Despite Many Challenges World Faces Brighter Future

The income of the richest 225 people in the world equals that of the poorest 2.7 billion or 40 percent of the global population, the report said.

clipped from sg.news.yahoo.com UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - - Despite daunting challenges posed by global warming, water, energy, unemployment and terrorism, the world faces a brighter future with fewer wars, higher life expectancy and improved literacy, according to a report released Monday. "Although great human tragedies like Iraq and Darfur dominate the news, the vast majority of the world is living in peace, conflicts actually decreased over the past decade," says the 2007 State of the Future report. "At this rate world poverty will be cut by more than half between 2000 and 2015, meeting the UN Millenium Development Goal for poverty reduction except in sub-Saharan Africa", it added. On the negative side, it pointed to hikes in CO2 emissions, terrorism, corruption, global warming and unemployment and a decrease in percentage of voting populations. The income of the richest 225 people in the world equals that of the poorest 2.7 billion or 40 percent of the global population, the report said.