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A new book tells the story behind a failed plot by mercenaries to overtake the tiny West African nation of Equatorial Guinea. The plot involved oil, guns and the son of a former British prime minister.

Charles de Ledesma tells us about Afrobeat, the latest music trend in dance clubs in London. Afrobeat originated in Lagos, Nigeria in the late 1960s. It borrows heavily from American jazz, funk, and soul, mixing in local rhythms and styles. In London, Afrobeat has been popular for years among the Nigerian community there, and could be heard in local world music dance spots. But now DJs in the larger, swankier, techno and house music dance clubs are incorporating Afrobeat samples into their music. They even play some of the original recordings from the genre's early days of the 60s and 70s. A new CD, called The Shrine presents Afrobeat is a great compilation, with many of these original recordings from West Africa, along with some new remixes by today's young DJs in London. (4:00) The CD is The Shrine presents Afrobeat, copyright 2000, Union Square Music.

President Biden has restricted travel from eight southern African countries in an effort to slow the spread of the omicron variant.

In 1998, journalist Neely Tucker and his wife, Vita, came across a baby girl named Chipo in a Zimbabwe orphanage. Chipo had been abandoned at birth, and when the Tuckers met her, she wasn't far from death. NPR's Michele Norris talks with the Tuckers about their new book, which recounts their struggle to get Chipo well and bring her to America.

As a child, Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe was initially seduced by Joseph Conrad's novella about an Englishman's journey up the Congo. But then he read the book more closely, and he realized that Conrad's portrayal of Africans was not a humane one.

The city of Nador, Morocco is Europe's southernmost border and a gateway for migrants from Africa in search of better opportunities. But attempting to cross that border can turn deadly.

Gasification is crucial to a number of other efforts under way to develop plants that produce clean energy from coal.

Orville Peck is performing on Broadway as the Emcee in Cabaret. His winding path to his dream role included a stint as a punk drummer and hitting pause on his country career to get sober.

Photojournalist Gideon Mendel has made it his mission to show how ordinary people around the world are affected by the consequences of a changing climate.

The victim, who was brutally attacked after he tried to move into their remote village on Maui, wouldn't have been beaten if he wasn't white, a U.S. judge said in sentencing two men for a hate crime.