World & Nation

Gore to endorse Dean

Former Vice President Al Gore plans to endorse Howard Dean for president Tuesday, according to Democratic sources, giving the insurgent candidate the kind of establishment backing his campaign has been lacking.

Gore plans to announce his support for the former Vermont governor at a morning rally in New York's Harlem, then fly to Iowa with Dean for what was billed in an e-mail sent to Iowa supporters Monday as an event that would "change the face of the Dean campaign." Dean will then fly to New Hampshire to participate in Tuesday night's debate with the other Democratic candidates.

Gore's decision to back a candidate who was once a dark horse in the race for the Democratic nomination represents a significant boost for Dean and a setback to all the other major candidates now trying to slow his momentum. It was an especially bitter blow to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), who was Gore's vice presidential running mate in 2000.

"This is huge," said Donna Brazile, Gore's 2000 campaign manager. "This gives Dean the credibility he's been lacking, from someone from the inside of the party. This will give Dean a tremendous boost in locking down the nomination."

Establishment Democrats have been slow to join Dean's campaign, with many privately worried that he could lead the party to a significant defeat against President Bush in 2004. Gore's willingness to embrace him give Dean a counter to that concern.

-- Dan Balz,

The Washington Post

U.N. predicts much slower growth in population

UNITED NATIONS--The world's population, which nearly quadrupled in the 20th Century, will grow far more slowly over the next three hundred years, increasing from 6.3 billion to 9 billion in 2300, according to a U.N. population forecast released Monday.

The U.N. report, entitled World Population 2300, concludes that the fertility rates that characterized the last century are simply unsustainable and that people across the globe will have fewer children. It asserts that poor countries, including Congo, Afghanistan and Liberia, will either scale back fertility rates or face major declines of population from civil unrest, hunger and disease.

"The 20th century was indeed the demographic century," said Joseph Chamie, the director of the population division at the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. "In a matter of 100 years, there was a near quadrupling of world population. It is unprecedented and it will not happen again. We will not likely see a doubling of the world's population over the next three hundred years."

The long-range U.N. forecast seeks to provide a demographic snapshot of the distant future to help environmental scientists, government policy makers, businesses and others assess the long-term implications of population growth.

The study assumes people will live longer and that the share of the world's population living in poor countries will dramatically increase.

-- Colum Lynch,

The Washington Post