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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Society
Father poisons children, self
An unemployed man killed his three children by feeding them yogurt and milk laced with pesticide and then committed suicide, police said yesterday. The 48-year-old man was apparently distraught over his long-term unemployment and being recently diagnosed with liver cancer, police said. The man's Filipina wife found her dead husband and children -- aged 3, 6 and 7 -- after she returned home from her factory job Monday in Kaohsiung, police said. TV reports showed the 29-year-old woman sobbing in the arms of a neighbor. "He was worried that his children were too old to be adopted by others and that they might be mistreated if they were sent to an orphanage," a neighbor told Chinese-language television. Police said the man poisoned the children -- two girls and a boy -- by adding pesticide to milk and yogurt. The father also drank the lethal mixture.

■ Health
Malaria measures taken
The nation has taken emergency steps to control a possible malaria outbreak after the first locally transmitted case in 38 years, health officials said yesterday. Health workers have begun screening residents and spraying pesticides to kill mosquitoes in Taitung County after a 57-year-old man was confirmed to have contracted the disease on Sunday. The patient, who was identified by his surname Lin and is in a stable condition, had not traveled to any malaria-affected country recently. The infection was traced to his nephew who contracted malaria while working in the Solomon Islands in December last year.

■ Diplomacy
Solomon Islands says sorry
The Solomon Islands Government yesterday distanced itself from comments made by its ambassador to Taiwan against Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Parris Chang (張旭成) that led to threats to block Taipei's aid to the small Pacific nation. Solomons Ambassador Seth Gukuna recently criticized Chang over an article he wrote criticizing the alleged dollar diplomacy practised by the South Pacific island state of Nauru. But the Solomons Department of Foreign Affairs has said that Gukuna acted alone, without receiving from Honiara any direction or instruction to criticize Chang's comments. "The Department of Foreign Affairs considers the criticism from Gukuna inappropriate and regrettable," a foreign affairs official said in Honiara yesterday.

■ Business
Delegation visits Russia
A high-profile Taiwanese delegation, led by former premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), is in Russia to promote business and trade relations between the two countries. The 35-member Taiwan delegation, comprised of executives from state-run and private companies, as well as officials from economic think tanks in Taiwan, were present yesterday at the Taiwan-Russia Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum, which was also attended by some 200 representatives from public Russian organizations and private companies. Chang, chairman of the Taiwan-Russia Association, and also secretary-general of the Democratic Progressive Party, said the top goal of his delegation is to strengthen economic, trade and science and technology exchanges between Taiwan and Russia. Members of the delegation, who arrived in Moscow Sept. 5 for a five-day visit, have visited Moscow and St. Petersburg over the past few days to probe the feasibility of further bolstering bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

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