Pope goes walkabout

Deemed the "People's Pope" for his accessibility and preference to eschew comfort, reports of Pope Francis' efforts to keep in touch with the common man continue to come out of the Vatican. These include the latest reports - which started as a rumor last month but has now been confirmed by a Vatican source - of Pope Francis removing his trademark uniform to dress as a regular priest to sneak out of the Vatican at night to walk the streets of Rome handing out alms to the poor and homeless. A Vatican source told the Huffington Post that the 76-year-old leader of the world's largest religion is continuing on a mission he started while a cardinal in Buenos Aires.

Sequel not such a wonderful idea

Plans to reunite the surviving cast members of the 1946 Jimmy Stewart classic It's A Wonderful Life for a sequel have met with rebuttal from the studio that released the original Christmas feel-good flick. Star Partners and Hummingbird Productions announced last Monday that they hope to reunite surviving members of the original cast to make a sequel about George Bailey's (played by James Stewart) grandson. Paramount, the studio that owns the rights to the original, has put the kybosh on the plan. "No project relating to It's a Wonderful Life can proceed without a license from Paramount," the studio said in a statement on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. "To date, these individuals have not obtained any of the necessary rights, and we would take all appropriate steps to protect those rights."

Lottery winner dies penniless

An ex-con in the United States who won close to $28 million in 2001 has died in a community hospice in Kentucky with barely a cent to his name. David Lee Edwards, 58, won his instant fortune after buying an $8 Powerball ticket. Although the cause of Edward's death has not been released, he leaves behind an 11-year-old daughter but no money. Within a year of winning, Edwards is believed to have spent more than $13 million on houses, cars, a learjet and constant parties with friends. By 2006 the riches were all but gone, forcing Edwards to move into a storage unit, which witnesses described as squalid, the Broward Palm Beach New Times reports.

Taco man dies after battle with cancer

The American behind Taco Bell's very lucrative Doritos Locos Tacos meal died last week after a battle with brain cancer. According to his wife Ginger, Todd Mills, 41, from Little Rock, Arkansas, would often eat taco salads made with Doritos and wrote a letter to Frito-Lay, the makers of Doritos, in 2009 pitching the idea of using the spicy chips as taco shells. The company wasn't interested at first but later changed its mind when Mills' Facebook page, the Taco Shells Made from Doritos Movement, received huge public support. The rest is now history, with the snack proving hugely successful - 600 million units have been sold to date, earning Taco Bell billions in sales. Yet the father-of-two, who came up with the idea, never made a penny from his idea.

Wonder Woman actress announced

Movie fans have barely had time to catch their collective breath after the announcement that Ben Affleck would play the Dark Knight in Batman Vs Superman, when it was announced last week that Gal Gadot has been cast as Wonder Woman in the same film. The Israeli actress and model is best known for her role as Gisele in the fourth, fifth and sixth Fast and the Furious films. Gadot, 28, will play Diana Prince, who has super strength, speed and agility and flies an invisible plane, in Zak Snyder's Man of Steel sequel - which also stars Henry Cavill as Superman - due out in 2015.

Filming suspended on Fast & Furious 7

The future of the latest installment in the Fast and Furious film franchise is up in the air following the death of its star Paul Walker (pictured) last week. Universal Pictures announced on Tuesday that it has officially suspended production of Fast and Furious 7. Walker, 40, died in a fiery car crash on Nov 30 when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a light pole and a tree, exploding into flames. The car's driver, Roger Rodas, also died in the incident. According to the studio, Walker had shot many of his scenes for Fast and Furious 7 and was taking a break from filming when the accident occurred. The film, however, was not yet complete. The studio has not yet said how it will deal with Walker's unfinished performance.

Celeb duo's $10m doomsday splurge

US reality show couple Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt last week revealed how a belief that the world was going to end in December 2012 gave them occasion to blow their $10 million fortune. In a recent interview with InTouch magazine, the couple say they went from one of reality TV's richest couples to living with Pratt's parents in Santa Barbara. "Every time we'd go out to eat, we'd order $4,000 bottles of wine. Heidi was going to the mall and dropping $20,000 to $30,000 a day. We thought we were Jay Z and Beyonce." The couple revealed earlier in the year that they were so convinced that the Mayan Apocalypse was coming that they blew millions of dollars before the calendar hit December 21, 2012. "We made and spent at least $10 million," Spencer later told OK! magazine. "We thought, we have got to spend this money before the asteroid hits."

Agencies

(China Daily 12/08/2013 page4)