TAIPEI, Taiwan – A Beitou man on Sunday murdered two of his children while severely injuring another before taking his own life, authorities said.

The man was only identified by his surname Chang, and is reportedly 46 years old.

Chang stabbed his daughter and son, aged 12 and 13, before taking his own life.

A neighbour claimed that she heard the screams of one or two girls around noon yesterday.

The neighbour told reporters that as the incident happened around lunch on a weekend, but the screams were though to be children fooling around, since the screams were only heard twice.

The sole surviving victim, the eldest of the culprit’s children, typed a message seeking help from her uncle who lived closed by.

The case was brought to the attention of the Guandu division of the Beitou Police Precinct when the uncle arrived at the scene of the crime and notified authorities.

The victim sent a message via mobile application “Line” instead of making a call because she was unable to speak due to a 9 centimeter knife wound on her neck.

The girl, age 16, was sent to the Taipei Veterans General Hospital (臺北榮民總醫院) for treatment.

After her situation stabilized, the victim recounted the incident to the police using her phone and stated that her father had cryptically told her “I’d like to take you all along,” on Saturday evening.

The victim said she now understood that her father had premeditated the incident, and that she had passed out after sustaining the attack of her father.

When she regained consciousness, she immediately messaged her uncle for help, the victim added.

The hospital also reported that while the victim was physically stable, she sustained significant emotional trauma as a result of the tragedy.

Suspected Affair

According to Beitou police, a suicide letter that was left at the crime scene indicated that the murder was triggered as a result of stress brought by a combination of financial difficulty and suspected infidelity.

Chang wrote that he had lost his job, had made some bad investments and suspected that the children’s mother was having an extramarital affair.

The mother of the victims reportedly returned to Taipei from Hualien after she was notified of the incident. In his suicide letter, Chang was said to have written “I will give you the freedom which you ask for; I am taking our children.”

‘No signs of trouble’

Other neighbours said that the family had been renting at the area with their children for the last three years.

The neighbours added that the Changs always seemed happy and showed no signs of trouble, and were often seen taking family trips together.

More than 10 billion yuan ($2.05 billion) will be spent this year on improving toilet facilities at tourist attractions nationwide, according to the top tourism official.

The aim is to build 19,512 public restrooms and renovate another 6,685, Li Jinzao, head of the China National Tourism Administration, said on Saturday at a conference in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.

He said the departments responsible have been urged to use multiple channels to raise the funds needed to support the so-called toilet revolution, including bringing in private capital.

Shandong province, which built or renovated more than 3,900 public restrooms last year, and Zhejiang, Guangdong and Hunan provinces – more than 1,500 each – were listed as examples to follow, as they surpassed the target for last year.

Nationwide, 50,916 public toilets have been built or renovated in the past two years.

The target set by the central government in 2015 was 57,000 by the end of 2017.

He Zhongyou, vice-governor of Guangdong, a major tourist destination, said the province had constructed or reconstructed 3,101 toilets so far.

“The growth and improvement in facilities has helped the province further raise its reputation among tourists from home and abroad as well as greatly benefited residents,” he said.

Yan Jianguo, general manager of China Everbright Real Estate, said his company is in talks with the governments of several provinces to build toilets and service centres at major scenic spots and places with large flows of people.

The company has been operating more than 30 such facilities at the Lushan Scenic Spot as well as other locations in Shandong since November.

“The toilets are free to tourists and local residents, but we earn a profit from selling snacks, tissues, coffee, tea and other beverages at the service centres, which are similar to those along expressways,” Yan said.

“There’s great potential for toilet construction. China is a big country for tourism and the industry is enjoying rapid growth, but the toilet sector is a bottleneck,” he said.

“Tourists may not have to visit the restaurants and hotels at scenic spots, but most will at some point use the toilet.”

The young man wants to rent the church’s lawn for the ceremony.

The news is met with congratulations from the church administrator, but he also lays out one condition for the gleeful groom-to-be.

He is told that no music can be played at the ceremony.

This is out of respect for the cathedral’s neighbours – a mosque and madressah known as the Jamia Imdadul Uloom or Darwaish Masjid.

Irfan tries to reason with the administrator.

“This is my first and last marriage,” he says in a lighter tone. He is met with a stern response: “If you agree [only] then will the church permit you to entertain guests in the lawn, otherwise we are sorry.”

Working together

The church’s red bricks glisten in the winter sunlight.

