Compiled by C. ARUNO, CHAN MAY THENG and R. ARAVINTHAN

       TAIWANESE singer Jolin Tsai (pic) is rumoured to be holding eight consecutive concerts to usher in the New Year in 2023 after several of her shows over the past two years were cancelled due to the pandemic, China Press reported.

       A source revealed that Tsai’s team has already booked the Taipei Arena, which fits 15,000 visitors, for the upcoming concerts.

       When asked about the matter, Tsai’s manager did not give a direct answer but said the singer understood that fans were eager to attend one of her concerts after waiting for nearly two years.

       The manager, however, said Tsai was currently working on her latest studio album and had yet to start making plans to hold the concerts.

       > The daily also reported that Hong Kong actress Maggie Leung was sprayed with an unknown liquid while on her way home from work.

       The 27-year-old former beauty pageant finalist was returning home early Wednesday morning when she felt something wet on her calf while walking up the stairs to her apartment.

       It was then that she spotted a stranger tailing her.

       The man fled upon realising that he had been discovered.

       “I felt disgusted at that time and could not hold back my tears. I quickly wiped the liquid off with a wet tissue,” Leung said.

       When interviewed, Leung, who used to be a newspaper journalist, said she had not been aware of her surroundings at that time as she was exhausted from work.

       She said she shuddered to think what could have happened had she angered the stalker.

       She told reporters that she would get friends to accompany her home in future and would now carry pepper spray to protect herself.

       > Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu, who has remained relatively quiet since recently getting remarried, has hit out at news outlets who speculated that she will be selling her house and moving to South Korea to be with her husband, Sin Chew Daily reported.

       “The weekly tabloids have exaggerated too much. There have been no secret meetings in quarantine hotels, no plans to sell my house and I have not threatened to kill myself to get what I want.

       “(The stories were written) as if the reporters were present at the scene. Do you think these reports are reasonable? Everyone, please calm down and stop spreading lies,” Hsu said.

       It was earlier reported that Hsu married her former boyfriend, South Korean musician DJ Koo, 52, just three months after her divorce from Chinese businessman Wang Xiaofei.

       Hsu’s manager chided the tabloids, saying that Hsu was upset over the reports.

       “How can one be happy reading about the drama these reporters imagine every day?

       “These are not true and reporters should not fabricate stories,” her manager said.

       In November 2021, Hsu announced her divorce from Wang after more than 10 years of marriage.

       The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.