Roundup: Carnival celebrations wind down in Brazil

Brazil's carnival season concluded Wednesday, following days and nights of street celebrations featuring elaborately-costumed revelers, including children and dogs.

The traditional Children's Parade, besides giving the carnival a family-friendly atmosphere, also guaranteed a future supply of talented dancers as most of Brazil's famed samba schools offer classes for kids.

This year, seven-year-old Julia Lira became the youngest dancer ever to lead a parade of drummers through Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome.

Although cheered by onlookers, her age and sexy dance moves also sparked controversy over whether it was appropriate to cast a girl so young into a role usually reserved for skimpily-clad women.

In the days leading up to the carnival, Rio's pampered pets got a chance to strut their stuff at the city's Copacabana Beach. Poodles dyed in rainbow colors, winged beagles and border collies with big floppy bunny ears were all part of the canine carnival.

Brazil is home to the world's most famous carnival celebrations which come immediately before the Christian liturgical season of Lent.

Elsewhere in Latin America, Bolivia's carnival has long been overshadowed by its more famous Brazilian counterpart, but this year the country decided to do something special by inviting British actor Jude Law to join the celebrations.

British media were soon filled with pictures of the actor, festooned with confetti, taking part in carnival dances and rituals.

"Law was clearly happy to get right in the mix of the event, as he was pictured sporting traditional headgear" and "pouring beer on a fire," as part of an age-old indigenous ritual that calls for offering the first sip to Mother Earth, England's Daily Mail reported.

However, celebrations in Haiti took on a somber tone following the tragic death of 18 carnival revelers and injury of 78 others on Tuesday.

A packed float came in contact with a power line, and then a stampede occurred after several people were electrocuted.

Haitian authorities cut short the three-day carnival celebrations after the accident on the second day of event, and started three days of national mourning from Wednesday.

A similar incident occurred Tuesday in Brazil, when a float hit a power line, electrocuting to death three of the people on board.

Meanwhile, a German tourist attending carnival in Rio de Janeiro was stabbed to death Tuesday night while taking part in one of the parades, police reported Wednesday. Endi