Most pageants may judge a woman’s beauty at face value, but not this one.

In Brazil, the “Miss Bumbum” contest is a nationwide annual undertaking to find the best derriere. This year's 27 contestants, who represent the country’s different states, were announced last week.

“Miss Bumbum 2014” will start in São Paulo on August 11. Brazilians have until November to vote online and determine the 15 finalists for the finale. This year the pageant will have a historic first after twins Rafaella and Graziella Fornazieri, representing Alagoas and Ácre respectively, entered the contest.
Dai Macedo, a 25-year-old model with a 42-inch bottom, was crowned “Miss Bumbum 2013.”

"It's a lot of work, a lot of devotion," Macedo told Agence France-Presse by way of an interpreter after winning the title. "I denied myself a lot of things. No nightclubs. No sweets. I went to the gym Saturdays and Sundays."

The winner of the pageant receives 50,000 reais (approx. $22,000) in endorsement deals and instant celebrity in Brazil.

No sportsperson has been named for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna while 15, including cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin, were on Tuesday recommended for the Arjuna Award.

The 12-member selection committee, headed by legendary cricketer Kapil Dev, decided not to name any sportsperson out of the seven candidates for the Khel Ratna at a meeting in New Delhi.

This is the third time no sportsperson has been named for the Khel Ratna since the inception of the country's highest sporting award in 1991.

Besides Ashwin, the other 14 recommended for the Arjuna Award were Akhilesh Varma (archery), Tintu Luka (athletics), H N Girisha (paralympics), V Diju (badminton), Geetu Ann Jose (basketball), Jai Bhagwan (boxing), Anirban Lahiri (golf), Mamta Pujari (kabaddi), Saji Thomas (rowing), Heena Sidhu (shooting), Anaka Alankamony (squash), Tom Joseph (volleyball), Renubala Chanu (weightlifting) and Sunil Rana (wrestling).

"The selection panel examined the seven names placed before them for the consideration of Khel Ratna but none of them were deserving enough to get the nod," a selection panel member told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

"We discussed each and every seven names for the Khel Ratna Award. The longest discussion was in case of on golfer Jeev Milkha Singh after Kapil mentioned his name but ultimately the panel decided against his name," the member said.

It is also learnt that Somdev Devvarman's 2011 Arjuna Award went against him while considering his name for the Khel Ratna as some panel members felt that he has not achieved much success after that year.

The selection panel members for the Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award included the likes of Anju Bobby George and Kunjarani Devi, both  of the highest sporting honour themselves, two mediapersons and three from the government side, including Sports Authority of India Director General Jiji Thomson.
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Former boxing promoter Frank Maloney is undergoing a sex change, according to a newspaper interview published Sunday.

The 61-year-old Maloney, who guided Lennox Lewis to the world heavyweight title in the 1990s, is now living as a woman by the name of Kellie, Britain's Sunday Mirror reported.

The twice-married Maloney ended an illustrious career last October and told the paper about undergoing hormone treatment for two years in preparation for a sex change operation.

"I was born in the wrong body and I have always known I was a woman," Maloney was quoted as saying by the Mirror. "I can't keep living in the shadows. That is why I am doing what I am today. Living with the burden any longer would have killed me.

"What was wrong at birth is now being medically corrected. I have a female brain. I knew I was different from the minute I could compare myself to other children. I wasn't in the right body. I was jealous of girls."

Maloney said a boxing career helped bring in enough money to walk away from the sport and live a new life as a woman.

"It was something that I was determined to suppress and keep wrapped up because I didn't want to be seen different," Maloney said.

"(Boxing) took up all of my time. It gave me a complete focus. It was something I thought I had to be successful in because I thought if I failed in that, where do I go?"

Pakistani actress Humaima Malick is finally making her much awaited Bollywood debut with RAJA NATWARLAL and one truly expects that the wait turns out to be worth it. While a glimpse of what she has to offer is already visible in the songs ('Tere Ho Ke Rahenge', 'Kabhi Ruhani-Kabhi Rumani') that are currently on air, those associated with the film vouch for the fact that she is all set to surprise audience in a major way.

"She is a fantastic actor and one can pretty much see the kind of range that she brings in. If she can do a socially relevant film like BOL, she can also be a part of a potboiler like RAJA NATWARLAL. She has the potential to fit in across genres and once you see the film, you would see that as well. She is just the right mix of talent and glamour," says Emraan Hashmi who now has yet another debutante leading lady opposite him.

In the film which is a cat-n-mouse chase between Emraan and Kay Kay Menon (who plays a businessman), Humaima has an important part to play as well in the part of a bar dancer.

"Humaima has just added a certain amount of depth to the character, which otherwise could have been very frivolous and vulgar since she is walking the tight rope by playing a bar dancer," says Emraan, "She has added vulnerability to the character; you really love her for what she is."

