Samba school Academicos de Niteroi is the first to parade down Rio de Janeiro’s Marques de Sapucai Sambadrome, placing president Lula in the spotlight — the first time a serving president is the subject of a tribute on the famed avenue. The parades of the city’s top 12 samba schools — a ferocious competition featuring towering, animated floats, thundering drum sections and scantily-clad samba queens — are the showpiece of Rio’s Carnival. IMAGES