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Family shuns girl, 8, after rape sparks outcry PHOENIX - Lured by promises of chewing gum then allegedly raped in a shed by four boys barely older than her, an 8-year-old Liberian girl is now in foster care and living with strangers after being shunned by her family. The alleged sexual assault in Phoenix and reaction by her family have sparked an international outcry, reaching all the way to the president of Liberia, the home country of the girl's family and the four young suspects. "I think that family is wrong. They should help that child who has been traumatized...

"PHOENIX - The President of Liberia is voicing her opinion on an Arizona story creating outrage around the world. After an 8-year-old Phoenix girl was sexually assaulted by four boys last week, police said her parents blamed their daughter for the attack. The parents also apparently said their daughter had brought shame on the family. Those four boys are now under arrest, and the young victim is in Child Protective Services, away from her mom and dad. The President of Liberia called into CNN on Friday morning, saying rape is a problem in Liberia as well as the United States....

President Bush dances alongside President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf while visiting Liberia.

Speaking before a joint meeting of the United States Congress on Wednesday, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf asked for American support to help her country  "become a brilliant beacon, an example to Africa and the world of what love of liberty can achieve." "The people of Liberia and the people of the United States are bound together by history and by values," Sirleaf said. "But our ties greatly exceed the historical connection," she said. She thanked President Bush for his strong stand against the former Liberian ruler Charles Taylor and the Congress for appropriating $445 million "that laid the foundation...

Liberian President Sirleaf Thanks U.S. Congress, Asks for Continuing Support allAfrica.com NEWS March 15, 2006 Speaking before a joint meeting of the United States Congress on Wednesday, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf asked for American support to help her country "become a brilliant beacon, an example to Africa and the world of what love of liberty can achieve." "The people of Liberia and the people of the United States are bound together by history and by values," Sirleaf said. "But our ties greatly exceed the historical connection," she said. She thanked President Bush for his strong stand against the former...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Liberia's new leader, the first woman elected president of an African country, urged American lawmakers Wednesday to help her make Liberia "America's success story in Africa." In her speech to a joint session of Congress, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf compared Liberia's devastation from two decades of warfare to that done by the December 2004 tsunami in Asia and last year's Hurricane Katrina in the United States. "Our country agonized with your citizens and the victims and families of these natural tragedies, and our country also agonized with itself over the effects of a senseless civil war," she said....

MONROVIA, Liberia - Africa's first elected female head of state Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in Monday as war-battered Liberia's new president, promising a "fundamental break" with the West African nation's violent past and pledging to rebuild. With U.S. Navy warships offshore for the first time since the civil war's end two years ago, and first lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on hand in a show of support, the moment was met with thunderous applause from thousands of guests. "We know that your vote was a vote for change, a vote for peace, security ... and...

ACCRA, Ghana — First lady Laura Bush said Sunday that the U.S. government is right to eavesdrop on Americans with suspected ties to terrorists and that President Bush worries that revelations about the domestic spying program will cripple efforts to foil terrorists. "I think the American people expect the United States government and the president to do what they can to make sure there's not an attack by foreign terrorists," Mrs. Bush said just before landing here to begin a four-day stay in West Africa. "I think he was worried that it would undermine our efforts by alerting terrorists to...

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a divorced mother-of-four who is Washington's unofficial candidate to succeed the Liberian President Charles Taylor, has warned that any American troops sent to the devastated country would have to stay for two years. Mrs Johnson Sirleaf, a Harvard graduate and former Liberian finance minister who has been exiled and imprisoned, told The Telegraph: "I hope they would have a robust mandate and be prepared to stay for one or two years, as long as it takes to train a proper army and police force." She was speaking for the first time to a British newspaper at peace...

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a divorced mother-of-four who is Washington's unofficial candidate to succeed the Liberian President Charles Taylor, has warned that any American troops sent to the devastated country would have to stay for two years. Mrs Johnson Sirleaf, a Harvard graduate and former Liberian finance minister who has been exiled and imprisoned, told The Telegraph: "I hope they would have a robust mandate and be prepared to stay for one or two years, as long as it takes to train a proper army and police force." She was speaking for the first time to a British newspaper at peace...