The United States and seven other of the world's top economic powers agreed Wednesday to broad goals for reducing global warming, but hedged on timetable details and expected to fail to get developing nations such as China and India to go along.

The Group of Eight industrial democracies agreed to a statement setting the goal of holding global warming to an increase of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit by 2020, as measured since the dawn of the industrial age in 1900.

They also reaffirmed a pledge to cut emissions of greenhouse gases that cause warming -- by 50% worldwide and by 80% among industrialized nations -- by 2050. They hedged, however, on when to set the starting point to measure those cuts, saying they would measure from 1990 "or later years."

And they didn't adopt anything committing to specific emission cuts by 2020, a top goal of environmentalists.

Moreover, they acknowledged that their draft declaration for a larger meeting today, when China, India and other developing nations join, will not include targets for emissions cuts.
Progress toward treaty

Aides to President Barack Obama said the G8 agreements marked important progress toward the broad target of an international treaty to cut emissions.

Michael Froman, the White House deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, said the leaders "pledged to confront the challenges of climate change."

Environmentalists called it a disappointment that fell short of what's needed.

"This was a missed opportunity," said Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "The G8 countries are not putting a credible target on the table."

Scientists said the 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit limit -- which global warming already is near to hitting -- is critical, and that any additional warming beyond that would have grave consequences.

"The need for urgent action to address climate change is now indisputable," said a joint statement from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, along with counterpart agencies from around the world.

The NAS also urged that the international community commit to cutting the emissions of heat-trapping gases by 50% from 1990 levels by the year 2050.

The G8 agreed a year ago to set a target of a 50% cut by 2050, but it didn't stipulate whether the cut would be measured from 1990 or from the much higher levels in 2005. The leaders hedged again Wednesday, saying the nonbinding cuts would be measured against "1990 or later years," Froman said.

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Pope Benedict XVI and President Barack Obama will meet on July 10, a much-anticipated Vatican audience with a president under attack by some American bishops for his support of abortion rights.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Wednesday the Vatican had informed the White House that Benedict is available to meet the president that afternoon.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs confirmed the meeting and told reporters in Washington that Michelle Obama would accompany the president to the Vatican audience.

The meeting will be at the end of Obama's stay in Italy for a G-8 summit meeting in the earthquake-stricken city of L'Aquila and just before he leaves for Ghana.

Such meetings in the afternoon are unusual for the tradition-conscious Vatican — most are held at midday. The Vatican clearly sought to accommodate Obama's busy schedule, a sign of Benedict's interest in meeting the American president.

The Vatican has been openly interested in Obama's views, despite his support for abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research, although some American Catholic bishops have been hostile to his administration.

Benedict broke Vatican protocol the day after Obama was elected, sending a personal note of congratulations rather than waiting to send an official telegram on inauguration day.

L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's daily newspaper, gave Obama a positive review after his first 100 days in office, saying in a front-page editorial than even on ethical questions Obama hadn't confirmed the "radical" direction he discussed during the campaign.

Tensions grew when Obama was invited to receive an honorary degree at the leading U.S. Catholic university, Notre Dame. Dozens of U.S. bishops denounced the university and the local bishop boycotted the ceremony.

Yet L'Osservatore concluded that Obama was looking for some common ground with his speech, noting he asked Americans to work together to reduce the number of abortions.

Some conservative American Catholics have criticized the Vatican newspaper for its accommodating stance, and some American prelates at the Vatican have been openly critical of Obama.

Former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, who now heads a Vatican tribunal, said the U.S. Democratic Party risks becoming a "party of death."

In an interview with an Italian Catholic newspaper, Burke was quoted as criticizing the party for its stands on bioethical issues, especially in defense of abortion rights.

Benedict had a warm relationship with Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, an abortion opponent, although the Vatican was opposed to the Iraq war.

Polls have shown that Obama received a majority of Catholic votes, especially from the growing number of Hispanic Catholics.

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