Compiled by DIYANA PFORDTEN and C. ARUNO

       CLAIMS by a VTuber (virtual YouTuber) that she had been kidnapped and sold to human traffickers has stunned netizens in China, China Press reported.

       Known by her online name Porin, the VTuber disappeared from the scene for the past six months and only emerged on May 21 via a video posted on a Shanghai-based video-sharing website.

       The clip started with her saying: “I got kidnapped and was sold.”

       Porin spoke of being accosted by men who claimed to be policemen while on her way home from dinner one night.

       The men wanted her to give a statement at a police station and proceeded to drag her into a car.

       After a long journey, Porin arrived at a house where she was sold to a middle-aged woman.

       The woman treated her like a maid and would beat her for mistakes, and punished her by using her palms as ashtrays.

       Eventually, she was rescued by the police.

       Many Internet users commented that Porin was lucky to return home safely as many of such victims were not as fortunate.

       VTubers are online entertainers who engage with their audience using a virtual avatar generated using computer graphics.

       > Photographs purportedly showing Chinese businessman Wang Xiaofei cheating on his then wife, actress Barbie Hsu, have surfaced online, Sin Chew Daily reported.

       Wang, 40, was seen in two images sharing an intimate moment with Chinese actress and influencer Zhang Yingying.

       The pictures were said to have been taken in September 2021 when he was still married to Hsu.

       Since June 2021, Wang and Zhang had been spotted frequenting the same bars, and wearing matching bracelets.

       Their alleged affair was said to have been the cause of Wang’s divorce in November 2021, which came after 10 years of marriage.

       Hsu, however, remarried three months after the divorce.

       Last week, paparazzi captured Zhang and Wang on video as they took a PCR test together.

       Zhang was also spotted spending four days at Wang’s house, sparking talk that the two had moved in together. They have yet to confirm their relationship status.

       “Why can’t you just admit you are together? So stubborn,” one netizen wrote.

       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.