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Before World War II, numerous Jewish emigrants left Lithuania for South Africa. In his debut novel, Kenneth Bonert tells the story of a family among their number. As reviewer Ellah Allfrey writes, despite a few rookie mistakes, that story is told with great inventiveness and care.

America owes its favorite beverage to East Africa, says a Memphis coffee shop owner whose trip to Ethiopia transformed his understanding of the beverage.

This model was hailed as a success in Somalia and is now being marshaled to fight rebels in the eastern Congo. It involves Western nations providing financial support to African troops who do the peacekeeping. But why are African countries so silent about their casualty figures?

Liberia is now the nation reporting the highest number of new cases in the region. It was also a traveler from Liberia who last month carried the Ebola virus to Nigeria and sparked the outbreak there.

Demand for rhino horn, used in traditional Chinese medicine, is fueling a slaughter of the animals in Africa. In Vietnam, the sought-after commodity is fetching prices as high as $1,400 an ounce, or about the price of gold. There, some believe ground horn can cure everything from hangovers to cancer.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appears before two congressional committees Wednesday to talk about the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya last September. The hostage drama in Algeria, near the Libyan border, has put a spotlight back on that troubled region.

Leaders of the three African nations hit hardest by the Ebola virus met to discuss ways to fight the outbreak. With the situation deteriorating, it's likely more of the region will be quarantined.

Cyril Ramaphosa is also facing the threat of impeachment over charges of alleged corruption and a story that centers on a sofa stuffed with cash.

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is wanted by a war-crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone. Taylor was forced into in Nigeria two years ago on the condition he stay out of regional affairs. But that's precisely what many claim Taylor is doing.

With 90 percent of the vote counted, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a Harvard-trained economist, is leading in Liberia's runoff presidential election. Though no winner has been declared officially, Johnson-Sirleaf is outpacing millionaire soccer star George Weah and is poised to become Africa's first female leader. Ed Gordon talks about the runoff vote with Jeremy Levitt of Florida International University College of Law.