Compiled by C. ARUNO, JUSTIN ZACK and R. ARAVINTHAN

       THE masks worn by characters in Netflix’s Squid Game are selling like hotcakes, with factories in China hard pressed to keep up with demand, reported Sin Chew Daily.

       The daily quoted a report by Chinese state media CCTV2 saying that factories in Guangdong, Shenzen and Anhui had received non-stop orders.

       A company called Shanling Technology, which claimed to be the earliest to hop onto the Squid Game bandwagon, was reported to have sold 300,000 masks since the show first streamed on Sept 17.

       “At that time, the show wasn’t popular yet, but I had a hunch that this mask would sell well,” said company spokesman Duan Pengcheng.

       “Turnover has since exceeded 300,000 units,” said Duan.

       Squid Game is a sci-fi thriller about a group of cash-strapped contestants competing in childhood games for a prize of 45.6bil won (RM160mil).

       > China Press reported that people were questioning the motive of a couple who had uploaded videos of themselves on TikTok lugging stacks of RM50 notes.

       Many asked why the couple, who are in business, were flaunting their wealth.

       In one video the couple are singing and dancing in their car surrounded by stacks of cash.

       Many Internet users asked if the stacks of cash were fake and that the videos were just elaborate pranks to attract views.

       The harsh criticism, however, has not stopped the couple from uploading similar videos.

       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.