IN BRIEF (Page 8)

Nestl building new schools

In line with the government's decision to raise money and rebuild schools for children in earthquake-stricken Sichuan province, Nestl recently announced a new financial support program for rebuilding schools.

Ten million yuan from Nestl worldwide will be used for the program. Zhuwa Primary School in Tangchang town of Pixian county will be the first school to benefit from Nestl's program. Over 780 local students and teachers will benefit from the new school by spring 2009.

"We will also make a lasting contribution to help meet the needs of the local communities, especially those of the children," says Patrice Bula, chairman and CEO of Nestl (China) Ltd.

Eco-friendly fund

A special ecology protection fund has been established in Beijing to promote the use of environmentally friendly energy in China's rural areas.

The Social Development Foundation under the Ministry of Culture initiated the fund, with the capital mainly coming from EcoInvest Holding, a Dutch company focused on the renewable energy sector. Much of the money will be used on how to better utilize crop residue.

Dalian charity funds

The Charity Month held by the Dalian Charity Foundation last month attracted 136 million yuan for 13 specialized funds in the port city of Liaoning province.

Despite the influence of the global financial crisis, companies and entrepreneurs in Dalian continued to donate to the city's charity foundation, adding to the 37 funds with total donations of more than 280 million yuan.

"It is innovative for Dalian to set up separate funds for special purposes with different companies and individuals," says Lin Qingmin, chairman of Dalian Charity Foundation.

HIV/AIDS awareness

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Yahoo! China are working to increase HIV/AIDS awareness among Internet users in China.

The partnership between UNDP and Yahoo aims to use search engines to provide a higher level and direct entry point to HIV/AIDS prevention information for users not directly searching for HIV/AIDS. By using search string technology, Yahoo will provide advertising space with the key message: "Do you know about HIV and HIV Testing?" when the search topic is linked to more than 20 high risk behaviors and related key words such as sex, porn, and gay.

(China Daily 12/08/2008 page8)