Youths went on the rampage in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown on Thursday, attacking and looting Lebanese-owned shops after reports a Lebanese man had raped and killed a local woman. Police fired tear gas to disperse crowds of young men who broke into shops in the impoverished and densely populated east end of Freetown, walking out with mobile phones, generators, TVs and radios, a Reuters reporter said.

Sierra Leone's recently elected leader on Saturday released a complete list of his 20-strong government ministers, consisting mainly of technocrats and his party's stalwarts. Three women - heading the foreign affairs, energy and social welfare portfolios - are on the list that is still subject to parliamentary approval.

Two former leaders of Sierra Leone’s Civil Defence Forces (CDF) militia have received prison sentences following their convictions in August for war crimes committed during the country’s decade-long civil conflict. Justice Itoe said that while both Prosecution and Defence had recommended single, “global” sentences, the Court had decided to hand down separate sentences on each count for which the two accused had been found guilty.

With only 19 per cent of children in school following Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war, the former government began an ambitious project to renovate and build more schools. But while brightly painted blue and white classrooms have already popped up in towns and villages around the country they come at a time when fewer teachers than before are willing to work in them.

Violence erupted in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital just hours after Ernest Bai Koroma, the former opposition leader, was sworn in as the country's new president. At least one person was killed as police fired tear gas at hundreds of looters who overran the outgoing ruling party's headquarters.

Sierra Leone's opposition leader Ernest Bai Koroma, who looks set to win the West African country's presidential election, says he will wage an implacable war on corruption and work to revive the war-scarred economy. With just over three-quarters of the votes counted from last week's run-off poll, Koroma of the All People's Congress (APC) has a commanding lead with 60 percent. His rival, Vice-President Solomon Berewa of the ruling Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), trails by some 20 points.

For Sierra Leone, considered by many as the ultimate symbol of a failed state, nation building cannot come too soon. The election is widely seen as a test of the country's ability to stand on its own after UN peacekeepers withdrew two years ago. But Sierra Leone's steady stabilization since the civil war ended in 2002 and the still-to-be-concluded electoral process bring reasons for cautious optimism.

The opposition frontrunner in Sierra Leone's presidential election pulled out of a peace rally to have been held with his ruling party rival on Thursday, citing fears of renewed violence before a weekend run-off vote. The opposition All People's Congress (APC), whose candidate Ernest Bai Koroma led in a first round poll, said the ruling Sierra Leone's People's Party (SLPP) was arming supporters and had denied it campaign access to a contested eastern district.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern about the rising tensions and violence over the past week in Sierra Leone, which earlier this month held its first presidential and parliamentary polls since United Nations peacekeepers departed in 2005. “He calls on all parties and their leaders to do everything necessary to prevent the situation from escalating,” his spokesperson said in a statement.

It all seems almost too normal to be newsworthy. On August 11, Sierra Leone goes to the polls to choose a new president among three candidates, all pledging to reform government, create jobs, address health and education, and expand the economy. For most countries, this would hardly merit outside attention. But Sierra Leone remains for many the ultimate symbol of the failed state, the classic case of a violent crisis arising from environmental degradation, crime, overpopulation, and ethnic divisions. What seems normal elsewhere is exceptional here.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) can make sex painful, complicate childbirth, lead to urinary tract infections, enable the transmission of HIV -- and induce a host of other ills. So, promising to fight this practice should be a winning strategy for someone hoping to be elected to parliament this Saturday in Sierra Leone - where about 90 percent of girls and women undergo FGM, according to rights watchdog Amnesty International.

Sierra Leone holds presidential and parliamentary polls on Saturday, the first since U.N. peacekeepers left two years ago and a watershed in its recovery from an 11-year civil war fuelled by "blood diamonds". President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, a war-time leader re-elected on a wave of euphoria after a 2002 peace deal, is stepping down under the constitution amid dismay at his Sierra Leone People's Party's (SLPP) failure to provide water, power or decent roads in one of the world's poorest countries.

Food imports are keeping Sierra Leone from realising agricultural self-sufficiency and meeting the Millennium Development Goal of eradicating hunger by 2015, experts say. In a country where 80 percent of food is imported, mostly from the USA and Europe, the local agricultural industry is feeble and local farmers struggle to compete.

Sierra Leone's United Nations-backed Special Court convicted two former leaders of a pro-government militia on Thursday for war crimes, but acquitted them of some of the most serious charges of crimes against humanity. The two were leaders of the Civil Defence Forces (CDF), which fought for President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in a 1991 to 2002 civil war. Kabbah is due to stand down after August 11 elections in which his deputy is standing as his chosen successor.

Sierra Leone's special war crimes court on Thursday sentenced three leaders of a militia to long jail terms for war crimes that included killing, raping and mutilating civilians. Alex Tamba Brima and Santigie Borbor Kanu were jailed for 50 years each and Brima Bazzy Kamara for 45 years. All three had been convicted last month by the United Nations-backed court of crimes against humanity committed during the West African country's 1991-2002 civil war.

This latest International Crisis Group report from the International Crisis Group, examines the strains emerging prior to presidential and legislative elections and the impact they will have on the country’s delicate peace-building. Sierra Leone is still a fragile state in which peace will not be consolidated unless the new authorities tackle sources of popular discontent such as corruption, chiefs’ abuse of power and youth unemployment.

Sierra Leone hankers for a transformation most nations in the West enjoy in this modern era: a liberalized and technologically advanced economy within an established democratic order. It is foolish to ignore the notion that development interests and democratic principles are uneasily aligned in Sierra Leone today.

Philip Neville, the editor of the privately-owned "Standard Times" daily newspaper, was released from Pademba Road prison late on 3 July 2007 after paying bail. No date has yet been set for his trial. On 2 July, a Freetown court charged Neville with "libel", "malicious propaganda" and "publishing false news", and set very tough conditions for his provisional release.

The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has announced a new $10.9 million programme to bring small loans and jobs to the young people of rural Sierra Leone, benefiting 34,000 households in the West African country that saw the end of civil strife and the installation of an elected Government in 2002.

Sierra Leonean women can now rest, and enjoy the fruits of their long walk to freedom. The country's parliament took the bull by the horns to enact a law that outlaws domestic violence in all its forms as well as guarantees the rights of women to inheritance and registration of customary marriages.