Wanda buys London cinema group for $1.6b

Chinese conglomerate Wanda, owned by billionaire Wang Jianlin, said it has bought London-based Odeon & UCI cinema group in a deal worth around US$1.2 billion (S$1.6 billion).

Wanda-owned AMC Entertainment Holdings, the second-largest movie theatre chain in North America, said it had entered into a "definitive agreement" to buy Odeon & UCI, which is Europe's largest cinema chain.

The agreement creates the world's largest movie theatre operator.

Saddam Hussein's novella to be published in English

British publishing house Hesperus will release in December the first English version of executed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's novella.

The publisher calls it a "mix between Game Of Thrones and the British House Of Cards-style fiction".

The novella had been published in other languages under the titles Begone Devils and Get Out, You Damned One, and its plot reportedly centres on an ancient tribe that defeats an invading force.

Hussein, who died in 2006, published three novels during his lifetime using the nom de plume "the Author".

Gisele Bundchen to host Brazil Olympics opening

Former model Gisele Bundchen will strut her stuff in her native Brazil next month, this time swopping the catwalk for the stadium hosting the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Rio.

Bundchen, who retired from modelling last year, will walk through a "futuristic gateway" at Maracana Stadium during the Aug 5 ceremony marking the start of the first Games hosted in South America, according to Extra newspaper.