Rising levels of reported rape and sexual exploitation of women and teenage girls in Liberia have sparked concern by both the government and women's rights groups. Despite a peace agreement in 2003 that ended the particularly brutal 14-year civil war, during which fighters sexually assaulted girls and women and sometimes used them as "sex slaves", these types of violent abuse were still common, according to Lois Bruthus, head of the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL), a leading advocacy group.

The embattled Speaker of the House of Representatives, Edwin Snowe, Jr. has called on the Ministry of Justice to relax activities leading to investigating the alleged bribery involving lawmakers and re-direct its investigation to the disappearance of the chairs of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker from the Centennial Pavilion.

One year after Liberia swore in Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as Africa's first elected female head of state, three young women braid each other's hair under a street light that didn't exist six months ago.

Rising levels of rape and sexual exploitation of women and teenage girls in Liberia have sparked concern by both the government and women's rights groups.

Two lawmakers have confessed to receiving money for the purpose of removing House Speaker Edwin M. Snowe, Jr. from office. According to a statement issued in Monrovia by Representative Samuel Bondo of Bong County and Margibi's Representative, Saah Gbollie, they were given US$5,000 each with the request that they execute a resolution to remove Speaker Snowe from office.

A student of the Louise Arthur Grimes School of Law, Alascal Wisner, has accused the Gender Ministry for doing little or nothing to educate youth against the growing level of indecent dressing that has permeated the society by Liberian girls.

Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority is preparing a new bidding process for logging concessions following the lifting in October of the United Nations Security Council’s three-year ban on Liberian timber exports. “We expect this will create about 10,000 jobs,” Richie Grear, the government’s forest bureau spokesman, told IRIN.

Three former ministers in Liberia's transitional government have been charged with stealing millions of dollars of public funds. Former deputy Finance Minister Tugbeh Doe spent the night in custody after problems with his bail. Former Finance Minister Lusinee Kamara and ex-Minister of Commerce Samuel Wlue were also charged.

Liberia still is far from recovering from its vicious civil war, but economic indicators show the ruined country is heading the right way. Especially the booming construction sector is fuelling the economy, promising an economic growth of almost ten percent this year. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is extravagantly praised by her former employer, the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Post-conflict recovery is affecting efforts to fight the spread of HIV in the Liberian town of Ganta, which has become "emblematic of the AIDS challenge facing the country" as it recovers from a 14-year civil war, PlusNews reports. According to PlusNews, Ganta is the "hub of trade and travel" with neighboring countries Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire, and the factors fueling its reconstruction also threaten to jeopardize its long-term stability.

A professional, accountable and disciplined police force is indispensable to building democracy especially in countries recovering from protracted war, a senior United Nations official said in Liberia. “Lessons from the recent history of Rwanda and other conflict areas, including Liberia, teach us how things can go horribly wrong when there is a breakdown in the rule of law,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Deputy Special Representative Luiz Carlos da Costa said.

Similar to what has happened in several Southern countries harassed by centuries of colonialism, the wealth of Liberia has also been its curse, reports the October edition of the World Rainforest Bulletin. "Tropical forests account for 47 per cent of Liberia’s land. Between 1989 and 2003, revenue from forests was used to fund a brutal conflict fuelled by the pillaging of forests. Timber was a key resource for Liberia's armed factions. Wood flowed out; money and arms flowed in. So many concessions had been corruptly awarded that they totalled more than the land area of Liberia."

The European Commission (EC) has presented a 12 million Euro (US$ 14.4m) agreement to President Johnson-Sirleaf for long-term assistance and quick impact support to the education sector of Liberia. According to a press release, the EC Support to Education in Liberia (ECSEL) Programme was developed after extensive consultations with the Ministry of Education between 2005 and 2006.

It was after the invasion and when it became glaring that the Taylor era had transformed Liberia into a major crossroads for gun running and diamonds smuggling and exporter of violence to neighboring countries that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) decided to impose punitive sanctions as deterrence or control measure.

Liberia’s chief justice on Thursday (19 October 2006) rejected calls for the establishment of a special court to try rape cases following a United Nations report criticising the country’s high incidence of sexual violence and its weak judicial system. "There is no need for such a court right now as our court systems can handle those cases," Chief Justice Johnnie Lewis told reporters.

"Nine months ago, I became Africa’s first elected woman president. That moment was seen, around the world, as one of hope and possibility for Liberia. Our people, in a free and fair election, gave my government the greatest opportunity that can come to any leader: the chance to rebuild a nation on the ruins of war."

Over 500 orphans of the Frauenshuh International Christian Orphanage Center located in Palm Community in Barnesville are appealing to President Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf and the authority of the Ministry of Health to ensure that the center remains in operation as anything contrary would hamper their educational endeavor.

The war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor has been tentatively set for 2 April next year at The Hague. Trial Judge Julia Sebutinde said on Friday that it was necessary to have a fixed date for his trial to avoid continuous delays.

Liberians are apt to lose the forty percent of the National Forestry Reform Law of 2006 exclusively reserved for them on all established commercial forestry areas. According to a release issued by Mr. Oscar Cooper, Chief Executive Officer of the Inland Logging Corporation, the House and the Senate are being coerced by the International Community through the United Nations to change the newly passed "National Forestry Reform Law of 2006".

Civil Society Organisations and inter-governmental agencies met in Liberia recently to discuss, among other issues, Liberia's post-conflict debt and reconstruction. After a highly successful and well-attended dialogue, they issued a statement.