Sherlyn Chopra, a Bollywood film actor, will become the first woman from India to strip naked in Playboy.

The 28-year-old knockout wrote to the magazine and suggested the idea herself, the BBC reported. They got back to her within a few days to accept.

Fans will have to wait till the November issue circulates to get a glimpse of Chopra. A press conference earlier this week heralded the addition of a "Bollywood goddess" to the pantheon of beauties who've appeared on the pages of Hugh Hefner's magazine.

But her decision to pose caused a controversy in her native India where the granddaddy of all adult magazines is banned. A critic cited by the Daily Mail wrote "one wonders if Sherlyn Chopra’s pictures wound a woman’s integrity."

Chopra, who has had small roles in a handful of Bollywood flicks, is unfazed by the criticism.

"I have become the first Indian to pose naked for Playboy," she said to the BBC, "and nobody can take away that achievement from me,"

She uploaded snapshots from her tour of the famous Playboy mansions in Los Angeles to her Twitter account.

Invicta FC will hold their second show in the same location as their first, Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas.

The 14-bout card will be streamed live and free on InvictaFC.com at 7 p.m. ET.

In the main event of the evening top prospect and Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann takes on her toughest foe to date, Shayna Baszler.

In the co-main, Strikeforce bantamweight Alexis Davis returns to action following her defeat to Sarah Kaufman in March to battle Hitomi Akano.


Main Card
Shayna Baszler (133.6) vs. Sara McMann (135.4)
Hitomi Akano (135.8) vs. Alexis Davis (134)
Kaitlin Young (135) vs. Liz Carmouche (135)
Lacey Schuckman (115.4) vs. Ayaka Hamasaki (114.6)
Raquel Pa'aluhi (134.4) vs. Amanda Nunes (135.4)
Vanessa Porto (133.6) vs. Sarah D'Alelio (136.2)*
Bethany Marshall (124) vs. Barb Honchak (124.2)
Elina Nilsson (144.6) vs. Julia Budd (145.2)

Preliminary Card
Carla Esparza (115.2) vs. Sarah Schneider (116)
Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc (105.2) vs. Angelica Chavez (105.4)
Sarah Moras (134.8) vs. Raquel Pennington (134.4)
Jessamyn Duke (135) vs. Suzie Montero (136)
Cheryl Chan (124.2) vs. Jocelyn Lybarger (124.8)
Jessica Philippus (107.2) vs. Liz McCarthy (104.2)*

*Sarah D'Alelio was able to weigh-in under 136-pounds on her second weigh-in. Jessica Philippus was unable to cut more weight. The fight will still proceed and she will be penalized 25% of her fight purse.
source

Glory be to Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings, who will maintain the old school by keeping the bikini look in the London Olympics.

The New York Post's Marc Berman reports May-Treanor and other USA Olympic Volleyball athletes will still don bikinis despite a London rule that maintains players can now wear shorts and a T-shirt.

This is hardly a matter of style or sexy undertakings from the part of the athletes. Simply, they wear what is comfortable and what got them to this stage in their respective careers.

Kerri Walsh Opens Up About Her Athlete Crush

Jen Kessy was one of the more vocal proponents of the bikini, and had this to say to The New York Post. She even goes so far as to cite the horrendous heat wave in London as one of the benefits.

    "We’re not uncomfortable in our bikinis. Growing up in southern California, that’s what you wear from when you’re a little kid to now in the summertime.

    "This is the most comfortable thing for us to wear...If it is cold, we will put clothes on. But we won’t be playing in shorts. For us, that’s not comfortable. You get sand everywhere in the pockets. But for others, it’s now their choice...If the weather stays like this, we’ll be in our bikinis all night."

The report states the biggest reason for the change in clothing is for athletes from other countries and various religions who may be precluded from playing because of the dress code.

Hi-res-91223450_crop_exact Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Even Kessy sounds off on the great benefit of the new rule. The fact is, the US women may be more comfortable with less, but that sentiment hardly extends around the world. She finds any preclusion because of clothes, "not OK."

