IT is story time for the youngsters, albeit with a naughty twist.

Harian Metro reported that a number of teenagers were subscribing to an Indonesian pornographic story service on their smartphones for RM17 a week.

Subscribers would also get to feast their eyes on pornographic images.

Rosli (not his real name), 15, said the sex story service was a hit among teenagers, especially schoolboys, who loved the stories as they were written in a way that was easy to understand.

“It is the trend these days. Last time, people had to buy pornographic novels but now we can read it and look at dirty pictures on our phone,” he said.

Commenting on this, Perak Barisan Nasional Public Services and Complaints secretariat head Mohd Rawi Abdullah said the influx and popularity of smartphones made the circulation of pornographic materials difficult to curb.

Despite several applications and software in the market that could block porn, he said youngsters were also getting cleverer in circumventing it.

> Thai prostitutes in the border town of Betong have been alleged to use black magic to charm customers, mostly Malaysian men, to lure them into becoming regular clients.

Known as the “Betong Darlings”, Kosmo! reported that many of the prostitutes would put spells on the men either into their drinks or by chanting their names until the men would approach them without negotiating for the fee first.

A resident known only as Nas, 23, said the methods had been employed for ages and that they were usually used on Malaysian men travelling alone or in a group, regardless of race and age.

“These women would recite Siamese verses into a man's drink or chant under their breath from afar.

“The men who are under the spell would then be attracted to the prostitute.

“They would follow her to the hotel and pay whatever she wants,” he said.

Other News & Views is 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 this > sign, it denotes a separate news item.

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