Noor Kumalasari opens up about missing her sister
VETERAN star Noor Kumalasari is missing her beloved sister Anita Sarawak who 'disappeared' after suddenly leaving for the United States in 2011, Harian Metro reported.
Noor Kumalasari, 69, shared her longing for Anita, 72, in an audio programme hosted by media personality Syahril A Kadir on the Tanah Berdaulat TV channel, which began airing on YouTube on Wednesday.
'I really miss you from the bottom of my heart. It's been a long time since we talked and laughed like the old days,' Noor Kumalasari said.
The actress revealed that the last time she spoke with Anita was about two years ago.
Noor Kumalasari said Anita was her 'saviour' when she was depressed following severe criticism by journalists on her performance at a stadium in Kuala Lumpur in the 1970s.
Recalling Anita's return to the United States, Noor Kumalasari claimed that she was not informed and did not know about her sister's plans to leave Malaysia.
> Instead of the usual blue colour for nasi kerabu, a trader from Kampung Padang Air in Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, has shaken things up by introducing a purple nasi kerabu, Kosmo! reported.
Faridatul Nur Akmal Abdul Wahab, 38, decided to use 'daun pitam' (Indonesian bay leaf) to produce the natural purple colour for her nasi kerabu.
'Usually we use bunga telang (butterfly pea flower) for the blue nasi kerabu, but sometimes the colour isn't so prominent.
'I am also not a fan of using colouring as it ruins the dish,' she said.
Faridatul Nur Akmal said the daun pitam leaves were easily available in the forest near her housing area.
To get the purple colour, the leaves are blended and left for four hours until it changes colour, she said.
She said the daun pitam has its own aroma as well as health benefits.
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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
5 hours ago
- The Star
Labubu maker Pop Mart expects first-half profit jump of at least 350%
Chinese toymaker Pop Mart is gearing up for another period of blockbuster growth, following the runaway success of its Labubu toy internationally, saying it expects a massive surge in first-half revenue and profit. In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday, the Beijing-based company said that it expected net profit for the first half to rise by at least 350 per cent from a year ago and revenue to increase by more than 200 per cent. The company attributed its first-half growth to 'the increased global recognition of the Pop Mart brand and its [intellectual properties], and diversified product categories', noting that revenue from all regional markets rose 'rapidly and continuously'. Nomura on Wednesday lifted Pop Mart's share-price estimate by 13 per cent to HK$330 from HK$291. The Japanese investment bank said in a report that the management would offer a positive business outlook in the interim earnings call and that the stock was its favourite consumer name. Meanwhile, US investment bank Jefferies raised the target price by 55 per cent to HK$315.20 from HK$203 to reflect the stronger-than-expected first-half profit and maintained a buy rating on the stock. The stock rose as much as 3.3 per cent, before closing 4 per cent lower at HK$252.80 on Wednesday. 'We like management's strategy of focusing on its core IPs and investing in these IPs through various media,' analysts led by Annie Ling at Jefferies said in a report on Tuesday. 'Pop Mart's IPs could be in the form of not just blind boxes but also games, films and other product categories. It is also looking to expand its retail format using the theme park as an incubator. This could lengthen an IP's cycle should it be successful.' Growing presence in overseas markets, where the brand has a more premium positioning, helped improve its revenue structure and overall gross profit, Pop Mart said in the exchange statement. The toymaker also said it benefited from a substantial increase in profit from economies of scale, cost optimisation and tighter expense controls. Pop Mart's breakneck success in international markets came in 2024 when its 'Labubu' toy – a toothy, elfin character created by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung – won over millions of fans in Asia, including K-pop star Lisa of Blackpink and members of the Thai royal family. The company's launch of the third iteration of the toy in Western markets in April also experienced success, attracting high-profile fans like Rihanna and the family of David Beckham. Its shares have almost tripled this year after surging 343 per cent in 2024, despite a major restock that pushed down resale prices and an official warning on the mainland about the potential addictiveness of 'blind boxes', which are a core part of the company's business model. In April, Pop Mart said its first-quarter revenue rose by 170 per cent from a year earlier, driven by a nearly 480 per cent surge in overseas business and close to 100 per cent growth at home. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
New Straits Times
5 hours ago
- New Straits Times
#SHOWBIZ: Singer Ken Chu scolded for selling products by Barbie Hsu's ex-husband
TAIPEI: Taiwanese singer and actor Ken Chu has responded to netizens who criticised him for selling products belonging to Barbie Hsu's ex-husband, the Chinese businessman Wang Xiaofei. The 46-year-old artiste, a former member of the Taiwanese boy band F4, who recently reunited with the group at Mayday's concert on July 12, held a Douyin livestream on July 16. During the stream, he discussed F4's reunion and the late Barbie Hsu. F4, which also includes stars Jerry Yan, Vic Chou, and Vanness Wu, rose to fame in the Taiwanese idol drama Meteor Garden (2001), in which Barbie Hsu also starred as the female lead. She passed away on Feb 2 at the age of 48 from pneumonia. Ken, who has ventured into livestream selling in recent years, mentioned that he was recently reprimanded by netizens for offering instant hot and sour noodle soup from Ma Liu Ji, a food brand owned by Barbie's ex-husband Xiaofei and his mother Zhang Lan, during his livestream.
The Star
6 hours ago
- The Star
'Who killed love?' A video game plays to male resentment in China.
