A sharp rise in illegal logging threatens Liberia's forests, a new report by Global Witness warns. The report says that logging companies have been granted more than 60 percent of the country's forests in the past six years, and that private contracts that bypass existing regulations are common. Logging has led to heavy deforestation since timber was used to fund the nation's long civil war. The nation has some of the largest areas of rainforest in the region, but nearly a quarter has been signed to logging companies using secret permits. According to the report, many loggers are using Private Use Permits, designed to allow private landowners to cut down trees on their own property, to get around laws protecting forests. Though local activists began complaining about the practice in June 2011 and the government imposed a moratorium in February, it does not appear to have fully stopped. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, praised for revoking corrupt logging companies after taking office in 2006, has ordered an investigation and suspended a government official. For the full story, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19469571 and http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE88300820120904.