IHT Quick Read: Saturday, Oct. 13

NEWS In awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union on Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee endorsed the organization's creation story - that it has kept chronic enemies from repeating the horrors of two world wars. But some critics wonder whether the E.U. needs a newer marketing pitch for citizens who mostly have no memory of war, and who may be more likely to associate the bloc with inept management of the debt crisis. Jack Ewing reports.

Meanwhile, in a reminder that union on the Continent is still a work in progress, the European Council president Herman Van Rompuy has suggested building yet another big gun to save the common currency: a separate budget for the euro zone, possibly equipped with a central treasury with borrowing capabilities, to combat sudden economic shocks and promote structural overhauls. James Kanter reports.

A senior South Korean official said Friday that it must be assumed that North Korea is capable of putting a nuclear de vice on a ballistic missile, and said that that would pose “an existential threat” to the South. He stressed that he was not confirming that Pyongyang had that capability, but his comments reflected growing concern in the Seoul government that the North's arms technologies may be more advanced than had been believed. Choe Sang-Hun reports.

ARTS The Frieze contemporary-art fair in London has a coolness cachet that is all its own. But the buzz this year wasn't really about any particular artist or notable trend - it was all about the opening of Frieze Masters, a separate show across Regent's Park, exhibiting work made before 2000. Roslyn Sulcas reports.

When half a dozen art market categories are wrapped up under a single denomination like “Arts of the Islamic World,” as was the case in a Sotheby's auction last week, it is unwise to draw clear conclusions. But with 56 percent of the lots that came on the block unwanted, it was difficult to escape the impr ession that a crisis was in the making, Souren Melikian writes.

WINE The Rheinhessen region in Germany is recovering from the debacle that was Liebfraumilch. No longer a joke, the region is now producing world-class white wines, including some of the best dry riesling in Germany, Eric Pfanner writes.

SPORTS The inaugural South Korean Grand Prix was the closest that any of the recent new Formula One races came to not happening.
But two years on, it will stage its third edition this weekend, and the race has been confirmed for 2013. Brad Spurgeon reports.