As for his on-screen interaction with Humaima, he adds with a smile, "Ours is a very sweet relationship in the film and you feel for the kind of chemistry that we bring on display. More than anything else, she is hot and in Emraan Hashmi's film, you got to have a hot girl. She fits the shoes pretty well."

We would like to see that happening indeed once this Kunal Deshmukh directed film of a UTV production releases all over on 29th August.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan on Monday lashed out at crony capitalism and crooked politicians, and called to strengthen the public services directed at the poor as India completed 67 years of independence.

In a hard hitting speech, at the Lalit Doshi memorial lecture, the governor highlighted the need to nip corruption.

"By killing transparency and competition, crony capitalism is harmful to free enterprise, opportunity, and economic growth. And by substituting special interests for the public interest, it is harmful to democratic expression. If there is some truth to these perceptions of crony capitalism, a natural question is why people tolerate it. Why do they vote for the venal politician who perpetuates it?" he asked.

According to him, it is an all-too familiar vicious circle in India where the wily politician controls the system through stifling money and resources to the poor. "The poor and the under-privileged need the politician to help them get jobs and public services. The crooked politician needs the businessman to provide the funds that allow him to supply patronage to the poor and fight elections. The corrupt businessman needs the crooked politician to get public resources and contracts cheaply. And the politician needs the votes of the poor and the underprivileged. Every constituency is tied to the other in a cycle of dependence, which ensures that the status quo prevails.”

Rajan said, “One of the greatest dangers to the growth of developing countries is the middle income trap, where crony capitalism creates oligarchies that slow down growth. If the debate during the elections is any pointer, this is a very real concern of the public in India today."

He said it is important to avoid this trap.

"To strengthen the independent democracy, our leaders won for us 67 years ago a key mechanism to improve these services through financial inclusion and decentralisation of information."

He lamented that “Our provision of public goods is unfortunately biased against access by the poor. Crony socialism of the past has replaced the crony capitalism."

A mother in South Carolina called sheriff's deputies on her son this week after finding porn playing on her living room TV.

According to the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office, deputies were dispatched to a residence Tuesday afternoon after a distraught mom called 911.

"She stated that when she entered the residence, her 15-year-old son was in his bedroom," reads the police report. "[Her] daughter turned on the TV and porn was on."

According to the report, the 40-year-old mom "immediately turned off the TV" and ushered her 2-year-old daughter out of the room, before calling the police on her son.

When a sheriff's deputy arrived, the mother, whom HuffPost is not identifying to protect the teen's privacy, said she had several problems with her son's behavior recently.

"[The mom] requested that a report be done to document ... her son's behavior and due to her daughter being exposed to porn," the police report reads.

According to Lt. Kevin Bobo, the sheriff's office did not make an arrest or issue a citation.

"I don’t know of any South Carolina law that was broken," Bobo told HuffPost on Thursday.

However, the teen's mother did complete "a voluntary statement" detailing the incident, according to the police report.

The mother, who was identified as a local real estate agent by The Smoking Gun, did not respond to a HuffPost request for comment Thursday.

The 33-year-old mom-to-be smiled over her shoulder as she cradled her growing belly. Rowland captioned the photo, "#P.R." as she is currently vacationing in Puerto Rico.

Rowland first announced her pregnancy on June 10 with a cryptic Instagram photo of baby sneakers. The Destiny's Child alum accidentally revealed that she's expecting a baby boy during an interview, in which she referred to her baby using the pronoun "his."

"Aw, f--k it! It's a boy. It's a boy!" she said after realizing her slip up.

Three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart struck and killed a sprint car driver who had climbed from his car and was on the darkened dirt track trying to confront Stewart during a race in upstate New York on Saturday night.

Kevin Ward Jr. had crashed following contact with Stewart one lap earlier and got out of his car as it was stopped along the fence. Video of the incident showed Ward walking from his crashed car onto the racing surface as cars circled by, and, as he gestured at Stewart's passing car, he was struck.

Authorities questioned Stewart but said no criminal charges were imminent. Stewart traveled to Watkins Glen International following the incident and planned to race in Sunday's NASCAR event.

Ontario County Sheriff Philip Povero said Stewart was "visibly shaken" and had been cooperative in the investigation. Authorities were asking spectators and others to turn over any video they recorded of the crash.

"This is right now being investigated as an on-track crash and I don't want to infer that there are criminal charges pending," Povero said. "When the investigation is completed, we will sit down with the district attorney and review it. But I want to make it very clear: there are no criminal charges pending at this time."

NASCAR said it would not prevent Stewart from racing Sunday, and his team appeared to be trying to focus on the track.

"We're business as usual today," said Greg Zipadelli, competition director for Stewart-Haas Racing, a four-car NASCAR organization that is co-owned by Stewart.

