Compiled by LIEW JIA XIAN and R. ARAVINTHAN

       MALAYSIAN rapper Namewee, 38, has won the best music video award in the third Walk Bell John Awards in Taiwan, Guang Ming Daily reported.

       Namewee, whose real name is Wee Meng Chee, was invited by the Kaohsiung city government last year to create the Kaohsiung tourism theme song Going for a Walk.

       In addition to the song to introduce Kaohsiung’s tourist attractions, he invited former Kaohsiung city mayor Han Kuo-yu to be featured in the music video.

       In his acceptance speech, Namewee said this was the first award he won in Taiwan.

       “Many people might find it strange that a foreigner won the award but actually, my YouTube account was registered when I was in university in Taiwan.

       “It was in 2006, the second year since YouTube started, so I’m considered the pioneer in Taiwan’s YouTube platform.

       “There were no subscriptions, no advertisements and no one was using YouTube back then. Creativity and persistence were very important,” he added.

       > Actor Raymond Lam, 41, said he had gained some weight and that he was now at his peak weight since he started acting, Oriental Daily reported.

       Lam, who was once known as one of Hong Kong’s most eligible bachelors, claimed that he was now at his fattest.

       He starred in a Chinese drama series Star of Ocean which was the talk of the town recently.

       “This is the fattest I have been as an actor.

       “I acted as a foreign businessman in the drama and the businessman whom I know in real life was not thin either,” he quipped.

       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.