China stops fans placing bets on Taylor Swift's breakups

The Hollywood Reporter reports that online vendors can no longer offer "insurance policies" to protect themselves against Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston splitting. According to Xinhua (China's state-run news agency), Taobao, the country's biggest online marketplace (owned by Alibaba Group), has come down hard on vendors who were offering such policies.

The higher-ups have seen through the policies, which offered "double your money if the couple split up", and deemed them a little bit dodgy. "As it is not strictly an insurance product, the sellers are not qualified as insurance sellers," a Taobao spokesperson says. "So we have taken down such 'products' from the Taobao platform."

Gambling is outlawed in China, bar two "official" state-sanctioned lotteries. Searches for the policies now return a firm message: "According to laws and regulations, what you have searched for cannot be displayed."

Vendors began taking "insurance policies" last week - with the cheapest starting at one yuan (about 15 American cents). "If I bought a million, I would make a lot - these stars break up all the time which gives us the opportunity to earn a lot of money!" says one enterprising customer to Xinhua.

Similar policies against Katy Perry's relationship status and the US Presidential election have also been pulled, although The Hollywood Reporter apparently found a policy safeguarding against Patrick Stewart sprouting hair for the next X-Men movie (two people have bought it, apparently).