London, Oct 5 (AP/UNB) — Filmmaker Danny Boyle is urging thousands of people to gather on British beaches and make silhouettes in the sand on Nov. 11 to mark 100 years since the end of World War I.

Sand artists will also create giant portraits of people killed in the war, which will be washed away by the incoming tide, Boyle announced Friday.

The beachside commemoration caps four years of British cultural activities marking the centenary of the 1914-18 conflict, in which 20 million people died.

Boyle said beaches "are truly public spaces, where nobody rules other than the tide."

"They seem the perfect place to gather and say a final goodbye and thank you to those whose lives were taken or forever changed by the First World War," he said.

The "Trainspotting" and "Slumdog Millionaire" director stepped down earlier this year from the helm of the next James Bond film over what producers said were creative differences. He has been replaced by Cary Fukunaga.

Boyle said giving up the 007 job had helped create more time to work on the World War I project.

"I was absolutely desperately keen to do this," said Boyle, who also directed the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. "My involvement in it would have been slightly compromised by that workload.

"But I was still very, very keen to do it because it's a real, proper privilege to do something like this where you hope to connect with everybody in the country in some way, as much as you can, rather than through your normal channels, like the box office."

New York, Oct 5 (AP/UNB) — Chris Evans has wrapped his final performance as Captain America.

Evans on Thursday tweeted that his last shooting day on "Avengers 4" was an "emotional day."  The 37-year-old actor thanked his colleagues and fans for his eight years as Captain American, saying it "has been an honor."

Evans first joined the Marvel cast in 2010. He has starred in three "Captain America" films, including 2016's "Captain America: Civil War," as well as numerous team-up films.

The actor previously suggested he would soon depart the role. Earlier this year, Evans told The New York Times that wanted to "get off the train before they push you off."

"Avengers 4" is slated to open in May next year.

Bangkok, Oct 4 (AP/UNB) — Authorities in Thailand said they have decided to indefinitely extend the closure of a beautiful bay made famous by the Leonardo DiCaprio movie "The Beach" until it recovers from years of environment damage caused by too many tourists.

They had announced in March that tourists would be barred from Maya Bay from June 1 to Sept. 30.

An official announcement published Monday in the Royal Gazette said the bay, part of a national park, will now be closed "from Oct. 1, 2018, onwards until the marine natural resources return to their normal condition."

The announcement said an assessment by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation found that after having been closed to tourists for four months, Maya Bay still had not recovered.

Maya Bay, part of the Hat Noppharat Thara-Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, had remained open year round to cater to tourist demand since a Hollywood crew set foot there in 1999 to film the dark backpacker tale that starred DiCaprio. Many Thai marine national parks are shut annually for four months.

The beach at Maya Bay had received an average of 200 boats and 4,000 visitors each day. Recent surveys by a team led by marine biologists found a large part of the coral reefs in the area is gone and sea life has virtually disappeared.

Little Colorado River Gorge, Sep 26 (AP/UNB) — Like a scene out of a high-octane action movie that he would star in, Will Smith celebrated his 50th birthday Tuesday by successfully bungee jumping from a helicopter near the Grand Canyon.

Cameras, which captured the stunt for a livestream on YouTube , showed the actor hooked to a harness and bungee cords dangling over a gorge in northeastern Arizona.

"This is some of the most beautiful stuff I've ever seen in my life," Smith said while still swinging over the chasm.

He described the experience as going "from pure terror to absolute bliss."

The entire event had the feel of a polished episode of reality TV. Camera crews showed Smith, wife Jada Pinkett Smith and his three children being greeted by dozens of relatives and friends on a platform. His "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" co-star, Alfonso Ribeiro, served as a host interviewing Smith and others before and after.

The stunt was billed as a leap "in the heart of the Grand Canyon." But the jump was outside Grand Canyon National Park on the Navajo Nation. The tribe's reservation borders the east rim of the national park.

A Navajo medicine man gave Smith a blessing and thanked him for coming to the reservation.

Smith said the bungee jump was a challenge from Yes Theory, a YouTube channel that makes videos of people doing activities outside of their comfort zone. But the event also raised money for charity through an online lottery for a chance to watch the jump in person. The proceeds will benefit access to education for children in struggling countries.

Norristown, Sep 26 (AP/UNB) — At an age when other Hollywood stars are settling into retirement and collecting lifetime-achievement awards, an 81-year-old Bill Cosby was led away to prison in handcuffs Tuesday, sentenced to three to 10 years behind bars in what was seen by many of his accusers as a reckoning richly deserved and long overdue.

The comedian, TV star and breaker of racial barriers became the first celebrity of the #MeToo era to be sent to prison. He was found guilty in April of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his gated estate in 2004 after being barraged with similar accusations from more than 60 women over the past five decades.

"It is time for justice. Mr. Cosby, this has all circled back to you. The time has come," Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill said. He quoted from victim Andrea Constand's statement to the court, in which she said Cosby took her "beautiful, young spirit and crushed it."

Cosby declined the opportunity to speak before the sentence came down, and afterward sat laughing and chatting with his defense team. His wife of 54 years, Camille, was not in court. Constand smiled broadly on hearing the punishment and was hugged by others in the courtroom.

In a blistering statement, Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt said the comic was subjected to the "most racist and sexist trial in the history of the United States." Wyatt said all three of the psychologists who testified against Cosby were "white women who make money off of accusing black men of being sexual predators."