A witness said it appeared Ward was trying to confront Stewart, the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion. The video showed Ward standing to the right of Stewart's familiar No. 14 car, which seemed to kick out from the rear and hit him.

Moments earlier, Ward and Stewart were racing side-by-side for position as they exited a turn. Ward was on the outside when Stewart, on the bottom, seemed to slide toward Ward's car and crowd him toward the wall. The rear tire of Stewart's car appeared to clip the front tire of Ward's car, and Ward spun into the fence.

Povero said Ward, who was wearing a black firesuit and black helmet, had walked into the racing area and one car swerved to avoid him before he was struck by Stewart.

"The next thing I could see, I didn't see (the other driver) anymore," witness Michael Messerly said. "It just seemed like he was suddenly gone."

A spokesman for Stewart's racing team called Ward's death a "tragic accident."

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends," the spokesman said in a statement. "We're still attempting to sort through all the details."

The dirt track, about 30 miles southeast of Rochester, canceled the remainder of the race and later posted a message on its Facebook page encouraging fans to "pray for the entire racing community of fans, drivers, and families."

Ward's website said he began racing go-karts in 1998 at age 4, but didn't start driving sprint cars until 2010. The 20-year-old from Port Leyden, New York, was Empire Super Sprint rookie of the year in 2012 and this year was his fifth season racing the Empire Super Sprints.

Stewart often competes in extracurricular events. The multimillionaire is known to participate in races with purses worth less than $3,000 and drive alongside drivers of varying ages and talent levels.

The accident Saturday came almost exactly a year after Stewart suffered a compound fracture to his right leg in a sprint car race in Iowa. The injury cost him the second half of the NASCAR season. Stewart only returned to sprint track racing last month, and won in his return, at Tri-City Motor Speedway in Michigan.

Following the shooting of 18-year-old man by a police officer in the city of Ferguson, Missouri, an outraged community gathered to demand answers. Michael Brown, a black teen and recent high school graduate, was shot dead in the city north of St. Louis on Saturday. The victim's grandmother said she found her grandson's body in the street, shortly after seeing him walking near her home, the Associated Press reports. A spokesman for the St. Louis County Police Department confirmed that a Ferguson police officer shot the man, but provided no further details on why the shooting occurred. Witnesses said that Brown was unarmed, KMOV reports.

A crowd quickly gathered at the scene, as did 100 police cars from 15 departments, according to KSDK. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that protesters came face-to-face with police at the site of the shooting, raising their arms and saying "Please don't shoot me." A dumpster was reportedly lit on fire. As tempers cooled, mourners participated in a prayer circle and vigil.

A man identified as the victim's stepfather held a sign that said, "Ferguson police just executed my unarmed son!!!" Lesley McSpadden, a woman the Post-Dispatch identifies as the victim's mother said, "I know they killed my son," and, "This was wrong and it was cold-hearted."

Images of the crime scene and following demonstrations were posted to social media.

As fans prepare to bid farewell to Sookie, Eric, Bill, and Arlene when "True Blood" ends on August 24, one thing watchers will miss most of all about HBO's vampire soap is the music.

The man behind the series' pitch-perfect blend of spooky, hip and delightfully weird is Gary Calamar, the show's 57-year-old music supervisor. In addition to steering the songs for shows like "House," "Dexter" and "Entourage," he's nabbed a Grammy nomination for "True Blood's" soundtrack.

"'True Blood' is kind of a dream show to work on," Calamar told The Huffington Post from Los Angeles. "It's also great being able to work with [show creator] Alan Ball again [after "Six Feet Under"]. He's a big music fan and loves to use a lot of music."

Typically, Calamar said he receives a script for an episode, which the writers have named for a song, setting him off on a music hunt.

“When I received the script for [season 4 premiere] “She’s Not There,” the plan was to use the original Zombies version, but then I realized that we had some time and thought, 'Maybe we can do something different here,'" Calamar said. "I was going through my music collection and came across Neko Case. Then about one shelf down was Nick Cave and I thought, ‘That would be a good collaboration.’ And then it happened.”

Other collaborations have included the original track "Boot And Rally" that Calamar penned for Iggy Pop and Best Coast singer Bethany Cosentino.

"Iggy Pop is a fan of the show and actually called about doing music for 'True Blood,'" Calamar said, "To make it happen, he recorded his parts while on tour in Spain. That was also fun for me, allowing me to take songwriting a little more seriously.”

Even with a music-positive show and "a good music budget that allows us to have fun," not everything plan has hit the perfect note. Calamar recalls being particularly excited for another collaboration with Jenny Lewis to cover The Animals classic, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood." It fell victim to a season shortened to accommodate star Anna Paquin's pregnancy.