Modern genomes from Nigeria and Sierra Leone show signals that scientists call "ghost" DNA — from an unknown human ancestor. That means that prehistoric humans likely procreated with an unknown group.
Last week's testimony before Gambia's Truth Commission riveted the country and described a culture of systematic sexual abuse in the presidential palace.
It's a dish that Dadisi Olutosin ate as a kid in Atlanta. As an adult he discovered its international roots and came up with a recipe that's true to his mother — and the culinary heritage of collards.
Nomadic herders who live across West Africa are having to travel further and further south for their cows to graze. Some are letting cows graze on cropland, leading to deadly conflicts with farmers.
Ivory coast is the world's largest cocoa producer. But a bumper crop combined with a fall in the global demand for chocolate and a dip in cocoa prices are hurting the country's cocoa farmers.
Turkish and Ghanaian organized crime rings are said to have issued legitimate and counterfeit visas for $6,000 to people from across West Africa. They bribed corrupt officials to look the other way.
After official results were announced showing the incumbent president had won, protesters called for a vote recount and set fire to parliament. The military retaliated, killing at least three people.
Ivory Coast's business community is shaken after a deadly al-Qaida attack on a beach resort. The West African nation's economy had been on the rebound after a civil war.
Ghana is a land of many sayings, often starring an animal. Only the meaning is not always clear. We turned to our correspondent on the ground for answers.
For the first time since the most recent Ebola outbreak began, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have each reported zero cases of Ebola for 42 days in a row. But the risk of small flare-ups remains.
West African cocoa farmers earn less than $1 a day. Those low wages could jeopardize the future of chocolate labor, as young farmers find better opportunities to earn a living, a new report warns.
International banks are promising nearly a billion dollars in aid to the three countries hardest hit by Ebola. The number of weekly cases has dropped below 40 — the lowest level since last May.
After a year of Ebola, the virus is largely contained in Liberia. But an already-fragile health care system has been devastated, and crucially important health care workers have died.
The Nigerian Islamist militant group has traded grainy videos for slick productions. This week, Boko Haram posted a video purportedly showing the bodies of two beheaded men accused of spying.
A hot wind blows from the Sahara Desert across West Africa each winter. This year, the clouds of sand are so thick that flights are grounded, cocoa trees are suffering and everyone has a cough.
Ebola is especially deadly for children and babies. About 80 percent of those infected have died. But one man knew instinctively that love and affection could make a difference.
Only 99 Ebola cases were reported worldwide last week. That's the lowest weekly count since June. But getting down to zero cases is still a long way off.
As demonstrations against the satirical magazine are staged in many parts of the Muslim world, the French president defends what he says is his country's principle of freedom of expression.
![Nick van Praag of Ground Truth: "It's not that people [on the giving side] don't want to know what the beneficiary thinks, it's that they haven't really developed the tools to do so."](https://knpr.org/sites/default/files/public/styles/thumbnail/public/images/npr-story/383788860_837917364.jpg?itok=aiUJMq_d "Courtesy of Ground Truth")
