There is a strong push by developed nations (who are strong producers of intellectual property) to force developing nations to improve their enforcement of intellectual property rights, despite the fact that they themselves were slow to adopt strong protection of intellectual property during their own development phase. US industry has estimated it loses between US$200-250 billion annually due to copyright infringement around the world, and the Bush Administration has listed 14 countries which need to improve protection of intellectual property or face US trade sanctions -- the countries are Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Turkey and Venezuela. Israel stands out on this list by having a software piracy rate of only 35%, the same as Canada and slightly more than half the software piracy rate of Brazil, with the next lowest software piracy rate at 61%.

However, developing countries claim they need access to knowledge, and developed countries will need to yield some ground to make it worthwhile for developing nations to increase protection of intellectual property. During discussions held by the World Intellectual Property Organization on this topic, India's representatives said "For developing countries to benefit from providing IP protection to rights holders based in developed countries, there has to be some obligation on the part of developed countries to transfer and disseminate technologies to developing countries."

There is a strong push by developed nations (who are strong producers of intellectual property) to force developing nations to improve their enforcement of intellectual property rights, despite the fact that they themselves were slow to adopt strong protection of intellectual property during their own development phase. US industry has estimated it loses between US$200-250 billion annually due to copyright infringement around the world, and the Bush Administration has listed 14 countries which need to improve protection of intellectual property or face US trade sanctions -- the countries are Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Turkey and Venezuela. Israel stands out on this list by having a software piracy rate of only 35%, the same as Canada and slightly more than half the software piracy rate of Brazil, with the next lowest software piracy rate at 61%.

However, developing countries claim they need access to knowledge, and developed countries will need to yield some ground to make it worthwhile for developing nations to increase protection of intellectual property. During discussions held by the World Intellectual Property Organization on this topic, India's representatives said "For developing countries to benefit from providing IP protection to rights holders based in developed countries, there has to be some obligation on the part of developed countries to transfer and disseminate technologies to developing countries."

Productivity criteria include: GDP per employed person; the percentage of change in real GDP per employed person; GDP per person employed per hour; related GDP per person employed in agriculture; related GDP per person employed in industry; and related GDP per person employed in services.

Some of the labor market criteria include: total hourly compensation for manufacturing workers; gross annual income in services professions; salary, bonuses and long-term incentives for management; average number of working hours per year; annual number of working days lost to industrial disputes per 1000 population; and the labor force as a percentage of the population.

Finance criteria include: banking sector assets as a percentage of GDP; number of credit cards issued and credit card transactions per capita; and value traded on stock markets.

Under management practices, examples of the criteria examined are: the adaptability of companies; the implementation of ethical practices; the emphasis placed on customer satisfaction; and the extent of entrepreneurship in the economy.

Attitudes and values criteria include: attitudes towards globalization; whether a country’s image abroad encourages business development; and if the national culture is open to foreign ideas.

Though Afrikaans was closely associated with the white minority’s decades-long domination of the country and segregationist politics, not all Afrikaans speakers are white. While there are about 2.5 million white Afrikaners, the majority of the country’s four million mixed-race people also speak Afrikaans as their first language.

White Afrikaners were the country’s rulers and elite until the first all-race elections held 11 years ago. Now, many complain that they can’t get jobs because of their skin color and are fighting for the right to educate their children in Afrikaans.

Afrikaans is one of South Africa’s 11 official languages, but it is a source of political tension. Some Afrikaners claim it is being replaced by English in schools and universities and on the radio as part of plan to eliminate it. They also say other languages like Zulu and Xhosa are benefiting from government programs that encourage their use. A language born of a combination of Dutch, spoken by the first white settlers, and the Malay spoken by imported slaves, Afrikaans was promoted by the apartheid government as the main language of white officialdom.

The gene therapy treatment delivers protective substances called nerve growth factors into patients’ brains, where they can help prevent further deterioration of dying brain cells. In one patient, brain tissue actually showed new growth for the first ever.

The growth factors were created by taking skin cells from Alzheimer’s patients and modifying the genes to secrete these proteins found in healthy brains. Earlier studies showed that injecting growth factor-producing tissue into monkey’s brains could reverse deterioration. However, these tissues can’t be injected into people’s brains because they can cause serious side effects in the wrong part of the brain. Instead, doctors must drill holes in patients’ skulls and implant the cells directly onto Alzheimer’s-injured areas.

Memory and other skill tests conducted on six patients over a two-year period found that the rate of cognitive decline slowed by 36 to 51 percent, better than is usually seen with medication.

The approach would never be practical for every Alzheimer’s patient; 4.5 million Americans currently suffer from the disease, and with the aging population that number could reach 14 million by 2050. But a similar process that involves injecting patients’ brains with a growth factor-bearing virus has produced more of the protective substance for longer periods in animal studies.

Statistics on the ecomony of Liberia including per capita GDP, export partners, recent inflation and industries can be found in the economy category or in the economy section of the detailed country profileof Liberia.

Deciding which country is the poorest depends on how you measure wealth. In terms of per capita GDP, which is the total value of goods and services produced. Zambia is the 30th poorest country (this statistic includes ten territories which have no GDP). As the prices of goods and services varies between countries PPP (Purchasing power parity) GDP measures should be used. Using this criteria the Democratic republic of Congo is the poorest country and Zambia is twelfth.

• The proportion of people living on less than $US1 per day. Using this criteria Gambia is the poorest country and Zambia is tenth. This measurement can be misleading as a rural peasant who owns a small piece of land and some animals eg 2 goats and 4 chickens may have little or no cash income but still have sufficient food and shelter.


• The proportion of the population living below the poverty line. Using this criteria Zambia is the poorest country.


• The amount of time a person needs to work to buy a loaf of bread


• The proportion of children who are underweight.


• The United Nations Human Development Index which measures many criteria including life expectency, literacy, access to healthcare services, access to sanitation and clean drinking water as well as GDP. Using this criteria Sierra Leone is the poorest country and Zambia is twentieth.

Insofar as use of tractors in African countries goes, Algeria has the highest number of tractors in use, followed by Egypt and South Africa. In terms of tractor concentration, that is number of tractors per crop land area, Egypt leads, while in the number of tractors in use per population Libya leads.