NEWS With the election of Park Geun-hye as president on Wednesday, South Korea extended the tenure of its staunchly pro-American governing party and handed power to the daughter of South Korea's longest-ruling dictator, the first woman to win the post in a deeply patriarchal part of Asia. Choe Sang-Hun reports from Seoul.
Security officials in China have been rounding up members of the Church of Almighty God, a renegade Christian group whose adherents predict that the world will end on Saturday. Andrew Jacobs reports from Beijing.
The Russian Parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly vo ted in support of a bill that would prohibit the adoption of Russian children by American citizens, though it was unclear if President Vladimir V. Putin would allow the ban to go forward. David M. Herszenhorn reports from Moscow.
While the European crisis has made the French aware of the need to modernize the economy, there are mixed signals on whether the government of Francois Hollande is willing to heed the advice. Liz Alderman reports from Paris.
Make some room in the boys' club: It is now mandatory to have female board members in every company and government agency in the United Arab Emirates, according to a new instruction from the U.A.E. government. Sara Hamdan reports from Dubai.
Prosecutors in Stuttgart said on Wednesday that they had charged two former Porsche executives with market manipulation in the carmaker's failed bid to take over Volkswagen several years ago. Melissa Eddy and Nicholas Kulish report from Berlin.
Health warnings should cover 75 percent of cigarette packs but governments should also have leeway to require plain packaging, the European Commission said Wednesday. James Kanter reports from Brussels.
ARTS Arab cinema is growing up. As the film festival season in the Gulf region drew to an end last Sunday in Dubai, filmmakers from the Arab world and industry-watchers hailed a new wave of indigenous films aimed at an audience accustomed to a mostly foreign blend of Hollywood and Bollywood movies with a dollop of Turkish soaps. Vinita Bharadwaj reports from Dubai.
SPORTS Roger Federer just completed a lucrative tour of South America-his first as a professional-and is more than glad he did. Christopher Clarey reports from Buenos Aires.
