The WorldPost's Weekend Roundup

HUFF POST | LIFESTYLE | Less Stress, More Living

This week, turmoil and uncertainty continued to grip the globe. As pro-Russian separatists seized town halls in eastern Ukraine, U.S. President Barack Obama completed his "pivot" tour of East Asia aimed at shoring up American allies in the region in the face of China's rise. Even as the Chinese demurred at the designation, the World Bank announced that in 2014 China would surpass the U.S. as the world's largest economy -- a position the U.S. has held since 1872.

Legacy Of Hope

'West NKorea'

Jim Yong Kim: For The First Time, More Latin Americans Are Middle Class Than Poor

Over the past decade, Latin America and the Caribbean have made tremendous progress in reducing poverty and in boosting shared prosperity. Poverty has fallen by half to 12.3 percent. The middle class -- currently 34 percent of the population -- is growing. Meanwhile, inequality in Latin America -- historically the world's highest -- has fallen, even as it rises in practically every other part of the globe. For the first time, the number of people in the middle class surpasses those living in poverty.

Raghuram Rajan: Without Coordination, U.S. Fed Policy Can Hurt Global Growth

As the world struggles to recover from the global economic crisis, the unconventional monetary policies that many advanced countries adopted in its wake seem to have gained widespread acceptance. In those economies, however, where debt overhangs, policy is uncertain, or the need for structural reform constrains domestic demand, there is a legitimate question as to whether these policies' domestic benefits have offset their damaging spillovers to other economies.

Nathan Gardels: Fukuyama And Ferguson: Obama Projects Weakness In A Dangerous World

At the Milken Institute Global Conference earlier this week, I sat down with political theorist Francis Fukuyama and historian Niall Ferguson to discuss global governance -– or the lack of it -- as the world teeters on the brink of conflict from Ukraine to the East China Sea.

Bernard-Henri Lévy: Khodorkovsky On Democracy In Russia

He does not look like a man who has been through hell. His color is good, his appearance youthful. With his thick hair in a buzz cut, his jeans, and his big walking shoes, he looks like a hiker just off the trail.

Former NATO Commander Says Ukrainians Have 'Stomach For A Fight' And U.S. Should Help

Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark said Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to reassemble the old Soviet Union and urged the U.S. to support Ukrainians, who he said are prepared to fight. Clark, the former supreme allied commander in Europe for NATO, issued the warning during an appearance Monday at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California.

Security Experts Warn Of Potentially Dire Russian Threat

Former U.S. security officials warned on Tuesday that Russia may use cyber warfare against the U.S. and Ukraine if tensions between the two sides continue to escalate. "If we move to the heavy sanctions, the sectoral sanctions ... the Russians are going to strike back in some way," said former U.S. counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, who spoke on a panel about cybersecurity at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California.