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Chris Nickson reviews the CD Ghana Soundz: Afro-Beat, Funk and Fusion in 70s Ghana. The disc brings together rare and previously unreleased tunes influenced by American 1970's funk. It's the first of three volumes.

A U.S. military official tells the Reuters news service that some fighters detained after recent clashes in Iraq may be tied to al Qaeda. But clear evidence of involvement by the terrorist cell has yet to emerge. At least 40 U.S. soldiers have died in sporadic attacks since May 1. Hear NPR's Ivan Watson and NPR's Steve Inskeep.

Now four years old, TiVo has certainly moved beyond the realm of "early adopters." But despite ardent fans, the VCR-on-steroids has only about 700,000 subscribers, hardly a mainstream must-have device. NPR's John McChesney reports that technophobia and privacy concerns have held sales in check.

Wisconsin health officials are investigating at least three possible cases of human-to-human infection of monkeypox. If confirmed, they would be the first cases of person-to-person spread of the disease in the United States. The U.S. outbreak of the disease has so far involved people who got infected from pets. NPR's Richard Knox reports.

Pink Martini's debut album, Sympathique, has been selling steadily, racking up a respectable 600,000 sales in the five years since its release. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports on the pressures on the band and its charismatic leader Thomas Lauderdale to avoid the sophomore curse of a second release that doesn't live up to the first.

A small team of U.N. nuclear inspectors arrives in Baghdad to assess the damage caused by looters of Iraq's largest nuclear facility. The Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center has been closed since the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War -- its radioactive materials under lock-and-key. But left unguarded during the early days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March, Iraqis broke into the facility and carted away barrels that had been used to store uranium. NPR's Deborah Amos reports.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends smallpox vaccinations for people exposed to monkeypox, a similar disease transmitted from some animals to humans. And officials ban sales of prairie dogs and imports of six species of African rodents tied to the spread of the disease. Hear NPR's Richard Knox.

Mississippi is a much-changed place since civil rights pioneer Medgar Evers was murdered there 40 years ago this week. The civil rights leader refused to leave the state he loved. He believed conditions would improve. And now his state leads the nation in the number of black elected officials. NPR's Melanies Peoples reports from the county where Evers grew up.

NPR's Ivan Watson in Baghdad reports on American efforts to deal with the mound of trash that has accumulated in the Iraqi capital since the end of the war in April. An American from the U.S. Corps of Engineers is in charge of waste disposal now, and he's dubbed himself "Mr. Garbage."

The Federal Reserve is expected to ask the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to produce 100 million copies of the $2 bill within the next year. The government hasn't printed the currency in seven years and is slowly running out. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.