rule against display of genitalia during its 80-minute parade.

They didn't name the offender, but she was widely believed to be samba queen Viviane Castro, who danced wearing only a 1.6-inch patch, believed to be the smallest in Rio parade history.

Beija Flor's winning parade honored legends of the Amazon rain forest, receiving a near-perfect score of 399.3 out of a possible 400. The Salgueiro group came in second with a score of 398 for its parade, which honored the city of Rio de Janeiro.

During the title celebrations late Wednesday, three people were injured in a shooting in front of Beija Flor's headquarters, according to Globo TV's G1 Web site. Two had to be hospitalized. Police said they did not know what caused the shooting.

An earlier fight inside the headquarters had prompted the school to halt distribution of alcoholic drinks and the party was cut short, G1 said.

Beija Flor -- which means "Hummingbird" in Portuguese -- has dominated recent competitions, but its reputation was marred by accusations that directors conspired to steal last year's championship by intimidating judges. An investigation yielded an inconclusive report.

Rio's samba parade, which took place on Sunday and Monday nights, looks like a party, but is actually a hotly fought competition.

Forty judges grade each samba group in 10 categories, ranging from their floats and costumes to how well they move thousands of dancers through the half-mile Sambadrome stadium parade ground.

A less-than-perfect score in any category can doom a group's chance of victory.

The Viradouro group, prohibited by a judge from parading with a dancer dressed as Hitler and float covered in naked Holocaust victims, came in seventh. After outcry from Jewish groups worldwide prompted the judge's order, Viradouro changed the float into a free speech exhibit featuring dozens of gagged men and women in white robes.