After two decades, a lulled pope presses on. Vatican City Pope John Paul II marks the 20th anniversary of his papacy. The Earth s climate abruptly warmed by 20 degrees Fahrenheit or more to end an ice age 12,500 years ago, according to James White, a climatologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, whose findings may force a re-evaluation of the history of dramatic swings in the planet s climate. New ice cores from Antarctica show that the south pole area went through a rapid temperature increase at the same time that the north polar region also was warming by almost 59 degrees within a 50-year period. These findings throw a monkey wrench into paleo-climate research, as to how the Earth s climate slipped from an ice age that ended about 12,500 years ago, and shifted into the current temperature climate.
Climate affects agriculture, energy use, transportation and population shifts.
Washington Facing the most serious challenge to the world economy in 50 years, finance ministers and central bank presidents from the United States and six other wealthy nations are exploring ways to avert a slide into a global recession. Four-day Middle East summit opens. Bishops urged to shun modern theology. Vatican City Pope John Paul II rallied his church against assaults on its fundamental beliefs, saying such attacks have sowed confusion and despair among Roman Catholics. Speaking out in the 13th encyclical of his papacy, an important pope document this one 154 pages, he warned bishops against temptations posed by some modern schools of thought.