A dog wearing a Captain America costume, walks on a leash at the "Blocao" dog carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023. 

RIO DE JANEIRO — As Rio de Janeiro kicked off its Carnival on Saturday, Feb. 18, about 100 dogs barked and wagged their tails to the tune of samba music as they paraded in front of pet lovers in a canine costume competition.

The “Blocao” — a mixture of “bloco” which refers to Carnival street parties and “cao,” or dog in Portuguese — brought about 300 people to Rio’s Barra da Tijuca. Dog costumes ranged from fairies, and superheroes to clowns and cartoon characters.

Edson Chianca, 36, brought his 12-year-old Saori to the parade in a Minnie Mouse costume. He dressed the same way so the pair matched.

“It is a great initiative, this is a good moment for pets to socialize,” said Chianca.

Mari Jordão, 52, has attended the Blocao since 2014. Dog “mothers need to be careful, bring water, carry their dog if the pavement is too hot,” she said.

Blocao is one of the few events that challenged a city ban on street parties last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has taken place for about 20 years.

Marco Antonio Vieira, the organizer of Blocao, said he has no intention of humanizing pets with the pet parade and the contest that picks the top five best dressed dogs.

“Thirty years ago they lived in our backyard, now they live on our beds. It is good for them to be with the owner. When the dog sees the owner happy, he is happy too,” Vieira said.

“Some people have worked on their dog costumes for three months,” Vieira said. “There’s nothing but happy people here.”

Mormon church fined $5M for obscuring size of portfolio

SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm have been fined $5 million for using shell companies to obscure the size of the portfolio under church control, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday, Feb. 21.

“We allege that the LDS Church’s investment manager, with the Church’s knowledge, went to great lengths to avoid disclosing the Church’s investments, depriving the Commission and the investing public of accurate market information,” Gurbir S. Grewal, the agency’s enforcement director, said in a statement.

The faith, widely known as the Mormon church, maintains billions of dollars of investments in stocks, bonds, real estate and agriculture. Much of its portfolio is controlled by Ensign Peak Advisers, a nonprofit investment manager overseen by ecclesiastical leaders known as its presiding bishopric.

The church has agreed to pay $1 million and Ensign Peak will pay $4 million in penalties based on the violation.

Federal investigators said for 22 years, the firm hadn’t filed required paperwork to disclose the value of some assets in violation of the Securities Exchange Act and agency rules.

Instead, they said, with the church’s knowledge, Ensign Peak filed the forms through 13 shell companies they created, even as they maintained decision-making power. They also had “business managers,” most employed by the church, sign the required shell company filings.

“The Church was concerned that disclosure of its portfolio, which by 2018 grew to approximately $32 billion, would lead to negative consequences,” the agency said in a statement announcing the charges.

Since a whistleblower alleged in 2019 the church had stockpiled nearly $100 billion in funds, rather than directing it toward charitable causes, Ensign Peak has been a source of intrigue and mystery for the nearly 17-million member Utah-based faith, which encourages members worldwide to give 10% of their income in a what is known as “tithing.”