This is a win-win across the board.

Women who would rather play in shorts and shirt are allowed, as they should be from the start. We want the best athletes playing at their most comfortable.

Uniform codes shouldn't deter anyone, because there is nothing Olympic about that.

Michael Phelps’ reign as the world’s most dominant Olympic swimmer took a serious hit in his first race at the London Games.

Ryan Lochte captured the gold medal in the 400-meter individual medley on Saturday, while Phelps finished fourth – failing to medal for the first time since the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney when he was just 15 years old. Lochte showed why he has been considered the world’s best swimmer over the last year, holding strong throughout the race before making his move in the backstroke and then steadily pulling away in the breaststroke and freestyle.

And while Lochte’s performance was brilliant, Phelps' struggle was equally captivating as the race wore on. Phelps has typically been able to make his move in the butterfly leg of the medley and finish strong in the freestyle, but he struggled to make up ground or mount a charge in any of the four legs of the race.

Japan’s 17-year-old Kosuke Hagino held off Phelps down the race's final 50 meters during the freestyle leg, touching at 4:08.94 and nudging Phelps off the medal stand. Phelps finished at 4:09.28.

"It was a crappy race," Phelps said. "I felt fine for the first 200 meters and then I just don’t know. They just swam a better race – a smarter race than me. They were more prepared. That’s why they are on the medal stand."


Phelps moved from third to second position in the second 50 meters of the race, but was never able to mount a serious charge from there. His splits gradually faded as the race went on, and he slipped from second to third during the second half of the backstroke leg. Hagino overtook Phelps in the front end of the freestyle and was never seriously threatened for third place.

USA's Michael Phelps competes in a heat of the men's 400-meter individual medley at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Saturday, July 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)Michael Phelps couldn't keep up in the men's 400m IM. (AP)Phelps arrived at his block in typical fashion – goggled up and under a set of headphones. He toweled off his block and shook his arms, loosening up before taking his perch. But his departure was far different than anything we’ve seen in an Olympic games. After touching, he stared at the video board in mixture of disgust, disbelief and anger.

"The biggest thing is to get past this and move forward," Phelps said. "I have a bunch of other races. Hopefully we can finish a lot better than we started."

When Amy Childs debuted her new boobs in a high-necked top earlier this month, we thought she may have turned over a new leaf.

But this is AMY CHILDS we are talking about. They were never going to stay under wraps for long.

And with the temperatures still riding high, there was no better excuse for the former TOWIE star to introduce her new pups to the sunshine.

As she stepped out with current squeeze David Peters yesterday, Amy showed off her assets in a plunging maxi-dress.

But Amy wrote in her new! magazine column this week she wasn't sure if David was a fan of the augmentation.

"He hasn’t said, “Ooh, I like them!” He’s more like, “I want you to be happy and I want you to be comfortable”' she said.

Well by the looks of this pic, we'd say it's probably safe to say he's a fan.

As the Games of the 30th Olympiad take over this city steeped in so much history, London will be celebrating — while thumbing its nose at tradition.

    World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus practices at a decked out Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Historic Wimbledon will host Olympic tennis.

    By Clive Brunskill, Getty Images

    World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus practices at a decked out Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Historic Wimbledon will host Olympic tennis.

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By Clive Brunskill, Getty Images

World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus practices at a decked out Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Historic Wimbledon will host Olympic tennis.

Beach volleyball and bikinis will appear not far from No. 10 Downing St. Hot pink will crash all-white Wimbledon. Marathoners will huff past Westminster Palace, the Tower Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral. Equestrians will pass time at Greenwich Park on the meridian from which the world's time is set. Rowers will look to make history in the shadow of Windsor Castle, the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world.

Thanks to the city's iconic backdrop and a number of Olympic firsts, the London Games are poised to be unlike any other, providing fans across the world with real-time images and memories as indelible as the Games themselves.


