NAIROBI, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - As Africa prepares to host the 2010 World Cup finals for the first time in South Africa, not very much is there for a continent where managers and players share an equal dose of problems.

Although qualifiers are underway, old woes are still plaguing many national sides as they struggle to represent the continent at the showpiece in South Africa.

BRUSSELS, July 18, 2008 (AFP) - The European Commission proposed Friday donating one billion euros (1.6 billion dollars) in unused EU funds to farmers in poor countries as a one-off measure to help them tackle spiralling food prices.

STRASBOURG, July 10, 2008 (AFP) - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso urged EU nations Thursday to support his plans to use left over farm subsidy money as aid for poor nations, in the face of German opposition.

BRUSSELS, July 3, 2008 (AFP) - The European Commission will propose next Tuesday to tap unspent money in the European Union's agriculture budget to help farmers in poor countries, the EU agriculture commissioner said on Thursday.

DAKAR, July 3, 2008 (AFP) - With the G8 summit in Japan set for next week Africa wants the Group of Eight industrialised countries to step up the pace and deliver the aid they promised three years ago in Gleneagles.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, July 1, 2008 (AFP) - African leaders and international development bodies launched a roadmap on Tuesday to achieve the UN's flagging Millennium Development Goals, calling on donors to stump up promised aid.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, June 30, 2008 (AFP) - Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands raised eyebrows at the African Union summit in Egypt on Monday after broaching what he called the 'deadly taboo' of toilets.

WASHINGTON, June 10, 2008 (AFP) - The United States this week will renew its support for Afghan President Hamid Karzai as he presents an ambitious, 50 billion dollar reconstruction plan for his troubled country at a donors conference in Paris.

KABUL, June 9, 2008 (AFP) - Afghanistan's people want a greater say, through their government, in the way international aid is spent, a watchdog said Monday as donors are being asked to fund an ambitious new development plan.

KABUL, June 9, 2008 (AFP) - Afghanistan is ranked as the fifth poorest country in the world, according to the Afghanistan Human Development Report 2007, and suffers some of the lowest development indicators.

The following are some figures about the country's situation.