There is a simple reason why you should expect greater warming near the poles than over the central parts of the world. Near the poles you have more ice/snow, which reflects much of the sun's heat back into space. A little bit of warming results in some of that ice melting, which allows more heat in because there is now less reflection. Thus, the poles should be expected to warm more quickly. Things are especially dramatic near the north pole. See the ice maps here:
http://mb-soft.com/public3/globalze.html
The temperature is rising, but there is a large random fluctuation in what the temperature will be each year, and solar cycles make it harder to draw conclusions from short time intervals. You need to look at large time intervals to see it. Have a look at the temperatures over the last 130 years:
If you really don't trust anything but the most precise measurements of temperature, you can also look at satellite measurements that have been performed since the space age began. You can see the warming there as well.
Edit: don't know why these images aren't showing up. You can see them here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Instrumental_Temperature_Record.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Satellite_Temperatures.png