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Hu Jintao, Putin Have an Informal Dinner ...Anti-SARS Video-conference Held Across the Taiwan Straits ...ADB Donates US$ Two Million to China to Combat SARS ...Taco Bell Opens First Location In China 
 
Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao has attended an informal dinner hosted by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Hu Jintao says he is very pleased to pay the visit to Russia at the invitation of Putin. He says this is his first foreign trip since his election as the Chinese president and Russia is his first stop. This shows how much importance China attaches to the development of ties with Russia. Hu Jintao believes his visit will surely achieve fruitful results.

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A video-conference on SARS has been held, attended by over two dozen medical experts from Beijing, Guangzhou, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The three hour conference provided a platform for the experts to exchange experiences on SARS prevention and treatment over the past few months.

Experts across the Taiwan Straits also expressed their willingness to hold more of these forums, saying they greatly help them in the fight against the deadly disease.

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The Asian Development Bank, or ADB, has approved a program to donate two million US dollars to help combat severe acute respiratory syndrome in China's western regions.

Under the program, the donated fund will be used to give technical support to prevent, monitor, manage and ease SARS in underdeveloped parts of China's western regions.

ADB program officer Christopher Spohr says the program will start in the autonomous regions of Ningxia and Xinjiang, and Qinghai and Yunnan provinces.

The program is expected to kick off late this month and run through May next year.

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US food giant Tricon Global Restaurants, parent of Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken, has opened its first Taco Bell in China.

So don't be surprised if you start seeing a The Mexican food chain will replace its usual fast-food operations in favour of a full-service restaurant in Shanghai's downtown Nanjing Road under the name of Taco Bell Grande.

Tricon Global Restaurants, owner of Yum Brands, is one of the world's largest food and restaurant groups with 32,500 chain restaurants operating in more than 100 countries.

Yum entered the Chinese market 15 years ago and now manages more than 8,000 KFC outlets in 200 cities. It also has more than 100 Pizza Huts in China.