UNITED NATIONS, Sep 20 (IPS) - If the developing world fails to meet the targets set in the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – relating mostly to poverty, hunger, education, health care, gender empowerment and the environment – the primary blame for the failure would be on Western donors who have reneged on their aid commitments, according to a new report released here.

WASHINGTON, Sep 20 (IPS) - Anti-Western protests across the Arab Islamic world denouncing the anti-Islam video, reportedly produced in the United States, is a serious test for the new democratic governments in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and elsewhere.

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Sep 20 (IPS) - The melt of Arctic sea ice has reached its lowest point this year, shrinking 18 percent from last year's near-record low.

DOHA, Sep 20 (IPS) - Miners at the Marikana platinum mine in South Africa have begun returning to work after agreeing a pay deal.*

WASHINGTON/KABUL, Sep 20 (IPS) - Sharply increased attacks on U.S. and other NATO personnel by Afghan security forces, reflecting both infiltration of and Taliban influence on those forces, appear to have outflanked the U.S.-NATO command’s strategy for maintaining control of the insurgency.

KABUL, Sep 20 (IPS) - The number of Afghan women being jailed for murder has been increasing every year, officials say. More than a quarter of the 700 women in prison are serving murder sentences.

CAIRO, Sep 20 (IPS) - Many of Egypt's Coptic Christians met the recent assumption of the presidency by the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi with trepidation, even panic – some even made plans to leave the country. Almost three month's into Morsi's term, these fears, say some experts, appear largely unfounded.

, Sep 20 (IPS) - Carolina Poalo strikes the dry earth over and over with her hoe, her frail body bent almost double. She is determined to begin planting. During the long, dry season in Mozambique, she and her two young grandchildren have eaten little but cassava leaves.

KAMPALA, Sep 20 (IPS) - On a wet earth littered with fresh fruit from a large mango tree in Tumangu village in northern Uganda, Betty Olana (42) sits on a papyrus mat watching over four emaciated children infected by the mysterious nodding syndrome that leaves victims mentally challenged and nodding repeatedly when they see food or cold water.