A FAMILY’s solemn wish to be reunited with their runaway cat was fulfilled after family members offered a prayer to the Jade Emperor on his Feb 9 birthday, reported China Press.

       According to the family, the feline named Cat Cat ran away after being startled by firecrackers on Feb 5.

       Distraught, the family from Kampung Lapan in Melaka put up flyers throughout the village and posted news of the incident on social media in hopes of locating their cat.

       A three-day search for the pet was unsuccessful, said owner Fu Lai Xiang, 32.

       He said his mother took a vow that she would hire a lion dance troupe to celebrate the deity’s birthday next year if the family could be reunited with Cat Cat.

       Twenty minutes after the family’s prayers were over at 2am that morning, the feline made its way back close to home.

       “Normally, Cat Cat is more active at night. It wears a bell on its neck and it tinkles loudly.

       “My younger brother heard the mewing and bell tinkling in the silence of the night. It led him to the cat,” he said.

       Fu said Cat Cat was found huddled in a drain 300m away from their house.

       Scared, the cat refused to come out from the drain until it heard the matriarch’s voice.

       According to Fu, Cat Cat, although matted and dirty, was unharmed.

       > Taiwanese-Australian actress Hannah Quinlivan, who is pregnant with her third child, is set to appear in another Hollywood film titled Soul Assassin.

       On a roll: Quinlivan, who is pregnant with her third child, is set to star in the Hollywood movie, Soul Assassin. — AFP

       According to Sin Chew Daily, Quinlivan will be starring alongside big names including Bruce Willis and Dominic Purcell.The 28-year-old actress’s last role in Hollywood was the 2018 blockbuster Skyscraper, which starred Dwayne Johnson.

       According to Variety, Soul Assassin is a sci-fi thriller about a former female black ops soldier who joins an experimental drone warfare programme to hunt down her husband’s killer.

       “This is a groundbreaking genre film bound to be an audience favourite.

       “The international dream cast of both veterans and rising stars adds even more appeal,” said director Jesse Atlas, who wrote Soul Assassin along with Aaron Wolfe.

       The movie is based on their short film Let Them Die Like Lovers (2018).

       Quinlivan is married to King of Mandopop Jay Chou and they have two children – Hathaway, seven, and Romeo, five.

       Quinlivan and Chou confirmed news of their third child recently.

       ● The above article is 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 this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.