The beach volleyball stadium — situated at the Horse Guards Parade on the prime minister's doorstep in central London — has its own unique soundtrack.

"We got ding-donged by Big Ben during practice," Czech beach volleyball player Petr Benes said this week. "That was fantastic."

To celebrate the start of the Games today, Big Ben will chime more than 40 times during a three-minute span. At the same moment, thousands of bells — school bells, church bells, bicycle bells and door bells — will ring across the country as Britons recognize that their grand moment on the world stage has arrived, welcoming athletes and fans from more than 200 countries.

Queen Elizabeth will ring in these Games at today's opening ceremony, with a royal entourage that will include Prince Charles and Camilla, Prince William and Kate and Prince Harry. After the sterility of the 2008 Beijing Games, London is looking to achieve a different vibe, kicking off the evening with a three-hour extravaganza featuring Paul McCartney, David Beckham and a pastoral set at Olympic Stadium with scores of farm animals intended to paint for the world a picture of a quaint British countryside.

LONDON, England, July 28. DANA Vollmer decided to kick it up a notch in prelims of the women's 100-meter butterfly at the 2012 London Olympics.

Vollmer, who already held the American record with a 56.42 from the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, a time which also stood as the textile best, put on the afterburners in prelims with a scorching time of 56.25. That swim not only bested her American and textile best time, it also wiped out the Olympic record of 56.61 set by Inge de Bruijn of The Netherlands at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.


Vollmer's effort is the fourth fastest off all time, with her still standing as the fourth performer behind Sarah Sjostrom (56.06), Liu Zige (56.07) and Jessicah Schipper (56.23). Vollmer is in line to become the first American to win the event since Amy van Dyken claimed the title in 1996 with the closest finals swim in the Olympic event's history. Van Dyken clipped China's Liu Limin, 59.13 to 59.14, at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

"I felt really good," Vollmer said after her race. "I like to push myself in the prelims and see where I'm going in my body. I did feel like I was kind of pacing myself and building up to get faster. Walking in I just had to remind myself that I love racing and the 100m fly is my favorite event. I feel so much better. I'm a completely different person to what I was four years ago."

China's Lu Ying raced to second in 57.17 to move to 15th all time in the event's history. She will be attempting to win China's first gold medal in the event since Qian Hong topped the 1992 race with a 58.62.

"I am doing good as normally in training I swim around 58ish, so this morning's swim (57.17sec) was not at my standard level," Lu said. "I feel good about it."

Australia's Alicia Coutts (57.36), Sweden's Sjostrom (57.45) and Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen Gray (57.64) qualified third through fifth. Australia is riding a two-Games win streak in the event with Petria Thomas and Libby Trickett claiming the last two gold medals. Sjostrom, meanwhile, did enough to advance, but will be looking to better her world record of 56.06 set during the techsuit era. Denmark has never medaled in this event.

China's Jiao Liuyang (57.71), USA's Claire Donahue (58.06) and Great Britain's Fran Halsall (58.23) rounded out the top eight.

Great Britain's Ellen Gandy (58.25), The Netherlands' Inge Dekker (58.30), Singapore's Li Tao (58.34), Italy's Ilaria Bianchi (58.42), Belarus' Aliaksandra Herasimenia (58.50), Sweden's Martina Granstrom (58.70), Japan's Yuka Kato (58.72) and Greece's Kristel Vourna (58.73) also made the semifinal rounds.

Phelps on Saturday morning qualified for the eighth and final spot in tonight's final of the 400 individual medley. That puts him in an outside lane tonight.

"A final spot is a final spot," Phelps said. "The only thing that matters is getting a spot in. You can't win a gold medal from the morning."

No, but you can lose one if you don't qualify, and Phelps very nearly didn't. He won his heat in 4 minutes, 13.33 seconds, barely beating Hungary's Laszlo Cseh, who finished in 4:13.40. Cseh will miss the final after winning silver in 2008 and bronze in 2004.

