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Rio Carnival: bigger, brighter ... more organized?

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Showered in confetti and flanked by sequined samba queens, Rio's mayor symbolically relinquished control of the city to its rotund Carnival king on Friday to kick off the five-day festivities, a time of joyous excess when the streets fill with roving percussion bands and throngs of dancing, drinking revelers.The city is primed for the madness, with a hot tropical sun shining through a clear blue sky onto the backs of hundreds of thousands of partygoers who've taken over the streets, joining one of the traditional \bloco\ parties that march behind a band playing old samba tunes.\I am giving over a city at the height of its rebirth