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

       RATHER than flowers, hundreds of packets of instant noodles were displayed during a funeral at a temple in Thailand recently in respect of the deceased’s wishes, reported China Press.

       According to family members, Prabhali Konghoon, 68, who passed away recently, had earlier requested his relatives not to spend money on fresh flowers as they would be thrown away once the ceremony is over.

       Instead, he requested them to spend money on something which would serve a purpose.

       To respect his wishes, relatives spent money on 500 packets of instant noodles, 400 cups of instant noodles, 20 cartons of milk, chocolate beverage, toilet paper, cooking oil and fish sauce.

       The goods were tied together and arranged like flowers, and were placed around Prabhali’s coffin at the Wat Ban Pa temple in northern Thailand.

       Relatives said they spent the same amount on the foodstuff as they would have spent on fresh flowers.

       All of the provisions were later donated to orphanages and old folks homes.

       > A man in China’s Hubei province who made a police report about his home being burgled turned out to be the culprit who stole and sold his girlfriend’s jewellery to top up credits for his online game, reported Sin Chew Daily.

       The man, whose surname is Lee, recently reported to the police that his house had been robbed and that gold jewellery, an iPhone and 750 yuan (RM500) in cash had been stolen.

       However, when several police officers arrived at his home, they became suspicious as there were no signs of forced entry.

       Upon questioning, he admitted to having made a false police report.

       He was fined 200 yuan (RM133) for his action.

       > Rumour mills have been churning after Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Tsang and his wife Venus Wong deleted all photos of them together on social media, reported China Press.

       Derek, 42, who is the son of actor, TV host and funnyman Eric Tsang, got hitched to Wong, an actress, in 2019 and the two were seen celebrating their second wedding anniversary in 2021.

       However, fans noticed that all photos of the couple were deleted entirely from Wong’s social media accounts on April 23.

       It was earlier reported that Wong had complained that due to her husband’s work commitments, the two were forced to spend long periods apart from each other.

       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.