A deliveryman falls for a female livestreamer. She seduces him, drains his savings, then vanishes. Heartbroken, he reinvents himself as a successful businessperson seeking revenge on women like her. This is the plot of Revenge On Gold Diggers, one of the most popular and contentious video games in China. The interactive game, which debuted in June to enormous success, temporarily topped the charts on Steam China, the local version of the global gaming platform. Its tagline, 'Who killed love? It's the gold diggers who killed love,' has electrified Chinese social media. Players, cast as 'emotional fraud hunters,' navigate romantic relationships, searching for deception while guarding their wallets – and their hearts. One of the most liked comments on the game's community board calls it 'an elegy for our generation of Chinese men.' Another declares, 'Men must never retreat – this is a fight to the death.' The game has drawn the enthusiasm of disaffected young men, and fierce criticism from other corners. It has been decried as misogynistic. Some male gamers complain it panders to the Chinese government's concerns about plummeting marriage and birth rates. The debates surrounding Revenge On Gold Diggers reveal deep-seated male resentment and the broader socioeconomic anxieties about love, marriage and financial security in China. In recent years, a sense of stagnation, compounded by high housing costs, worsening job markets and limited social mobility, has left many young Chinese men disillusioned. This economic malaise has dovetailed with anxiety around dating, marriage and masculinity, breeding a sense of emotional desperation. The Chinese Internet is full of bitter comments from men who write about feeling reduced to 'walking wallets' in romantic relationships, perpetuating a sense of victimisation. Amid anxiety about the economy, jobs, high marriage costs and gender imbalances, many young people are reluctant to get married and have children. Last year, 6.1 million couples registered for marriage, a 21% plunge from a year earlier and fewer than half the number in 2013. 'The economic challenges are very real, and they naturally give rise to anxiety,' said a Beijing-based video producer who asked that I use only his family name, Huang, for fear of government retaliation. In an interview, he called the game 'a cheap, opportunistic product' that 'very precisely taps into the intense gender antagonism currently sweeping through Chinese society.' He said he believed the game appealed particularly to incels, involuntarily celibate men who consider themselves unattractive to women. A global phenomenon, the incels often blame women for their romantic failures. They tend to be economically marginalised and socially isolated, and to see the game as both therapy and resistance. A 23-year-old unemployed man living with his parents in Chongqing, who also asked that I use only his surname, Xi, told me: 'I hate women, though I still want to fall in love, just a little bit.' He has never been in a relationship, he said, and hopes Revenge On Gold Diggers could teach men like him how to behave in love. After graduating from college, Xi worked briefly in an electronics assembly factory and as a phone service salesperson. He quit both jobs because of health reasons and boredom, he said, and spends most of his time online. He said he joined online boycotts of brands that were perceived to support feminism, such as The e-commerce site was targeted last year after hiring Yang Li, a comedian who once joked, 'How can men look so average, and yet be so confident?' dropped Yang after the protests. The opening scene of Revenge On Gold Diggers features a heartbroken, overweight man who is about to jump to his death. That is widely understood as a reference to an incident in 2024 when a man died by jumping into the Yangtze River after his girlfriend suggested they take a break. The police investigated and found that the woman had done nothing wrong, calling it a 'normal relationship.' But some men called her a 'gold digger' and wanted her to be held legally accountable. Another case cited in the game's comment section is a 2023 conviction in Shanxi province. A man was sentenced to three years in prison for raping his fiancee. The defense argued that betrothal implied consent, especially after the man had paid a so-called bride price of about US$14,000 (RM59,443). But the court ruled against him. The decision was included in the case library of China's highest court, elevating its importance and further angering male commenters who saw it as evidence that feminists had taken over the legal system. At the centre of many of these grievances is the bride price, a Chinese custom in which the groom's family pays money or gifts to a bride's family before marriage. Once seen as a form of goodwill, it's now often seen as a financial transaction and, unsurprisingly, a contentious one. In regions of China with many more men than women, bride prices can soar to tens of thousands of dollars, adding crushing financial burdens to young men. Male gamers and commenters sometimes describe the custom as 'legalised robbery.' Feminists and many others argue that the system is part of deeper inequalities in the society. They note that women are not necessarily the financial beneficiaries. 'In many cases, the money doesn't go to the daughters at all,' Li Sipan, a visiting scholar at Stanford and an advocate for women's rights, said in an interview. 'It goes to her parents, and often gets used as bride price for her brothers,' she said. 'In this sense, it's not just intergenerational exploitation of daughters, but also of sisters.' She said the government's failure to address broader inequalities and provide an adequate social safety net for women had intensified gender mistrust on both sides. Some male gamers have turned against Revenge On Gold Diggers. After its developer, Qianfang Studio, publicly thanked female players for their support, some men posted screenshots cancelling their purchases in protest. The game's director later issued an apology for hurting players' feelings. Qianfang Studio did not respond to a request for comment. The government's responses to the game have been more ambivalent. Shortly after the game's release, the studio changed its Chinese title to Emotional Anti-Fraud Simulator. The English-language title remained, and the move was widely believed to be an effort to deflect criticism and appease the government. Yet the official newspaper Beijing Youth Daily published a favorable review, reposted by Xinhua News Agency, that highlighted the game's potential for public education. 'Online romance scams are surging,' the article noted. 'This game helps young people internalize the message: 'Only by learning to protect yourself can you safeguard your true feelings and love'.' – ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