Lochte qualified in third place overall.

"My first race is always the worst one," Lochte said. "I'm glad I got the cobwebs out."

And what of his rival and village suitemate qualifying last?

"You can't count him out," Lochte said.

"Even though he just squeaked in eighth, he's a racer. We're going to do everything we can to go 1-2 tonight."

Count Japan's Kosuke Hagino in. He finished first overall in 4:10.01, a national record. The hotly anticipated Splash of the Titans between Phelps and Lochte could end up as Hagino's party, which would make him the first Japanese swimmer to win the Olympic 400 IM.

Lochte (4:12.35) came second in his heat behind South Africa's Chad le Clos, who qualified second in 4:12.24.

Phelps hopes to be the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three consecutive Olympics. Lochte, who won bronze in the 400 IM in 2008, beat Phelps in the event at the Olympic trials and won the world championship in the medley distance in 2009 and 2011.

Tonight's other qualifiers are Thiago Pereira of Brazil, Thomas Fraser-Holmes of Australia, Luca Marin of Italy and Yuya Horihata of Japan. None was expected to be ranked above the

When it comes to covering Syria, the fog of war is especially thick.

For 17 months, President Bashar al-Assad's regime has severely restricted press access in the country as his soldiers first brutally cracked down on peaceful protests and now battle opposition forces in a war that has claimed more than 19,000 lives.

Western journalists have occasionally snuck into Syria, but on a daily basis primarily rely on information provided by opposition activists, residents, state-controlled media, rebel commanders, social media and anti-regime groups operating outside the country. Meanwhile, each warring side simultaneously fights a public relations war in the media.

Several Beiruit-based correspondents told The Huffington Post that their outlets have gotten better at vetting information throughout the lengthy conflict and have built a large network of reliable sources in the process. Still, news reports on the latest explosion, firefight or alleged massacre routinely acknowledge that key details cannot be independently verified and correspondents say that this is not the ideal way to cover a war.

"It's the most frustrating situation I've ever been in and potentially the most challenging," said Arwa Damon, a Beirut-based correspondent for CNN. "Now you're trying to newsgather via remote."

Damon last reported inside Syria in February, an ordeal chronicled in CNN's documentary "72 Hours Under Fire." After three days, she left the war-ravaged city of Homs, north of Damascus, alongside veteran war correspondent Marie Colvin, who later reversed course and was killed in the city. Colvin is one of 16 journalists killed so far, according to information provided by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Only Way Is Essex star Maria Fowler is calling for a campaign to stop internet bullies after she was taunted on Twitter for asking why Parkinson's stricken Muhammad Ali needed help walking during the Olympic Opening Ceremony.

The TOWIE beauty was ridiculed last night by Olympic torchbearer and founder of youth broadcaster SB.TV Jamal Edwards after she posed the Twitter question.

She wrote: "Ahhh wish I was there so bad. Muhammad Ali. No disrespect though but why can't he stand now?"

Edwards quickly voiced his disgust on his Twitter page: " You are so DUMB! If I don't know a question I would go on the net first to find out especially what I'm talking about. Not go to Twitter & ask."

Fowler replied: "I did Google and couldn't know why. Parkinson's is so sad. I lost my granddad to Parkinson's. Ali is a legend."

She then attempted to taunt Edwards, writing: "Had to google u too but not much came up. Goat"

Jamal replied again: "I put in work! What do you do? Your (sic) famous for no reason S***!"

Fowler then wrote: "Hahaha exactly. Sit on my a**e and richer than u probs (sic) Like I said you are a goat internet troll"

Following the Twitter spat, she is now desperate for cyber bullying to stop.

Fowler said: "Right I am seriously going to see what can be done about internet bullies. It's pathetic how people can be filled with such hate. Actually sickens me the vile comments that get written on here. I actually would back any campaign to combat this. I am disgusted."