Cosby's lawyers asked that he be allowed to remain free on bail while he appeals his conviction, but the judge appeared incredulous over the request and ordered him locked up immediately, saying that "he could quite possibly be a danger to the community."

 

The comedian — who is legally blind and uses a cane — removed his watch, tie and jacket and walked out in a white dress shirt and red suspenders, his hands cuffed in front of him. He appeared downcast, his eyes failing to meet the camera, in a mug shot released by authorities.

Cosby must serve the minimum of three years before becoming eligible for parole.

"For decades, the defendant has been able to hide his true self and hide his crimes using his fame and fortune. He's hidden behind a character he created, Dr. Cliff Huxtable," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said at a news conference, referring to Cosby's best-known role. But "now, finally, Bill Cosby has been unmasked, and we have seen the real man as he is headed off to prison."

Constand stood at Steele's side but shook her head to say she had no comment.

Former model Janice Dickinson, who accused Cosby of violating her, looked at him in the courtroom and said: "Who gets the last laugh, pal?"

Another accuser in the courtroom, Lili Bernard, said: "There is solace, absolutely. It is his fame and his fortune and his phony philanthropy that has allowed him to get away with impunity. Maybe this will send a message to other powerful perpetrators that they will be caught and punished."

Cosby's punishment, which also included a $25,000 fine, came at the end of a two-day hearing at which the judge declared him a "sexually violent predator" — a modern-day scarlet letter that subjects him to monthly counseling for the rest of his life and requires that neighbors and schools be notified of his whereabouts. A psychologist for the state testified that Cosby appears to have a mental disorder characterized by an uncontrollable urge to have sex with women without their consent.

The comic once known as America's Dad for his role on the top-rated "Cosby Show" in the 1980s was convicted in April of violating Constand, Temple University women's basketball administrator, at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004. It was the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

Constand testified that Cosby gave her what she thought were herbal pills to ease stress, then penetrated her with his fingers as she lay immobilized on a couch. Cosby claimed the encounter was consensual, and his lawyers branded her a "con artist" who framed the comedian to get a big payday — a $3.4 million settlement she received over a decade ago.

Five other accusers took the stand at the trial as part of an effort by prosecutors to portray him as a predator.

Cosby faced anywhere from probation to 10 years in prison. His lawyers asked for house arrest, saying he is too old and vulnerable to go to prison. Prosecutors asked for five to 10 years behind bars, warning that he could still pose a threat to women.

The sentencing came as another extraordinary #MeToo drama unfolded on Capitol Hill, where Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh stands accused of sexual misconduct more than three decades ago.

Women's advocates hailed Cosby's sentence as a landmark #MeToo moment.

Sonia Ossorio, president of the National Organization for Women of New York, credited Cosby's accusers with helping pave the way for #MeToo.

"Bill Cosby seeing the inside of a prison cell sends a strong message that predators — no matter who they are, from Hollywood to Wall Street to the Supreme Court — can no longer be protected at the expense of victims," she said.

Steele said Cosby could be sent to Laurel Highlands , a state prison for lower-risk inmates on the other side of the state, about 70 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. It serves inmates with special needs and has separate housing units for geriatric prisoners and programs for sex offenders.

In a statement submitted to the court and released Tuesday, Constand, 45, said that she has had to cope with years of anxiety and self-doubt. She said she now lives alone with her two dogs and has trouble trusting people.

"When the sexual assault happened, I was a young woman brimming with confidence and looking forward to a future bright with possibilities," she wrote in her five-page statement. "Now, almost 15 years later, I'm a middle-aged woman who's been stuck in a holding pattern for most of her adult life, unable to heal fully or to move forward."

She also wrote of Cosby: "We may never know the full extent of his double life as a sexual predator, but his decades-long reign of terror as a serial rapist is over."

The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, which Constand and other accusers have done.

Constand went to police a year after waking up in a fog at Cosby's estate, her clothes askew, only to have the district attorney pass on the case. Another DA reopened the file a decade later and charged the TV star after stand-up comic Hannibal Buress' riff about Cosby being a rapist prompted other women to come forward and after a federal judge, acting on a request from The Associated Press, unsealed some of Cosby's startling, decade-old testimony in Constand's related civil suit.

In his testimony, Cosby described sexual encounters with a string of actresses, models and other young women and talked about obtaining quaaludes to give to those he wanted to sleep with.

Cosby's first trial in 2017 ended with a hung jury. He was convicted at a retrial that opened months after the #MeToo movement had taken down such figures as Hollywood studio boss Harvey Weinstein, NBC's Matt Lauer, actor Kevin Spacey and Sen. Al Franken.

 

"We are the floodgates," said Victoria Valentino, who has accused Cosby of drugging and raping her. "We gave the women who opened their mouths about Harvey Weinstein courage."

Cosby, whose estimated fortune once topped $400 million, broke barriers in the 1960s as the first black actor to star in a network show, "I Spy." He went on to superstardom as wise and understanding Dr. Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show," a sitcom that showed America a new kind of black TV family: a warm and loving household led by two professionals, one a lawyer, the other a doctor.

He also found success with his Saturday morning cartoon "Fat Albert," appeared in commercials for Jello-O pudding and became a public moralist, lecturing the black community about young people stealing things and wearing baggy pants. He won a Presidential Medal of Freedom and countless Emmys, Golden Globes and Grammy awards.

As the allegations mounted, his career all but collapsed, "Cosby Show" reruns were taken off the air, and one college after another stripped him of his honorary degrees.