The election of Michelle Bachelet as Chile’s new president earlier this month saw the continuation in the rise of women to positions of political power throughout Latin America, garnering praise from analysts concerned with women’s rights in the land of machismo, at a time when the world's leading superpower has yet to see a female as its top leader.

From massive Christmas trees, to man-made ice rinks and fake snow, Dubai is proving once again that it can pull off festive season celebrations in style despite its desert location. While the city cannot boast the world’s tallest Christmas tree, there are quite a few other jaw-dropping attractions to talk about this festive season.

Yuna is a Malaysian pop star whose most recent LP, Nocturnal, has quickly become one of the most notable releases of the year. Nocturnal, put out by Verve Records, is a potpourri of danceable landscapes overlaid with buttery-smooth vocals, buoyant lyricism, and a tasty sprinkling of Eastern sensibility. Yuna's not only unique for her music, though. She is also one of the few women in global pop to wear a hijab.

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) closed mid-November, but it still keeps China-watchers awake. Foreign analysts were rather underwhelmed by the immediate outcomes: a bland, boilerplate communique issued on November 12.

Puffing on a cigar and clad in a pastel pink shirt, Dennis Rodman watched as about two dozen North Korean basketball players practiced their moves on an indoor Pyongyang court. He also took to the court himself to take a few demonstration shots and challenge young athletes to dribble the ball around him.

A year ago, Mohammed Assaf was a 23-year-old wedding singer in a Gaza refugee camp. But since he won the “Arab Idol” singing competition in June, in front of more than 100 million viewers, he has become something of a pop superstar in the Arab world. Now, Mr. Assaf is trying to conquer North America, or at least its people of Arab descent.

It's tempting in wartime to dehumanize your enemy, especially when that enemy is a militant who may have killed innocent women and children. But al-Qaeda militants have families, too. The BBC's Shaimaa Khalil just returned from Yemen, where she had access to a family that has produced three al-Qaeda militants, all brothers.

For the past three decades, Brazilian “telenovelas” have helped Cubans forget their litany of woes for an hour a day. But today, dozens of South Korean soap operas are earning wide audiences. Following in the footsteps of South Korean films and K-pop, “doramas” — South Korean soaps dubbed into Spanish — first appeared on Cuban televisions earlier this year.