Brazilian organizers have completed another World Cup stadium. Yet there was little reason to celebrate Wednesday amid doubts about when or even if the remaining five venues will be ready in time for football's showcase tournament in June.

The Arena das Dunas in the northeastern city of Natal was inaugurated in a ceremony attended by FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who took a symbolic first kick in front of a few thousand people.

Thousands of hours of fastidious couture burst out onto the catwalks for Wednesday's dramatic Paris shows — including displays from Valentino, Elie Saab and Viktor & Rolf. The spring-summer 2014 collections provoked applause, gasps, cheers and generally so much enthusiasm that one fashion journalist even fell off the stage trying to speak to Jean Paul Gaultier. The Associated Press also caught up with a real life haute couture client who owns over 1,500 astronomically-priced gowns.

Here are the reports, tidbits and highlights from the day:

Taking stock of President Barack Obama at the five-year mark in his term, less than a third of Americans consider him to be an above-average chief executive. Nearly twice as many find him likable.

A new Associated Press-GfK Poll finds the president's personal image to be on the rebound after taking a hit during the government shutdown late last year, with 58 percent now sizing him up as very or somewhat likable. That's up 9 percentage points from October, just after the shutdown.

Roger Federer rekindled his dominance over Andy Murray in Grand Slam matches and advanced to his 11th consecutive Australian Open semifinal with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 win Wednesday.

Federer clinched it on his third match point with an ace to set up a showdown with top-ranked Rafael Nadal, who beat Grigor Dimitrov 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7), 6-2.

Washington Wednesday upped the ante against the Syrian regime, denouncing its "inflammatory rhetoric" at the opening of key peace talks and dismissing claims of improved aid access as "laughable."

"Instead of laying out a positive vision for the future of Syria that is diverse, inclusive and respectful of the rights of all, the Syrian regime chose inflammatory rhetoric," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Long before Newsweek called her a "tarted-up floozy," way before she married and had babies and adopted babies, and a lifetime before she opened an Instagram account, Madonna was a young woman in New York trying to make it big.

That ambition — and a good bit of innocence — can be seen in a collection of photos, art and drawings that are on the auction block Feb. 9 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

West Bromwich Albion striker Nicolas Anelka was charged by the English Football Association on Tuesday for performing a gesture considered to be anti-Semitic while celebrating a goal.

The former France international has until Thursday to respond to the charge, and is facing a minimum five-game Premier League ban under the FA's anti-discrimination sanctions.

Italy's Diego Ulissi beat Australian Simon Gerrans in a sprint finish to Wednesday's second stage of cycling's Tour Down Under, though Gerrans retained the tour lead on general classification.

The 24-year-old Ulissi, a two-time winner of the world junior road race title, emerged in a bunch sprint to beat Gerrans and 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans on the 150-kilometer (94-mile) stage from Prospect to Stirling.

Even in a Grand Slam as unpredictable as this year's Australian Open, the names in the women's semifinals may still prompt head-scratching among casual followers of tennis.

With the three biggest stars of the women's game falling one by one — top-seeded Serena Williams, followed by Maria Sharapova and two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka — the door has opened for a first-time winner at Melbourne Park.

Rafael Nadal avoided the top player exodus that claimed two-time defending women's champion Victoria Azarenka in the preceding match on center court with a 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7), 6-2 win over Grigor Dimitrov in the Australian Open quarterfinals Wednesday.

Nadal, who received treatment several times for a nasty-looking blister on the palm of his left hand that he said caused him to serve slower than usual, advanced to a semifinal match against the winner of the marquee quarterfinal between Andy Murray and Roger Federer later Wednesday.