Chris Evans to quit acting

Captain America star Chris Evans has announced he will quit acting. Evans, 32, who has reprised his shield-wielding all-American superhero role in Marvel's The Avengers and the upcoming Captain America sequel The Winter Soldier, first hinted at the possibility he'd move away from acting when he told Variety magazine earlier this year that he wants to "retire from acting altogether once (his) Marvel contract expires". "I can't see myself pursuing acting strictly outside of what I'm contractually obligated to do," he added. Evans plans to move behind the camera to direct after completing work on indie film 1:30 Train. Evans was quick to acknowledge the leverage appearing in the Marvel superhero franchise has afforded him to now pursue his passion for directing.

Heavy metal singer found dead

The lead singer of a heavy metal band was found dead in his Virginia home, sitting upright in a chair last week. Police said Dave Brockie, 50, was found dead by a band mate. Police have ruled out foul play and suicide. Brockie founded the band Gwar in Richmond, Virginia, in 1984. Gwar is well known for "its elaborate science fiction/horror film inspired costumes, obscene lyrics and graphic stage performances, which feature humorous enactments of politically and morally taboo themes", according to Wikipedia. The band, twice nominated for Grammy awards, have decapitated effigies of George W Bush, Barack Obama and Lady Gaga on stage.

Trash turns into $20 million egg

A scrap metal dealer from the US Midwest couldn't believe his luck when he discovered that a golden ornament he bought at a junk market was later revealed to be a $20 million Faberge egg hailing from the court of imperial Russia, reports Reuters. The 8-cm golden egg was spirited out of St Petersburg after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and then disappeared for decades in the United States. The unidentified man in the US spotted the egg while searching for scrap gold and purchased it for $14,000, not knowing it was worth much more than that. Confirmed by London's Wartski antiques dealer, it is an egg Russian Tsar Alexander III had given to his wife, Maria Feodorovna, for Easter in 1887.

Flamingos beheaded in zoo

Police are baffled by the decapitation of 15 flamingos at a German zoo. Keepers at Frankfurt Zoo found nine of the birds dead in their enclosure last week and another six dead the following day. The Associated Press reports that some of the Chilean flamingos were beheaded or almost beheaded as they slept. Frankfurt Zoo director Manfred Niekisch said staff were shocked by the incident. While Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that police had found stab wounds on the flamingos, Niekisch would not rule out the deaths being caused by foxes or other predators that had broken into the enclosure.

Paltrow and Martin separate

Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her rock star husband of 10 years Chris Martin have decided to separate. The Oscar-winning actress and star of such big-screen fare as Shakespeare In Love, Iron Man and Sliding Doors announced the split in a statement on her official website for her lifestyle brand Goop last Tuesday. "It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate," the statement read. "We have been working hard for well over a year to see what might have been possible between us, and we have come to the conclusion that while we love each other very much we will remain separate." Paltrow, 41, and Martin, 37, the front man of British rock band Coldplay, have two children - their daughter, Apple, 9, and son, Moses, 7. The pair met in 2002 and were married the next year in Southern California.

Cause of Walker's death

Speed was the sole cause for The Fast and the Furious franchise actor Paul Walker's death in a fiery car crash in Valencia, California, last November. Walker's financial adviser Roger Rodas, who was driving the Porsche at speeds of up to 150 kph, was also killed when the car hit a light pole on Nov 30. Investigators with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department announced its findings on Tuesday, confirming earlier reports that the crash was not caused by mechanical problems with Rodas' 2005 Porsche Carrera GT or debris on the road. The speed of the Porsche was calculated based on marks one of the car's tires left on the road, according to The Associated Press. Porsche engineers sent to review the mangled and burned wreckage of the car had found no problems with its systems.

Agencies

(China Daily 03/30/2014 page4)