World news, also called international news or foreign coverage, is journalism jargon for stories about a country or global subject that are not local to the reader. The field of world news expanded with innovations in telecommunications that made it easier to publish abroad and to send reports back to home, such as the courants (papers aimed at business people and merchants) in 17th-century Europe, and later telegraph and radio. The first news agencies were founded in the 19th century, such as AFP (France), Reuters (UK) and Wolff (currently DPA, Germany). World news is one of the broadest and most established subfields of journalism.

NPR covers the developing stories that are making headlines around the globe. This week, the pope underwent surgery, the obliteration of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine has caused flooding and fears for the area’s nuclear power plant, and a new Netflix docuseries explores how a family’s wealth and privilege can shape the future of civilization.

Many countries, including Turkey, Russia and the United States, are attempting to influence the civil war in Syria and its president, Bashar al-Assad. In addition, Israel has been in the spotlight for its actions against Palestinians during the conflict and Kosovo became the second Muslim-majority nation to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism. Various nations have also been waging a cyberwar over trade, the Internet and cybersecurity. The resulting clashes and tradeoffs will have an impact on everyone, even those far removed from the conflicts.