The structure stands tall next to the whitewashed madressah that was built 38 years ago.

In the often-volatile city of Peshawar, it is a sight to see these two ‘houses of God’ existing alongside one another.

Mufti Asad of the madressah says that they have friendly relations with their neighbours.

The two places of worship exchange gifts on each other’s religious festivals.

Last Eidul Azha, representatives from the church came to the madressah bearing gifts.

“We also offered them meat and ate barbeque together,” Mufti Asad says.

These stories of peaceful coexistence are heartening to hear.

Members of Jamia Imdadul Uloom take pride in the madressah’s more “progressive” outlook.

Maulana Hassan Jan was a teacher here, who was allegedly the first religious scholar to declare suicide bombings haram.

It is believed that these moderate views ruffled some feathers and Maulana Jan paid the ultimate price for this.

In 2007, during the Islamic month of Ramazan, he was assassinated.

Many of Maulana Jan’s students are now teachers at the madressah.

They claim to be continuing to follow his philosophy of peace and respect for other religions.

In the neighbouring church, Father Younas Riaz is similarly spreading messages of peace.

He wears a white robe as he preaches these values to a congregation of devout Christians.

“You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” he says quoting the Bible.

Propagating peace

Peshawar has often been an unsafe place for Christians.

A September 2013 suicide attack on the city’s All Saint’s Church killed at least 80 and left 100 wounded.

In such a scenario the apparent camaraderie shared by the two places of worship is encouraging.

Attaullah Khan, a researcher, says, “In this country there is always a threat to minorities… they are treated as second-grade citizens since birth…”

Father Younas Riaz of the cathedral says that some “so-called education experts” are systemically facilitating this intolerance in society. “[They] are working to sabotage the unity of this diverse society,” he adds, criticising the textbooks which often perpetuate hate.

Mr Khan agrees, further stating that the media and the textbooks are both culpable for propagating that Muslims are patriots and true lovers of the country, while the “others” are often painted as dubious characters.

The “intellectuals” associated with the boards of education deliberately do not give space to non-Muslim heroes and their contributions, he believes.

For their part, however, representatives of the Jamia Imdadul Uloom take pride in their teaching of tolerance and unity.

Mufti Asad shares that 1,000 students are enrolled in the seminary, and due to the institution’s teaching methodology none of its students have been found guilty in any anti-state or unlawful activities.

Mufti Asad further tells Dawn that they maintain a comprehensive computerised record of all the madressah’s current and ex-students.

In this crucial time, the scholars and intellectuals need to work to shape the youth’s mind, Mr Khan concludes.

Representatives of both the places of worship also stress that the mosque and church exist side by side because of the compassion being taught here.

Cyber-attacks in Japan in 2016 reached a record of about 128.1 billion, or a 2.4-fold increase from the previous year, the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology announced.

Attacks originating from China accounted for the largest portion by country.

According to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, cyber-attacks targeting so-called internet of things (IoT) related devices, such as webcams and routers for home use, made up about half of the total – a sharp increase from 26 per cent in 2015.

The attacks appear to be using IoT appliances as a stepping-stone for eventually infecting computers at government organisations and corporations.

IoT appliances are said to have less protection against viruses compared to personal computers and smartphones, thereby making them easy targets.

Home appliances such as TV sets are increasingly adopting IoT innovations, and the ministry plans to draw up measures to protect them.

The NICT has been monitoring cyber-attacks by installing sensors on domestic networks.

The number of cyber-attacks has increased year on year since 2005, when the state-run research and development institute began monitoring them.

Recently, the figures have almost doubled year-on-year.

Police detained one person Monday in connection with a fire at a foot massage parlour in China that killed at least 18 people and injured another 18, media said.

The fire broke out at around 5:26 pm (0926 GMT) Sunday in eastern Zhejiang province, the official Xinhua news agency reported. It was extinguished in less than two hours.

Eight lost their lives in the fire, while another 10 died in hospital, according to Xinhua.

Video posted on Chinese social media website Weibo showed thick black smoke billowing from the massage parlour and people jumping out of the second-floor window of the six-storey building.

Shards of broken glass were strewn across the floor of the massage parlour. “Windows in the third and fourth floor, where residents lived, were also shattered,” the Beijing News said, quoting a witness.

The cause of the fire is unclear, Xinhua said.

Fire safety procedures are routinely ignored in China, with exit doors often locked and escape passages blocked in buildings across the country.

Seven people died in a fire in an elderly care facility last month.