World Lens — Week in Review: March 13
Kony 2012 goes viral and fresh fighting grips Syria.
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Oxfam Warns of West Africa Drought Disaster - International aid group Oxfam warned that urgent action is needed to stop drought in West Africa's Sahel region from turning into a humanitarian disaster that has the potential to affect 13 million people."Millions of people are on the threshold of a major crisis. The world cannot allow this to happen. A concerted aid effort is needed to stop tens of thousands dying due to international complacency," said Mamadou Biteye, Oxfam Regional Director for West Africa. (Photo: REUTERS/Ismail Taxta)
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Al-Shabab Blamed for Kenya Grenade Attack - At least six people were killed and more than 60 injured in an attack at a busy bus station in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Now, Kenyan police say they have arrested four people in connection with the blast with ties to militant Islamist group al-Shabab.(Photo: EPA/STAFFORD ONDEGO/LANDOV)
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U.S. Soldier Kills 16 Afghans in Shooting Spree - An American soldier renewed tensions between Afghans and NATO troops when he went on a house-to-house shooting spree in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, March 11, killing 16 people. Despite fears of renewed attacks in retaliation for the deaths, the White House announced that it will not change the timetable to U.S. troop withdrawal. Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai called the move an “intentional act.”(Photo: AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)
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Kony 2012 Viral Campaign Seeks to Topple a Warlord - The Internet hasn’t stopped buzzing over a viral video about Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, violent leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and a campaign to bring him to justice.Since its Monday, March 5 release, Kony 2012 has been viewed more than 50 million times. Since then, stars like Rihanna and Justin Bieber have tweeted about the documentary, and the filmmakers have come under fire for what some have called an oversimplification of a very complicated issue.(Photo: Invisible Children)
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Clinton Urges Officials to Stem Cholera in Haiti - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton spoke out about the continuing efforts needed to stem Haiti’s cholera outbreak, noting that efforts are better spent eradicating the disease rather than pinning down its origin.Studies have suggested that peacekeepers from Nepal likely introduced the disease to Haiti for the first time, months after the January 2010 earthquake.(Photo; REUTERS/Kena Betancur)
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Cuba Wins Award for Cancer Drug - Cuba was recently honored for its discovery of the cancer fighting drug CIGB-300, designed to treat uterine cancer. The drug received special honors from the Latin American Society of Pharmacology at the closing of the Havana 2012 Biotechnology Congress recently. The drug is now being mass-produced to be used in clinical trials for uterine cancer.(Photo: Kelvin Ma/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Cuba Snubbed Ahead of Summit of the Americas - Cuba has been excluded from the 6th Summit of the Americas scheduled to take place in April and it blames the U.S. for not being invited to the party. "It is unacceptable and unjustifiable," Cuba’s Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez said at a press conference. "What [the United States] has done is reiterate an old, failed policy that has lasted 50 years, which doesn't work and which someone should think about revising."(Photo: REUTERS/Desmond Boylan)
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U.S. Helps Jamaica Fight Crime - American prosecutors are on their way to Jamaica to help the nation prosecute and bring those who commit crimes to justice."The objective is to send prosecutors to help the relevant ministries to build capacity... and to help those ministries prosecute and bring to final justice persons who commit crimes," said Julissa Reynoso, the U.S. State Department's deputy assistant secretary.(Photo: REUTERS/Luis Galdamez)
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Jamaican Drug Lord Faces Sentencing in U.S. Case - Despite facing 23 years in U.S. prison for trafficking, gun smuggling and racketeering, the infamous Jamaican drug kingpin Christopher "Dudus" Coke asked the judge for leniency ahead of his sentencing."I implemented a lot of social programs for the residents of my community — programs that teach them about self-empowerment," he wrote on his behalf.(Photo: AP Photo/David Karp, File)
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Study: Rates of HIV Among Black Women Rivals Some African Nations - A recently released study revealed that the rate of HIV infection among Black women in the United States is alarmingly high, rivaling the level found in some African countries.(Photo: Chicago Tribune/MCT/Landov)
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