Search results for

If one of the world's largest container ships had remained solidly lodged in the Suez Canal for much longer, it could have had far-reaching implications.

Health officials said that they were mistaken about a polio outbreak in Somalia spreading to South Sudan. Despite previous reports, South Sudan has not recorded any polio cases this year. The new information means that the spread of the virus around the Horn of Africa is more limited than previously thought.

Audubon’s Corkscrew Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary has a new Sanctuary Director at the helm. Dr. Lisa Korte comes to Corkscrew after spending years working...

Ten years ago, musician David Byrne followed a passion of his and started a world music label. The unassuming Luaka Bop Records was originally created to release a few Brazilian compilations, but it has grown to include music from Cuba, Africa, the Far East, and beyond. Host Jacki Lyden travels to the Luaka Bop offices in David Byrne's townhouse in Greenwich Village, and encourages him to dig out a few of the records that inspired him. (19:00) (Featured music appears on the CD's Tom Ze - Best of Tom Ze - Volume 4 [EMD/Luaka Bop Catalog # 49049]; Various Artists - Cuba Classics 3 - Diabla Al Infierno: New Directions in Cuban Music [EMD/Luaka Bop Catalog # 49028]; Various Artists - Cuba Classics 1 - Greatest Hits of Silvio Rodriguez: Canciones Urgentes [EMD/Luaka Bop Catalog # 49026]; Los Amigos Invisibiles - The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera [EMD/Luaka Bop Catalog # 49042].

James Tobin is the author of a biography of World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle who was beloved by the public, the G.I.s and the generals alike. He witnessed the great American campaigns of the war -- North Africa, Sicily, Italy, D-Day, Normandy, the liberation of Paris, and Okinawa. Eleanor Roosevelt was a fan of his work, saying "I would not miss that column any day if I could possibly help it." Pyle was killed in Okinawa just three weeks short of the war's end. Tobin's book is Ernie Pyle's War: America's Eyewitness to World War II (published in 1988). Tobin's newest book, To Conquer the Air: The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight has just been released in paperback. (Original airdate: 4/07/03) (This interview continues into the second half of the show.)

Folk artist Charlie Lucas uses discarded items in his work to piece together his family history. In a new exhibit, Lucas traces his ancestors' story, from the slave ships of Africa to their struggles in America. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports.

From the South African production of the opera Carmen, and Yiimimangaliso: The Mysteries, an opera based on the medieval Chester Mystery plays: Music Director Charles Hazlewood and Singers Sandile Kamle and Pauline Malefane. The operas were staged in Londons West End to rave reviews. They are currently making their American premiere at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina that runs May 24-June 9. (www.spoletousa.org). Hazlewood went to South Africa and auditioned over a thousand performers for Carmen. The Mysteries has a 34-member South African cast and is performed in four languages: Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu and English. The Mystery plays were popular medieval street theatre performed in the streets of towns all over Europe. They are dramatic versions of stories from the Bible.

President Bush is calling the killings in the Darfur region of Sudan "genocide" but some question whether the Bush administration is doing all it can to support peace in the region. Author John Prendergast, an Africa policy expert with the International Crisis Group, explains why.

Three U.S. aircraft were fired upon during an evacuation flight. South Sudan has been in turmoil since the president accused the vice president of attempting a coup.

Every day, as many as 500 babies in sub-Saharan Africa are born with HIV. A study out of Botswana finds that if newborns are given treatment right away, the virus becomes almost undetectable.