diff --git a/android/AkvoRSR/AndroidManifest.xml b/android/AkvoRSR/AndroidManifest.xml
index d710dcf2..857998b3 100644
--- a/android/AkvoRSR/AndroidManifest.xml
+++ b/android/AkvoRSR/AndroidManifest.xml
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
     package="org.akvo.rsr.up"
-    android:versionCode="23"
-    android:versionName="1.4.0Beta"
+    android:versionCode="24"
+    android:versionName="1.4.0"
     >
 
     <uses-sdk
diff --git a/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/dao/RsrDbAdapter.java b/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/dao/RsrDbAdapter.java
index 0092c6dc..13be6bca 100644
--- a/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/dao/RsrDbAdapter.java
+++ b/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/dao/RsrDbAdapter.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- *  Copyright (C) 2012-2014 Stichting Akvo (Akvo Foundation)
+ *  Copyright (C) 2012-2015 Stichting Akvo (Akvo Foundation)
  *
  *  This file is part of Akvo RSR.
  *
@@ -772,8 +772,9 @@ public int[] countAllUpdatesFor(String _id) {
 						draftCount++;
 					} else	if (cursor.getInt(unsentCol) > 0) {
 						unsentCount++;
-					} else
+					} else {
 						otherCount++;
+					}
 					cursor.moveToNext();
 				}
 			}
@@ -1097,7 +1098,7 @@ public Organisation findOrganisation(String _id) {
     /**
     * creates or updates a user in the db
     *
-    * @param org
+    * @param org the organisation data to be updated
     * @return
     */
     public void saveOrganisation(Organisation org) {
@@ -1156,6 +1157,11 @@ public void clearAllData() {
 	    executeSql("delete from " + COUNTRY_TABLE);
 	}
 
+    /**
+     * lists all Countries
+     * 
+     * @return a Cursor containing all countries
+     */
 	public Cursor listAllCountries() {
 		Cursor cursor = database.query(COUNTRY_TABLE,
 				null,
@@ -1166,6 +1172,18 @@ public Cursor listAllCountries() {
 				null);
 		return cursor;
 	}
+	
+	
+	public int getCountryCount() {
+	    Cursor cursor = listAllCountries();
+	    int c = 0;
+	    if (cursor != null) {
+	        c = cursor.getCount();
+	        cursor.close();
+	    }
+	    return c;    
+	}
+	
 
 	/**
 	 * saves or updates a Country in the db
diff --git a/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/service/GetProjectDataService.java b/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/service/GetProjectDataService.java
index f290cc2a..c415b414 100644
--- a/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/service/GetProjectDataService.java
+++ b/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/service/GetProjectDataService.java
@@ -83,8 +83,7 @@ protected void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {
                                             String.format(ConstantUtil.FETCH_PROJ_URL_PATTERN, id)));
                     broadcastProgress(0, ++i, projects);
                 }
-                if (mFetchCountries) {
-                    // TODO: rarely changes, so only fetch countries if we never did that
+                if (mFetchCountries && ad.getCountryCount() == 0) { // rarely changes, so only fetch countries if we never did that
                     dl.fetchCountryListRestApiPaged(this, new URL(SettingsUtil.host(this) +
                             String.format(ConstantUtil.FETCH_COUNTRIES_URL)));
                 }
diff --git a/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/util/ConstantUtil.java b/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/util/ConstantUtil.java
index 33eb3975..53b9fa3c 100644
--- a/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/util/ConstantUtil.java
+++ b/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/util/ConstantUtil.java
@@ -36,9 +36,8 @@ public class ConstantUtil {
     public static final String POST_UPDATE_URL = "/rest/v1/project_update/?format=xml";
     public static final String FETCH_UPDATE_URL_PATTERN = "/rest/v1/project_update/?format=xml&project=%s";//use default limit
     public static final String VERIFY_UPDATE_PATTERN = "/rest/v1/project_update/?format=xml&uuid=%s&limit=2";
-    public static final String FETCH_PROJ_URL_PATTERN = "/rest/v1/project_up/%s/?format=xml&image_thumb_name=up&image_thumb_up_width=100"; //ask for thumbnail size
-//    public static final String FETCH_COUNTRIES_URL = "/api/v1/country/?format=xml&limit=0";
-    public static final String FETCH_COUNTRIES_URL = "/rest/v1/country/?format=xml";
+    public static final String FETCH_PROJ_URL_PATTERN = "/rest/v1/project_up/%s/?format=xml&image_thumb_name=up&image_thumb_up_width=100"; //now asks for thumbnail size
+    public static final String FETCH_COUNTRIES_URL = "/rest/v1/country/?format=xml&limit=50"; //very small objects - get many at a time
     public static final String FETCH_USER_URL_PATTERN = "/api/v1/user/%s/?format=xml&depth=1";
     public static final String FETCH_ORG_URL_PATTERN = "/api/v1/organisation/%s/?format=xml&depth=0";
 	public static final int    MAX_IMAGE_UPLOAD_SIZE = 2000000; //Nginx POST limit is 3MB, B64 encoding expands 33% and there may be long text 
diff --git a/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/util/Downloader.java b/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/util/Downloader.java
index 618ea328..06582823 100644
--- a/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/util/Downloader.java
+++ b/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/util/Downloader.java
@@ -267,9 +267,9 @@ public Date fetchUpdateListRestApiPaged(Context ctx, URL url) throws ParserConfi
                 url = null;//we are done
             } else {
                 //Vanilla case is 403 forbidden on an auth failure
-                Log.e(TAG, "Fetch update list HTTP error code:" + code);
+                Log.e(TAG, "Fetch update list HTTP error code:" + code + ' ' + h.message());
                 Log.e(TAG, h.body());
-                throw new FailedFetchException("Unexpected server response " + code);
+                throw new FailedFetchException("Unexpected server response " + code + ' ' + h.message());
             }
         }
         Log.i(TAG, "Grand total of " + total + " updates");
diff --git a/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/xml/CountryRestListHandler.java b/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/xml/CountryRestListHandler.java
index 2111bf08..6fd05a74 100644
--- a/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/xml/CountryRestListHandler.java
+++ b/android/AkvoRSR/src/org/akvo/rsr/up/xml/CountryRestListHandler.java
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ public void startElement(String namespaceURI, String localName,
         buffer = "";
         if (depth == 1 && localName.equals("next")) {
             this.in_next = true;
-        } else if (depth == 1 && localName.equals("list-item")) {
+        } else if (depth == 2 && localName.equals("list-item")) {
             this.in_country = true;
             currentCountry = new Country();
         } else if (in_country)