The world's population will hit 7.2 billion next month and is projected to reach 10.9 billion by 2100, powered by births in poor countries, the United Nations said Thursday. But, with the number of future global dwellers linked to fertility, the number at the end of the century could be as high 16.6 billion or even fall to 6.8 billion,, the UN said in its "World Population Prospects." Focusing on a conservative projection between these two, population growth is expected to be especially dramatic in the poorest parts of the world.

TOKYO (Reuters) - The world's oldest person, 116-year-old Japanese man Jiroemon Kimura, died on Wednesday, Japanese media said. Kimura, who lived in Kyotango near Kyoto in western Japan, had been hospitalized for pneumonia since last month. He became the world's oldest person on December 17, 2012, after the former title holder, a 115-year-old woman from Iowa died, according to Guinness World Records.

They set off with dreams of a new life only to find that peril, exploitation, loneliness and an aching rootlessness often await them. Migration, one of the great issues of globalisation but one that until now has been poorly explored at the movies, has emerged as a major theme at the Cannes Film Festival. A frontrunner for the coveted Palme d'Or on Sunday is "Tian Zhu Ding", a brutal portrayal of peasants who head to the cities for work in the capitalist-communist China of today.

NEW YORK, N.Y. - A research report by the Pew Charitable Trusts says younger baby boomers and Generation Xers face an uncertain retirement because of reduced savings, high levels of debt, and losses during the Great Recession.