Singer Gwen Stefani has filed for divorce from rockstar husband Gavin Rossdale after 13 years of marriage, several news reports said on Monday. In her divorce petition, Stefani, 45, cited irreconcilable differences and asked for joint custody of the couple's three children, 9-year-old Kingston, 6-year-old Zuma and 1-year-old Apollo, celebrity websites TMZ and People.com said
Read moreNEW YORK (Reuters) – “Men in Black” star Will Smith took the unusual step on Monday of publicly shooting down a report that he and his actress wife of 17 years had decided to divorce. Smith's marriage to Jada Pinkett Smith has been a subject of tabloid rumor for several years
Read more(Corrects paragraph 4 to clarify The Ascott is investing $50 mln with other investors) HONG KONG (Reuters) – Tujia, a Chinese vacation rental company similar to home rental firm Airbnb Inc, said on Monday it had raised $300 million from a group of investors to expand its business overseas, increase marketing and offer new products. The deal values Tujia at more than $1 billion, the Chinese company added without disclosing the size of the stake the investors bought. Other investors included existing Tujia shareholders and The Ascott Ltd, a serviced residence business owned by Singapore’s CapitaLand Ltd, that is leading a consortium to invest $50 million in Tujia.
Read moreBy Paul Carsten BEIJING (Reuters) – Indian online marketplace Snapdeal is set to raise $500 million from a group of foreign investors including China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, three people familiar with the matter said on Monday. The latest round of support, from investors also including SoftBank Group Corp and Foxconn, the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, would value Snapdeal at more than $5 billion, another person said. The move is a show of faith from three of the world's biggest technology companies in fast-growing Snapdeal, which in October secured a $627 million investment from SoftBank, itself an early backer of Alibaba.
Read moreBy Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India has blocked hundreds of adult websites to prevent pornography becoming a social nuisance, a government official said on Monday, sparking a debate about censorship and freedom in the world's largest democracy. In India's first big crackdown on Internet porn, service providers have been directed to block 857 websites, N.N. Kaul, a spokesman at the department of telecommunications, told Reuters
Read moreBy MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) – As social media exploded with outrage this week at the killing of Cecil the lion, the untimely passing of the celebrated predator at the hands of an American dentist went largely unnoticed in the animal's native Zimbabwe. “What lion?” acting information minister Prisca Mupfumira asked in response to a request for comment about Cecil, who was at that moment topping global news bulletins and generating reams of abuse for his killer on websites in the United States and Europe
Read moreBritish retailer Marks & Spencer is expanding its free “click & collect” service to more than 100 of its Simply Food franchise stores, just days after rival John Lewis [JLP.UL] said it planned to start charging customers.
Read moreBy Simon Jessop LONDON (Reuters) – London-based Abacas has launched asset-backed coins (ABCs) that will allow investors to trade a range of assets on a digital exchange, the company’s chief operating officer Morgan McDonnell said on Monday. Rather than supplant the fund firms that buy and sell stocks, bonds and other assets on behalf of investors, Abacas has designed a new trading environment in which investors will be able to trade a range of assets using ABCs
Read moreTime Warner Cable Inc is nearing an agreement to be acquired by smaller peer Charter Communications Inc for about $55 billion, combining the second and third largest U.S. cable operators, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. A deal would create a major rival to Comcast Corp, the biggest operator in the U.S.
Read moreA unit of People’s Insurance Company of China Co (PICC), one of China’s biggest insurers, has received regulatory approval to set up a third-party payment firm, challenging banks for control of the crucial market. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission said on Monday it granted PICC Life Insurance Co permission to invest 200 million yuan ($32.3 million) to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary, Beijing Baofutong Ltd, according to an online notice posted by the insurance regulator. The PICC unit still requires to get approval from the central bank and comply with legal procedures to set up a third-party payment service, the notice said.
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