Rio de Janeiro  - Hot samba rhythms mixed with confetti and fireworks as the best samba schools in Rio de Janeiro danced well into Tuesday morning, in their fight for the Carnival crown.

Like the previous night, the second and final round of the official Carnival competition featured six samba schools with their gigantic floats and thousands of dancers at Rio's sambadrome.

The winner of this edition of the world-famous Carnival is to be announced Wednesday.

London  - Picasso, or Goya, or a bit of both? - that is the central question at the heart of a new exhibition in London aiming to shed a light on the influence of Old Masters on the genius of Pablo Picasso.

A self-portrait showing 16-year-old Picasso as an 18th century dandy in a powered wig was no doubt inspired by his celebrated predecessor who lived some 150 years earlier, curators at London's National Gallery said.

Washington  - US consumer confidence slid to a new low in February as the world's largest economy continues to battle recession, a private research group said Tuesday.

The New York-based Conference Board said its index of consumer confidence fell to 25.0 in February from 37.4 in January.

The survey of 5,000 households found that the majority of respondents (51.1 per cent) believe business conditions are bad, up from 47.9 per cent last month. About 48 per cent of respondents said jobs were hard to get, up from 41 per cent in January.

Apparel and accessories player Cantabil International is preparing to set up 280 outlets of its 'Cantabil' and 'Lafanso' brands across the country by March 2010.

The newly planned stores would be spread across metros, tier-I and tier-II cities and each store would be of 500-6,000 square ft in area. Out of total proposed stores, 80 would be Cantabil (premium segment) and 130 would be Lafanso (discount segment).

According to a survey of young Britons, almost one in three young people admit to having drunken one-night stands, later regretting them. The Sex Factor survey, a part of a report from the charity, YouthNet, into young people's attitudes towards sexual health, polled more than 2,000 young people aged 16 to 24, revealing 32% (the same number) indulged in unprotected sex while under the influence of liquor.

According to the poll:

• "One in five (22%) young people went home with a stranger.
• "15% invited a stranger back to their home.

Recent survey revealed that Scotland has the eighth-highest level of alcohol consumption in the World. Neilsen Company, on the behalf of the Scottish Government conducted a survey on the sales of alcohol.

Survey revealed that Scots consumed equivalent to 11.8 litres per person over 16, in 2007. This amount is two litres more than in England and Wales where the average was 9.9 litres per person.