Search results for

N!xau, the Kalahari bushman who wooed audiences around the world with his starring role in the 1980s blockbuster The Gods Must Be Crazy, has died, police officials confirmed. In real life, he was a herdsman and farmer in southern Africa on the border between Botswana and Namibia. All Things Considered offers a remembrance.

Two of Africa's most respected singers, Salif Keita and Youssou N'Dour, have new albums and new sounds. Music critic Banning Eyre says they're both embracing a more subtle acoustic approach to Afro-pop. The CD by Youssou N'Dour is Nothing's in Vain from Nonesuch records, catalog #79654-2. The CD by Salif Keita is Moffou on the Universal label, catalog #LC 00699-8527.

The White House releases an intelligence assessment from October 2002. It concluded that left unchecked, Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq would have developed nuclear weapons by the end of the decade. But a footnote from the State Department raises doubts, calling reports suggesting Iraq had tried to purchase uranium from Africa "highly dubious." Hear NPR's Don Gonyea.

President Bush defends the quality of intelligence he received from Britain on Iraq's alleged weapons programs, calling it "darn good." Bush's comments come days after the administration acknowledged it could not document his State of the Union claim in January that Iraq had been trying to buy uranium in Africa to develop nuclear weapons. Hear NPR's David Welna.

President Bush for the first time says he is ultimately responsible for a now-discredited claim about Iraq's attempts to purchase uranium from Africa that appeared in his January State of the Union address. In the wide-ranging news conference, Bush also defends his economic policy and rejects the idea of same-sex marriages. Hear NPR's Don Gonyea.

Nigeria will no longer protect former Liberian President Charles Taylor, paving the way for a war-crimes trial. Taylor was in exile in Nigeria. David Crane, former prosecutor for the International War Crimes Tribunal for West Africa, offers his insights on the case.

Twenty years after Live Aid, Geldof launches another group of international concerts aimed at fighting famine in Africa. The musician and activist recently announced plans for concerts to be held on July 2, in five countries.

Among developing countries, Thailand is second only to Brazil when it comes providing universal access to AIDS drugs. One Thai woman, Krisana Kraisintu, took on government officials and multinational pharmaceuticals to make this drug availability possible. Now she's setting her sights on Africa's AIDS crisis. NPR's Richard Knox reports.

Wildlife activist and filmmaker Joan Root was murdered in 2006 at her home in Nairobi, Kenya, when invaders broke through her bedroom window and shot her with AK-47s. The crime was never solved, but her life and violent death is the subject of a new book, Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa.

When Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was an infant, her family was told she would become a great woman. But assuring words, unfortunately, were not enough to shield Africa's first woman president from a life of hardship, which included an abusive marriage.