Editor's note: Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review. A former CNN producer/correspondent, she is the author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television." The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Frida Ghitis.

Facebook's $104 billion initial public offering comes at a time when the United States is suffering a bout of self-doubt. Many wonder if America is falling behind as other countries are catching up fast. And yet the Facebook phenomenon did not occur in a vacuum.

You might say it could have happened anywhere. But it happened in America. And there was a reason for that. FULL POST

On Friday, U.S. authorities at White Plains airport new New York detained Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan for an hour and a half.  India reacted angrily with its foreign minister declaring: "[this] policy of detention and apology by the U.S. cannot continue."  This is not a first for Shah Rukh Khan. Back in August 2009, he was held for two hours at New Jersey’s Newark airport.

Here's a transcript of what Khan said to Fareed Zakaria after that first detention: FULL POST

Editor's Note: Stewart Patrick is a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Program on International Institutions and Global Governance at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of Weak Links: Fragile States, Global Threats, and International Security.

By Stewart Patrick, CFR.org

At first glance, this Monday’s high-level event in the U.N. General Assembly would appear to confirm the worst suspicions of U.N. skeptics. Given all the crises engulfing the globe, what geniuses in New York decided to have the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan host a daylong special session on “Happiness.”What the heck is going on in Turtle Bay? More than meets the eye, in fact. One of the hottest fields in development economics has been, believe it or not, happiness research. And it turns out that the government in Thimpu may have something wise to say on the subject. FULL POST

Editor's Note: Priya Parker, an expert-in-residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab, is the founder of Thrive Labs, a visioning and strategy advisory firm based in Brooklyn, New York. You can follow Priya on Twitter @priyaparker.

By Priya Parker - Special to CNN

In the last few weeks alone, we’ve heard this rising generation called everything from the Go-Nowhere Generation and the MacGyver and DIY Generation to Generation Stuck and Generation Flux. In recent years, the generation most commonly known as the Millennials has also been described as Generation Me, Generation We, the Trophy Kids, the Boomerang Generation and the Dumbest Generation. (Ouch).

If one theme runs through these different pieces, it’s that people really like to name this generation. (I am guilty of injecting my own label into the mix last week, when I wrote a piece on the Global Public Square casting my cohort as Generation FOMO. We are held together, I argued, by a shared tendency to make decisions based on the fear of missing out on something around the corner.)

As part of my job, I work with talented Millennials on building alternative future strategies. They often come to me feeling burned out and unsure how to make their mark in the world. We work together to think strategically and soulfully - yes, you can do both! - about the kind of future they wish to build.

In this work, I’ve found that, whatever you call them, many Millennials are inhibited by anxieties peculiar to our time. I’ve already spoken of the FOMO problem. In this post, I want to share some of the other blockages that Millennials tell me afflict them. Next week, I will share techniques that I’ve found helpful in overcoming FOMO and these other inhibitors of building, creating and doing. FULL POST

By Fareed Zakaria, CNN

What caught my eye this week was a dispute between two members of a grand old European alliance. The alliance isn't NATO; it's not the
Arctic Council nor the Euro Zone, nor the EU. I'm talking about the annual Eurovision Song Contest.

It's camp; it's cheesy; but it's a huge hit across the pond. Every year, dozens of countries send their top performers to an American Idol-style music competition. More than a 100 million viewers tune in to vote for their favorites. The one rule: you can't vote for your own country.

And so the tradition has continued since the 1950s.

Abba won for "Waterloo" in 1974. Celine Dion made a splash in 1988 representing Switzerland. But somewhere along the way the contest became known less for big names, and more for kitsch: Sequined costumes, outlandish productions, the works.

Now, despite its name, Eurovision is not just a European competition. Algeria participates and so does Israel. This year's host is Azerbaijan. And that's why Eurovision is in the news this week. FULL POST

By Kiran Khalid, CNN

When Pakistani journalist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and American filmmaker Daniel Junge won the 2012 Oscar for the best documentary short at the Academy Awards, they didn’t just achieve a professional milestone, they made history. Within minutes of the monumental win (Pakistan’s first), the name of the film, “Saving Face”, about women who are victims of acid attacks, was trending on Twitter along with Obaid-Chinoy’s name. Pakistani media catapulted the 33 year-old filmmaker from reporter to rock star in the time it takes to tear open an envelope. FULL POST

On GPS today, we talked about Chinese movie posters that look conspicuously similar to U.S. posters. Check them all out here.

Editor's Note: The following text is from GlobalPost, which provides excellent coverage of world news – important, moving and just odd.

By Hanna Ingber, GlobalPost

The woman most likely to become China's next first lady is not exactly a shy housewife. Like Bruni, the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Peng is a beautiful and often glamorous celebrity, famous in her own right. A famous Chinese folk singer who also holds the rank of major general in the army's musical troup, Peng has donned elaborate costumes and heavy makeup to perform in front of hundreds of millions of people.

Check her out on Google Images.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Peng likely did not accompany her husband, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinpin, on his trip to Washington this week to meet with President Barack Obama because she did not want to outshine him. FULL POST

Editor's Note: The following is reprinted with the permission of World Politics Review. For more from WPR, sign up for a free trial of their subscription service, get their weekly e-mail, or follow them on Twitter. Rex Brynen is Professor of Political Science at McGill University and co-editor of the PAXsims blog on conflict simulation.

By Rey Brynen, World Politics Review

When former U.S. Marine Amir Mirzaei Hekmati was sentenced to death for espionage by an Iranian court earlier this month, he was accused, among other things, of helping to make video games. In his televised “confession,” Hekmati stated that, after working for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, “I was recruited by Kuma Games Company, a computer games company which received money from [the] CIA to design and make special films and computer games to change the public opinion’s mindset in the Middle East.” He added, “The goal of Kuma Games was to convince the people of the world and Iraq that what the U.S. does in Iraq and other countries is good and acceptable.”

Needless to say, neither Hekmati’s alleged confession nor his conviction means the charges are true. Rather his arrest is better seen as yet another indicator of the escalating geopolitical tensions between Tehran and Washington. Still, the incident highlights the extent to which video games and international politics have increasingly intersected in recent years.  FULL POST

By Fareed Zakaria, CNN

Imagine if you flicked on your television and found that the government had cancelled American Idol, 30 Rock, The Office, and Dancing with the Stars. That's essentially what happened in China, where last week Beijing eliminated a staggering two-thirds of all prime-time entertainment. What in the world is going on?

Supergirl looks and feels like American Idol. But the Chinese talent show was pulled for being too vulgar, and too Western. It's one of 88 entertainment shows that have been canceled. Other programs that have survived have had to change. Censors have ensured the dating show "If You Are the One" is now less racy - gone are the Western-style discussions about sex.

Why all the cuts?

Beijing reportedly wants to combat what it calls "excessive entertainment" and "a trend towards low taste."

These orders came from the very top - from President Hu Jintao. In an essay published in a party magazine last week, Presdient Hu claimed that "hostile international forces" were plotting to "Westernize and divide China." FULL POST