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May 21, 2013 Hipsters may just be discovering the joys of backyard chickens, but in African megacities, people have been bringing their animals into the slums with them for decades. That's creating a new ecosystem of animals and huge numbers of people living closely together like never before.

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May 19, 2013 College students and recent graduates crammed the top floor of a tech hub in Nairobi for a competition built around the theme "Solutions for the Next Billion Mobile Users." Africa has more than 600 million mobile phone users (approximately 11 percent of the global total) – and the number is growing.

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May 19, 2013 Thousands of prisoners are held in detention camps throughout Eritrea, according to Amnesty International. Here's the story of one man who made it out.

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March 6, 2013 Kenya's presidential election has yielded hundreds of thousands of spoiled ballots — and raised the possibility of a contentious and costly runoff election in April. Amid allegations of vote-rigging, there are others who say there may be a more innocent reason for so many rejected ballots.

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February 26, 2013 Many American doctors are nurses are helping to build medical schools abroad, as funding agencies push for this collaborative style of philanthropy. Even former President Clinton is getting involved. He's launched a $15 million initiative to revamp Rwanda's health care system.

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February 21, 2013 Spotted hyenas live in groups that may exceed 100, working together to hunt and raise their young. They're incredibly successful social carnivores. New research suggests they may also hold clues to understanding the human evolutionary past.

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February 14, 2013 Chocolate entrepreneurs say their obsession with controlling every step of production, from the farm to the finished bar, makes for better tasting chocolate, and a more ethical, open relationship with farmers.

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February 6, 2013 Thousands of kids have been exposed to toxic levels of lead around illegal gold mines in northern Nigeria. After months of delay, the Nigerian government has released money to clean up the lead in these areas.

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January 30, 2013 It now appears that most ancient manuscripts at a library in Mali survived an attempt by Islamic radicals to destroy them. Local residents apparently removed them earlier, according to reports from Timbuktu.

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January 29, 2013 A famed library and research center held books and manuscripts dating back to the 13th century. Residents say Islamist radicals torched them before fleeing the town.

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January 19, 2013 After a decades-long campaign, Guinea worm remains in only four countries, and eradication is in sight. But health workers say that recent violence in Mali is hindering efforts to stamp out the last few cases there.

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January 17, 2013 Events are happening quickly at the oil field where Islamist militants have been holding a large group of hostages, apparently including some Americans. The kidnappers are retaliating for French military action against militants in neighboring Mali.

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December 24, 2012 Say the words "high-tech startup" and chances are you picture a world that's mostly white, male and set in Silicon Valley. Now, a group in Nairobi, Kenya, is working to get more female entrepreneurs into the male-dominated world of tech.

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December 15, 2012 Turnout was high Saturday morning at polling stations in several Cairo neighborhoods where Egyptians are deciding whether to approve their country's controversial draft constitution.

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December 13, 2012 Zakale Creations is a jewelry-designing operation that employs 30 young people — former thieves and prostitutes. The Nairobi-based operation is the brainchild of John Mucheru, himself a former mugger.

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