Compiled by DIYANA PFORDTEN, ALLISON LAI and R. ARAVINTHAN
A NINE-YEAR-OLD girl collapsed and died from an anxiety-induced cardiac arrest while searching for her mother on a city street in Hunan, China.
China Press and Sin Chew Daily reported that the girl’s mother, who is a divorcee, had taken her out for the day and was supposed to send her back to her father.
Worried that her daughter would be upset about the handover, the mother apparently hid behind a parked car after she left in an attempt to avoid an emotional scene.
But the girl ran after her mother, crying and calling out for her, before suddenly collapsing on the roadside. Medical staff later determined the cause of death to be heart failure triggered by extreme emotional stress.
The girl’s aunt said the child was otherwise healthy, making the outcome all the more distressing. Online reactions were intense with many people blaming the mother for her actions.
Others asked about the father’s whereabouts.
> The closure of the only licensed pig slaughterhouse in Muar has resulted in higher processing and transport costs for pork traders, following an order by the Johor Veterinary Department, Oriental Daily reported.
Since the facility ceased operations on Jan 1, traders have had to send live pigs to slaughterhouses in Segamat or Kluang, increasing travel time and logistical expenses. Processing and transport costs per pig have reportedly risen from about RM30 to RM90.
Despite the higher costs, pork sellers said they would “wait and see” and are maintaining current retail prices for now, citing already elevated pork prices and market conditions.
(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.)
