Taiwan Quick Take

■ Government
Telecom agency planned
A Cabinet-level telecom-munication commission is expected to become operational next year to help integrate domestic telecom-munication and information services, Minister without Portfolio Tsay Ching-yen (蔡清彥) said yesterday. Speaking at a session of the Legislative Yuan's Sci-tech and Information Committee, Tsay said that the Govern-ment Information Office and the Ministry of Transpor-tation and Communications have formed a joint task force to oversee the estab-lishment of a Telecommuni-cation and Communication Commission. The task force submitted a plan to the Cabinet last year, Tsay said.

■ Health
Waiting for WHO's response
The government is waiting for the WHO's response to its report on pneumonia cases here, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) said yesterday at the Legislative Yuan. Kau said that the government had informed the WHO of the three suspected cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome immediately after the illnesses were detected earlier this month. Kau said that the government will have to file a complaint with the inter-national community if it does not receive any response from the WHO in next few days.

■ Society
ID cards may get update
New ROC national ID cards will include an index fingerprint if the Ministry of the Interior goes ahead with a government consensus on the issue, Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) said yesterday. Yu said agencies studying the proposal have reached consensus on the finger-printing initiative, which will help prevent ID cards from being forged and help police crack down on criminal activities. Yu said that the ID card has not been updated in 17 years, making it prone to forgery because of its primitive anti-counterfeit design. Yu said that the program is ready to be implemented but some human rights groups have condemned the finger-printing initiative as an infringement on human rights and individual privacy. He said the government will continue to consult with the rights groups on the issue.

■ Society
President meets WTC leader
The president of the pro-independence World Taiwanese Congress (WTC), Kuo Chung-kuo (郭重國), led a visit to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday to pledge allegiance and support for Chen's re-election bid. According to the WTC members, during the one-hour meeting Chen said he supports the organi-zation and acknowledges their cause, which includes the creation of a new Consti-tution and the establishment of Taiwan as an independent nation. Chen also denied opposition allegations that he had colluded with former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) on Lee's calls to chang the nation's official name from the "Republic of China" to "Taiwan."

■ Society
Vegetarian dog likes sutras
A vegetarian dog in Tainan will lie down, bowing, when-ever it hears the chanting of a Buddhist sutra, it was reported yesterday. Nini, one of 15 street dogs kept by Tainan Home for Strays in Tainan, a local cable TV channel said. Nini was shown crawling on all fours when a Buddhist sutra was chanted. "It probably has something to do with our playing the cassette recording of Buddhist sutra and music when we feed the dogs with vegetarian food," the home's director said.