New Irish DNA research shows that more than 4,000 years ago, ancestors of the Irish came from the Middle East by way of Spain. They also came from Russia and the Ukraine (BBC, December 28, 2015). “The ancestors of the Stone Age farmers began their journey in the Bible lands, where agriculture first began, and arrived in Ireland perhaps via the southern Mediterranean...

“Thousands of homes in the north of England have been affected by severe flooding, some for the second or even third time in the past few years. In South America, where El Niño flooding has been responsible for at least eight deaths, more than 144,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Paraguay, at least 20,000 in Argentina and several thousand in Uruguay and southern Brazil” (The Guardian, December 28, 2015).

Pope Francis recently received the Charlemagne Prize, awarded to the “outstanding contributor to the modern cause of European unity” (The Economist, December 27, 2015). “He is the first non-European pope in 1,300 years.