SPACE MEN: Chinese astronaut Wang Yue (far right) is part of the Mars-500 Project XINHUA

Free to public

China

A joint statement, issued February by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance, stipulated that Chinese citizens will not have to pay to enter the country's public art galleries and libraries in two years' time. Public art museums and libraries at state and provincial levels will cease charging entrance fees by the end of 2011. The changes come after China began giving the public free access to its museums in 2008.

Catalyze growth

Kenya

The World Bank is to help Kenya increase its investments, innovation and identify new opportunities in information technology and tourism sectors as the bank said the country enjoys a competitive edge on the African continent. The World Bank will act as a go-between the government and the private sector to work closely under what is known as Competitive Partnerships Initiative aimed at helping Kenya achieve an economic growth rate of 10 percent.

Big drop

Zimbabwe

Fear of infection and mass social change have driven a huge decline in HIV rates in Zimbabwe, In a study in the journal PLoS Medicine, British researchers said Zimbabwe's epidemic was one of the biggest in the world until the rate of people infected with HIV almost halved, from 29 percent of the population in 1997 to 16 percent in 2007.