NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 07 (IPS) - Jonathan Tipapa is a nine year-old boy whose daily journey to and from school exposes him to many dangers that have seen him come close to dropping out of school -- like many of his friends who can be seen running after cows even on school days. He attends Enkutoto primary school in the expansive Narok South Constituency in the Rift Valley region, approximately 70 miles from the capital Nairobi.

PANAMA CITY, Mar 04 (IPS) - When the new locks of the expanded Panama Canal begin operations, they will do so amidst numerous challenges, because of the storm clouds hanging over the global economy, especially China. But local authorities and experts are not worried about the possible impact on the expanded canal.

DUBLIN, Mar 04 (IPS) - "Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality" – the theme of this year's International Women's Day serves as a timely reminder that, despite incremental progress of recent years and the ambition of the new global development agenda, we must redouble efforts to achieve a world underpinned by gender equality. All women must be empowered to realise their full and equal rights. But what does it actually mean to step it up for gender equality?

ARTVIN, Turkey, Mar 04 (IPS) - Over the past weeks, thousands of people across Turkey have protested against the planned construction of a gold mine in Cerattepe, close to the town of Artvin in the northeast of the country. Protesters fear that the mine will cause irreparable damage to the unique natural environment of the region.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 03 (IPS) - "Time is running out to end the poaching crisis that threatens some of the world's most iconic species," said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a statement marking World Wildlife Day.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 03 (IPS) - When the United Nations commemorated "Zero Discrimination Day" on March 1, there was an implicit commitment by the 193 member states to abhor all forms of discrimination – including against women, minorities, indigenous people, gays and lesbians and those suffering from AIDS.

PAWAGA, Tanzania, Mar 03 (IPS) - At a remote village of Itunundu in Iringa, farmers and pastoralists recently met to discuss the best way to share land resources while charting out a strategy to prevent unnecessary fights among themselves. No one in the village ever imagined that this meeting would ever take place as the two groups had for long considered themselves enemies: they often clashed for water and pastures to feed their animals thus causing deaths and loss of property.

LUND, Sweden, Mar 02 (IPS) - The British have a problem. A referendum con continuing membership of the European Union scheduled for June may lead to Brexit- Britain heading for the exit. Anybody with any knowledge of Europe's war-like history knows this would be totally self-defeating.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Mar 02 (IPS) - "We are extremely jubilant over the rebuilding of our school that the Taliban destroyed it in 2013, due to which we used to sit without a roof," Mujahida Bibi, a student of 8th grade in Government Girls Middle School North Waziristan Agency, told IPS.