The current conflict in Mali has had an affect on the country’s vibrant music scene -- from cancelled festivals to a complete ban on music in some parts of the country. Heather Maxwell, an ethnomusicologist, musician and host of Voice of America's Music Time in Africa and with freelance radio journalist Tamasin Ford join us to talk about how Malian musicians are coping.

Professor Peter Chilson discusses the unfolding crisis—and French military intervention—in Mali and looks at how it's connected other recent western military campaigns in Libya and Ivory Coast. He's the author of the e-book We Never Knew Exactly Where: Dispatches from the Lost Country of Mali.

Born and raised in Mali, Assoumane Maiga traveled to the United States as a Fulbright scholar in 2009. Upon his return, Maiga spoke out about humanitarian crises in his hometown of Timbuktu, and was soon imprisoned, without reason, by the Malian military. He has since been released.

In the last four decades, however, many new evolutionary theories have been created and revised. The "Out of Africa" theory, for example, maintains that humans emerged rapidly in one small part of Africa and then spread to replace all other humans within and outside the continent. Chris Stringer has a theory of his own. His new book, "Lone Survivors: How We Came to be The Only Humans on Earth" suggests that distinct humans coexisted and competed across the African continent, exchanging genes, tools and behavioral strategies.

 

The move came a day after President Mohammed Morsi annulled a decree that gave him sweeping new powers last month, but said he would go ahead with the Dec. 15 referendum. At a news conference Sunday, the coalition group said the draft constitution "does not represent the Egyptian people."

The referendum on the draft constitution is still set for Dec. 15, an official said in an overnight news conference. President Mohammed Morsi had been planning to give up those extra powers then.

Egypt's army also warned both supporters and opponents of President Morsi that they must hold talks, otherwise Egypt will enter a "dark tunnel" leading to catastrophe — and the army won't allow it.

Jason Stearns, political analyst, PhD candidate at Yale, and the author of the blog Congo Siasa and the book Dancing in the Glory of Monsters:The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa, discusses the rebel group M23 and the latest on their presence in Congo.

 

Early Friday, Islamists approved a draft that critics are calling the "Muslim Brotherhood constitution." Protesters are also rallying against President Mohammed Morsi's decree giving him sweeping new powers.

The crowd in Tahrir Square is much smaller today. Police have fired tear gas again in an effort to disperse those who are angry about President Mohammed Morsi's decrees giving him more power. Much larger protests may resume, though, on Friday.

Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo made big gains this week on the country's eastern border. As has happened many times before in the area, the fighting touched off a mass exodus of civilians seeking safety.

Every year thousands of soccer balls are donated to the developing world by relief agencies. But they often go flat, so Tim Jahnigen, with the help of Sting and others, created a new type of ball that never wears out or needs a pump.

If you happened to attend any of this year's CMJ Music Marathon in New York City, chances are you came across the name Sinkane. It's the project of guitarist and singer Ahmed Gallab -- who, in the past, has drummed for Of Montreal, Yeasayer and Caribou. The band played six CMJ shows in just three days, and then topped off an exhausting weekend with a release show for its debut album, Mars. 

The name "Sinkane" is inspired by Joseph Cinqué, a West African who was illegally enslaved in the mid-19th century and eventually led a slave revolt on the ship Amistad. As Gallab tells host John Schaefer, "Sinkane is a word that I misheard in a Kanye West lyric. I heard the song 'Never Let Me Down' on his first record, and J. Ivy, who's rapping, says, 'Give us, us free like Cinqué,' which I misheard as Sinkane. I created this idea of who Sinkane was in my mind."

Gallab, who was born in Sudan, combines his love of East African soul with his indie pop and dance-ready electronic grooves on Sinkane's debut album. He and his bandmates perform a live set in our studio. 

Hear the Ghanaian-rooted Afrofunk band KonKoma, (now based in the U.K.), along with recent releases and/or reissues of music from South, East, and West Africa. Sample selections from Zambian miners and minstrels, music from street musicians in Malawi, and some gorgeous acoustic Afropop from Mali.

Ahmed Abu Khattala, leader of the Islamist militant group Ansar al-Sharia, says he hasn't been questioned about the attack that left the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans dead. But witnesses have put him at the scene.

Diplomatic security was weak, a former commander of the "site security team" tells Congress. A State Department security aide, though, says "the system we had in place was regularly tested and appeared to work as planned."

Three weeks after the attack on the U.S. consulate that left U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead, a team of FBI investigators got to the site in Libya.