I'm not sure exactly what this problem is related to, MSN or plus! so i thought i would post it here:
Basically when someone changes their status to "On the phone" a japanese?/chinese? character appears at the end of the on the phone where there should be a bracket ).
MSN Version: 7.0.0813
Plus! Version: 3.54.132 (updated after monster.rat's post)
I'm also using a-patch 1.1.9