Voters line up at polling stations and cast their votes to elect Kenya's upcoming president in general elections on the morning of March 4, 2013.

Child victims of Agent Orange suffer from mental and physical deformities and disabilities at the Peace Village Ward in the Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Dioxin, the active ingredient in Agent Orange is one of the most toxic compounds known to humans and was used by the US military during the Vietnam War. Children born to parents exposed to the deadly toxin suffer from an number of birth defects, though many don't make it. Fetuses on display show the stillborn victims.

In Ethiopia living with leprosy has enormous social implications. Though it is not contagious, contracting the disease forces most people to a solitary life, or at best, into a leper community such as are found throughout the country. Medicinal and educational advances see understanding of the disease growing in Ethiopia, not least apparent at The Alert hospital, a charitable hospital funded primarily through European aid that provides inexpensive or free treatment to many victims of leprosy.

The Alert hospital is situated in a slum, where a small group of women gather to fight their condition; they've created a small business in which they knit, sew and sell traditional garments and bedding, earning a small salary that contributes to the well being of their families. Life continues to be difficult, but several women are able to provide schooling, food, and a home for their children and ease some of the distress of living with leprosy.

Every year, hundreds of Tibetans make their way to the Tibetan Refugee Reception Centre in Kathmandu, Nepal, seeking to escape religious and cultural repression by the Chinese government.

Crossing the border to reach Nepal can be a very costly endeavor – with guides being paid between 12 000 CNY (€1400) and 50 000 CNY (€8500) per person – if it is to be secure. But with the help of their family members, many Tibetans are at least able to attempt it.

But the challenge is not only found in meeting these expenses – it is also found in reconciling with leaving family members behind and the uncertainty of the future; oftentimes, it is also found in crossing the physical barriers which divide these two nations; yet, for others, the journey simply consists of a single bus or plane ride.

Whatever the reality of the journey is for these Tibetans who have fled their homes – be it dramatic or uneventful - they are all tales of refuge.

(Where indicated (*), names have been changed to protect the subject’s identity and that of any friends and family still living in Tibet).

Mickael Harroch, a young Israeli man, discusses the implications for Netanyahu's decision to approve 3,000 new building permits for settlements in the West Bank. The following is B Roll footage of Kiryat Arba settlement,the separation barrier, Jerusalem and the Western Wall.

As a fragile Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire sets in, many are beginning to take stock of the current situation in the region. Most notable is Benjamin Netanyahu's move to begin the process of building 3,000 new structures in the contested area of the West Bank. The issuance of the building permits in the area has angered Palestinians, and prompted mixed reactions among Israelis.

Hundreds were killed and thousands evacuated as super typhoon Bopha raged in the Southern Philippines, leaving homeless survivors to seek shelter and deal with the aftermath

Over the past year the world has watched as the fractured political situation in Syria has dissolved into civil war, with over 40,000 deaths as Bashar al-Assad's military forces pound the Free Syrian Army and rebel strongholds, while thousands of refugees stream into Lebanon and Turkey. The shear numbers of escaping Syrians have prompted Lebanon to request help from the UN to care for the displaced people.

Meanwhile, Egyptians overthrew Mubarrak's entrenched regime, and then democratically elected a new government headed by the controversial Muslim Brotherhood party's Muhammad Morsi, whose presidency has been met with mass opposition.

A few short blocks from Dar al Shifaa hospital, destroyed just last week, an Aleppo school was also targeted by government forces, reducing the area to rubble in the early dawn.

Zachariah, a volunteer at the hospital told the photographer last October, "Even in the middle of death, happiness can still rise," in reference to his upcoming wedding with Bushra. The two had been married for about two weeks when she was killed. Now he spends his days alone in the ruins of the hospital, mourning his wife.

Fleeing ongoing violence, the sheer numbers of Syrian refugees have prompted Lebanon to request help from the UN to care for the displaced people.

Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi's decision last week to stifle the Judiciary committee's ability to review presidential decisions caused mass protests in the streets of Cairo, and elsewhere.
Many Egyptians have become increasingly aggravated by Morsi, and the Muslim Brotherhood's moves to exert ever greater control of the direction of the government, seeing it as an affront to democracy and the efforts of a people who strove mightily late last year to overthrow former dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Morsi however, maintains that the decision was for the good of the Egyptian government and will not be permanent. Still, the decree feels to many like a power grab that could shift Egypt into a new and dangerous direction.

An Israeli airstrike killed 11 members of the same family on 18.11.12 in an attack aimed at Hamas official Jamal Al Dalou. The casualties included four children.

On Saturday, November 17, a Lebanese Human Rights organization gathered families for a march from Beirut National Museum to Downtown Beirut in memory of the approximately 17,000 disappeared persons missing since the Lebanese civil war 30 years ago. Women sadly displayed photos of their disappeared loved ones, wishing to know whether their loved ones are still alive, or if not, if their remains can be returned for a family burial

Protesters in Egypt rallied in support of Gaza, calling for the government to cut all diplomatic ties with Israel. The Lebanese Communist Party and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine also demonstrated against Israeli aggression in Gaza on Thursday, in front of the ESCWA building in Beirut.

Syrian refugees, faced with the possibility of an extended stay in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, settle in. One couple, despite the uncertainties ahead, decided to marry. Mothers and children resourcefully find places to build shelves, store supplies and do their best to keep the dust down. After long use of outdoor kitchens, women in the camp are relieved to finally have a real kitchen, recently finished, in which to cook and connect with each other, restoring a small sense of normalcy to their lives.

The people of Maarat al Numan comprise a city of 150,000 located strategically on Syria's main highway. Each dawn they leave the city to avoid airstrikes. Some do not escape the danger in time and hardworking neighbors try fervently to dig their bodies out of the rubble during the nighttime when the airstrikes pause.

Sexual Harassment is on the rise in Egypt and has been a growing issue since several young women were assaulted and stripped of their clothing by a mob in downtown Cairo in 2006.

According to a survey issued by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights in 2008, 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women have experienced sexual harassment at least once.

Shirin Badr, a marketing manager at a design company, is working on a campaign called "Be a Man," which she started after documenting incidences of harassment on the metro with her mobile phone and posting them on the internet. The campaign works to educate the Egyptian public and support women's rights.