News headlines in 2015, page 11

SANTIAGO, Nov 11 (IPS) - Lawmakers in Latin America are joining forces to strengthen institutional frameworks that sustain the fight against hunger in a region that, despite being dubbed "the next global breadbasket", still has more than 34 undernourished people.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Nov 11 (IPS) - Residents in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo and outlying areas have been waking up to misty mornings of late. A decade ago, regular mist in this area just above the equator would have been a noteworthy event. These days, it is a regular occurrence in some parts north of the capital.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 10 (IPS) - The UN's heavily-hyped Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were approved by more than 160 world leaders at a summit meeting in September, are an integral part of the world body's post-2015 development agenda, including the eradication of hunger and poverty by 2030.

PHILADELPHIA AND BOSTON, Nov 10 (IPS) - Few dispute that women's autonomy and betterment of their lives are moral imperatives. But whether these are also key to economic development is contested.

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.