
SERREKUNDA, The Gambia, Mar 07 (IPS) - In March 2000, 15-year-old Binta Manneh was eager to test her skills at an out-of-town interschool sports competition. That night, as she stepped out to buy biscuits from a nearby shop, she encountered paramilitary officers – men sworn to protect the nation.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Mar 07 (IPS) - African countries should join hands to make the most of their own resources and build a formidable electric vehicle ecosystem that could help fast-track realisation of SDGs.
Read the full story, “Developing a Thriving e-vehicles Value Chain in Africa”, on globalissues.org →

International Women’s Day, observed on 8 March, is about challenges, backlashes against gender equality and cause for celebrations around the world. Join us as we cover events, changemakers and celebrities at UN Headquarters and beyond today. UN News app users can follow here.

A decline in democracy and harmful content spread on social media platforms are helping to drive a backlash against feminism, and the growth of misogynistic and retrograde ideas about the roles of men and women and society.
Read the full story, “Online ‘manosphere’ is moving misogyny to the mainstream”, on globalissues.org →

The aid response in Burundi to the crisis in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) “is literally buckling”, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, warned on Friday, as it relayed dramatic testimonies from people forced to flee the unchecked advance of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.

Up to one million desperate Syrians living in camps and displacement sites across the country’s northwest intend to return home within the next year – sparking deep concerns of a new humanitarian crisis.