Country approves 25 subway projects

China's top economic planning agency has approved 25 urban rail projects that could be worth more than 800 billion yuan ($126.98 billion).

The National Development and Reform Commission on Wednesday announced the approval of project plans and feasibility reports for the 25 projects in cities including Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Lanzhou, Guangzhou and Xiamen, according to the commission's website.

The move marks the government's latest effort to stabilize economic growth at a time when external demand remains weak as the US economy has been struggling to gain traction and Europe is slipping toward a recession, said Xu Changle, a professor of regional economics at the East China Normal University.

Govt to improve farmland quality

The government will spend 37.36 billion yuan ($5.93 billion) to improve the quality of farmland this year, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday.

The fund, which is a part of the country's comprehensive agricultural development plan, includes 21.92 billion yuan from the central budget and 12.05 billion yuan from local budgets, the ministry said.

The government plans to improve the quality of 1.03 million hectares of medium- and low-yield land and build 0.89 million hectares of high-quality farmland by the end of 2012, the ministry said.

The government will also support improvements for 45 water-saving projects in medium-sized irrigation districts, the ministry said.

Minister vows education equality

The minister of education vowed on Thursday to promote educational equality and reduce regional, rural-urban and inter-school gaps in the field.

The central government's spending on education will reach 2.2 trillion yuan ($350 billion) in 2012, accounting for more than 4 percent of GDP this year, up 600 billion yuan year-on-year, Minister of Education Yuan Guiren said at a news conference.

The increase in education funds from both central and local government budgets will be used to promote the equality of education as most of the money will be directed to poor and ethnic regions, Yuan said.

Reporters urged to go grassroots

Reporters across the country are being encouraged to dip more into the ordinary lives of Chinese citizens as part of a national "go grassroots" campaign, which was launched in Beijing on Thursday.

Reporters should get back to basics and communicate more closely with ordinary people and report more on their lives, according to Liu Yunshan, chief of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China.

Another "go grassroots" campaign was launched last year by five Party and government departments, aiming to reflect the thoughts of ordinary people and prompt public discussion..

Yunnan

Large hydro station begins operation

The largest hydropower station on the Lancang River in Southwest China's Yunnan province - known as the Mekong River in southeast Asia - went into operation on Thursday with its first power generating unit up and running.

The Nuozhadu Hydroelectric Station, located in the city of Pu'er, is China's fourth-largest of its kind. It will be installed with nine same-size generating units for a total capacity of 5.85 gigawatts.

All the units will be put into operation by 2014, enabling the station to generate 23.9 billion kWh of electricity on average each year.

Shanghai

Fighting in Swiss plane lambasted

Two Chinese passengers faced a deluge of criticism at home after their fight on a Swiss International Airlines flight forced the plane to return to Zurich, six hours after takeoff earlier this week.

Angry netizens wrote tens of thousands of posts on major micro-blogging sites, such as Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo.

"It's really a shame for them, for all the Chinese citizens," wrote user "Bugouhaoxiaohu" on a Sina Weibo post. Some suggested further punishing the two men after they return to China.

One man aged 57, reportedly drunk, was discontent with a 27-year-old passenger in front of him who reclined his chair. The older man hit the younger one, triggering a violent fight between them. Both were handed over to the police of the canton of Zurich and then released.

China Daily - Xinhua