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Young wife accused of stealing from older artist hubby

Young wife accused of stealing from older artist hubby

The Star11 hours ago
Compiled by JUNAID IBRAHIM, C. ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN
AN 87-year-old calligraphy master in China is said to have lost antiques and paintings worth two billion yuan (RM1.2bil), allegedly stolen by his wife who is 50 years younger than him, China Press reported.
Fan Zeng married radio presenter Xu Meng, 37, last year. It is believed that he got to know her through his son.
Their union was a talking point among netizens due to the wide age gap.
Apparently, Xu had been spotted meeting with a younger man at private clubs.
The mysterious man was said to have close ties with an art investment company that had sold several of Fan's works at below market prices.
Sources claimed that Xu took advantage of her position as the lady of the house to empty Fan's collection of calligraphy and paintings.
Fan's students, relatives, friends and dealers claimed to have lost contact with the master. Xu has also reportedly disappeared.
The news sparked heated online discussion, with many saying they suspected Xu of harbouring ill intentions when the couple married.
> The daily also reported that Pulau Pangkor saw a three-fold increase in its anchovies harvest over the last five years, making it the largest anchovy-producing location in Perak.
Statistics from the Fisheries Department showed that the island produced only 879.93 tonnes of anchovies worth RM8.87mil in 2020.
Last year, it recorded 2,844 tonnes worth RM42.67mil.
As a result, Perak is now one of the largest anchovy-producing states in Malaysia, second only to Sabah.
According to Fisheries Malaysia director-general Datuk Adnan Hussain, Pangkor is an important location for the country's fisheries industry as it is a production hub for high-quality anchovies that sets the industry benchmark.
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.
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