News headlines in November 2015, page 6

GENEVA, Nov 10 (IPS) - The important relationship between the examination of patents carried out by national patent offices and the right of citizens to access to medicines hasn't always been well-understood. Too often these are viewed as unrelated functions or responsibilities of the state. And the reason is clear: patentability requirements are not defined by patent offices, but frequently by the courts, tribunals, legislation or treaty negotiators.

Ghizer, Pakistan, Nov 10 (IPS) - Ishaq Khan shivers as he recounts an unfortunate flash flood in 2010, which covered his maize and potato crop with mud and washed away over a dozen fruit trees he planted 45 years ago.

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 10 (IPS) - Europe is in the throes of a refugee crisis and it's not difficult to see that it does not quite know how to respond to it. By mid-October more than 600,000 people had reached Europe by sea.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 09 (IPS) - Mandera in northeastern Kenya, has often been described as "the worst place on earth to give birth." Mandera's maternal mortality ratio stands at 3,795 deaths per 100,000 live births, almost double that of wartime Sierra Leone at 2,000 deaths per 100,000 live births.

ITABORAÍ, Brazil, Nov 09 (IPS) - "That law should have existed since the end of slavery, which threw slaves into the street without offering them adequate conditions for working and producing, turning them into semi-slaves," said Brazilian farmer Idevan Correa.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov 09 (IPS) - Jauhar Shah lost everything. His house came tumbling down while his family was sleeping. He survived but his wife and daughter did not. The October 26 tremor measuring 8.1 Richter scale changed his life forever.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 09 (IPS) - A thriving private sector is an essential precondition to improving income and employment prospects and thus key to achieving sustainable development on the ground and in areas most affected by poverty. In the words of the UN Secretary General, "The United Nations and business need each other. We need your innovation, your initiative, your technological prowess. But business also needs the United Nations. In a very real sense, the work of the United Nations can be viewed as seeking to create the idea enabling environment within which business can thrive."

LIMA, Nov 07 (IPS) - Undertaking the challenge of pushing for new legislation to guarantee food security in their countries, legislators from Latin America and the Caribbean, together with guest lawmakers from Africa and Asia, will hold the Sixth Forum of the Parliamentary Front Against Hunger Oct. 15-17.

QANDIL MOUNTAINS, Iraq, Nov 06 (IPS) - You can find those popular Turkish chocolate and orange biscuits, and there are also shovels for the coming winter snow. There's also no shortage of those popular watches boasting the face of Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

ANKARA, Turkey, Nov 05 (IPS) - Some 135 million people could be displaced by 2045 as a result of land desertification, according to a recent UK ministry of defence report. This figure could rise to 200 million who are displaced by other climate change impacts like natural disasters by 2050, said British environment refugee specialist Norman Myers.