Liberia latest Counties and Districts informations, News, Videos, Pictures

WASHINGTON - When Charles G. Taylor tied bed sheets together to escape from a second-floor window at the Plymouth House of Correction on Sept. 15, 1985, he was more than a fugitive trying to avoid extradition. He was a sought-after source for American intelligence.

After a quarter-century of silence, the US government has confirmed what has long been rumored: Taylor, who would become president of Liberia and the first African leader tried for war crimes, worked with US spy agencies during his rise as one of the world’s most notorious dictators.

The disclosure on the former president comes in response to a request filed by the Globe six years ago under the Freedom of Information Act. The Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s spy arm, confirmed its agents and CIA agents worked with Taylor beginning in the early 1980s.

The Minister of Information, Culture Affairs & Tourism, Mr. Cletus A. Sieh, has been relieved of his position by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The decision takes immediate effect.

An Executive Mansion release says Minister Sieh was dismissed Saturday, December 24, for his indiscretion in the manner he handled security information relating to disturbances over the weekend by vacation job students.

Deputy Information Minister for Public Affairs, Mr. Jerolinmek Piah, has been named acting Information Minister by the President.

International Criminal Court (ICC) has elected Fatou Bensouda the tribunal's chief prosecutor after facing fierce criticism from the African Union for mainly targeting African politicians.
ECOWAS

Bensouda, a former justice minister in Gambia and currently the ICC's deputy prosecutor, was unanimously elected to the post by 120 member states of the Assembly of States Parties during the tribunal's annual meeting in the UN headquarters, AFP reported on Monday.

A holder of a master's degree in international maritime law, Bensouda will take over next June from Luis Moreno-Ocampo to serve a nine-year-long term.

Bensouda, a 50-year-old lawyer, has been a Deputy Prosecutor in charge of the Prosecutions Division of the ICC since 2004.

Liberian Refugees at the Buduburam camp have complained about armed robbery activities by 'fake' soldiers at the camp. According to them they feel insecure by the activities of the counterfeit soldiers.

A leading member of the Join Liberia Refugees Committee in Ghana, Esgart Nelson Charlie said residents at the camp have had sleepless nights lately due to the robbery syndicate that continue unabated.

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX- and JSE-listed Tawana Resources on Tuesday reported it had found a significant iron-ore deposit at its Mofi Creek licence area in Liberia, next to the traditionally mined Bomi Hills area, containing iron concentrations of up to 64.8%.

The company said it is targeting a 30 km strike of high-grade direct shipping ore magnetite mineralisation and weathered, easily beneficiated ‘soft’ iron formation for high-grade beneficiated fines. Both styles of mineralisation have been confirmed in the licence area and Tawana has already started detailed field mapping and rock-chip sampling to better define contacts and distribution of mineralisation types.

On the basis of the initial mapping and sampling results, the company will review flying a detailed aeromagnetics survey to better define mineralisation distribution and continuity below areas of thick vegetation and weathering.

The US wants Liberian opposition leader Winston Tubman excluded from a likely government of unity.

In a statement released Thursday, the chairman of the US House of Representatives sub-committee on Africa, Christopher Smith, said inclusion of Mr Tubman's Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) party in that kind of an arrangement would derail Liberia's political progress after his party refused to recognise President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's electoral victory.

Earlier, US congressman Jesse L. Jackson sent a thinly veiled threat to Liberia's opposition leaders saying that his country will hold accountable any and all political leaders and their supporters seeking to undermine Liberia's peace and democracy.

A crowd gathers on a sandy beach near central Monrovia to watch as a diver emerges from the sea.

He's pulling a rope which a team on the beach helps drag ashore. Eventually, a black cable pops out of the water and slithers up the sand, prompting cheers from the crowd.

In the background, several miles offshore, a French ship is at anchor. It's dragging the cable 17,000km (10,000 miles) from France to Cape Town, via the west coast of Africa.

The cable, which is just two inches thick but stuffed with fibre optics, is known as the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) system, run by a consortium led by French Telecom. It will eventually provide broadband connectivity to more than 20 countries.

The Liberian government via the Ministry of Information Culture Affairs and Tourism (MICAT) is tightlipped on the outcome of a closed door meeting recently held between President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and the standard-bearer of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), Cllr. Winston A. Tubman. Addressing a news conference Thursday, acting Information Minister Norris Tweh confirmed the meeting. But he did not disclose the details of the meeting to the media. According to him, it would be inappropriate for the Ministry to do so since the meeting between Cllr. Tubman and President Johnson-Sirleaf was held behind closed doors.

However, credible reports gathered by this paper say the meeting between President Johnson-Sirleaf and Cllr. Tubman centered on reconciling their political difference and fostering national unity.

The meeting between the Liberian leader and the CDC flag bearer came amid the recent violent riot at the headquarters of the CDC in which three persons reportedly lost their lives, several persons wounded and properties destroyed.

The Chairman emeritus of the former ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP), Chief Cyril Allen, has descended on Senator Jewel Howard Taylor over her decision to endorse President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s victory in the November 8, 2011 Presidential Run-Off Election. Chief Allen, who strongly questioned Senator Taylor’s decision, described her action unilateral, saying it represents her personal view. In a statement Wednesday, Senator Taylor, standard bearer of the NPP, congratulated President Johnson-Sirleaf for her victory in the presidential run-off.

The Bong County Senator said she was congratulating the President on behalf of the NPP and in her own name.

The National Elections Commission (NEC) Tuesday officially announced incumbent Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, as winner of the November 8, 2011 presidential run-off election.

A judge in Liberia has ordered the re-opening of four pro-opposition radio stations that were shut down by the government one day before run-off elections.

Judge James Zota said Tuesday that the stations should be re-opened, but warned their licenses would be revoked if they repeated what he called the spread of "hate messages" likely to cause insurrection.

The government closed the stations earlier this month after accusing them of inciting violence.

which County gained most under president Sirleaf 1st term?