World News covers international events, including politics, disasters, war, and culture. World News also includes coverage of multilateral meetings and summits of world bodies, as well as the broader economic and social trends that affect global affairs. It may also include coverage of human rights issues or the spread of disease. Historically, world news has been covered by newspapers and news agencies in the English-speaking countries of Europe and North America. These were often based in major cities and had a clear national focus, but with the advent of the telegraph, news from abroad became easier to spread. The first news agencies were founded, such as AFP (France), Reuters (UK) and Wolff (now DPA, Germany).

These days, there are many ways to gather the world’s news in an instant. Some of the largest news websites publish their own in-house reporting and offer live streaming of events from around the globe. The emergence of the internet has also allowed smaller, independent sites to break stories that might otherwise have gone unreported.

In the case of the United States, there is a distinction between world news and “national news”, which usually covers issues that directly affect the nation’s government or its institutions, such as wars in which the country is involved or summits of multinational organizations to which it belongs. The line between the two has become blurred in recent years, particularly since the election of Donald Trump, whose own ties to foreign policy are often unclear and frequently questioned.

As for the world at large, the headlines are endless: fighting in Ukraine is making only limited progress, despite US-backed sanctions; Nicaragua’s civil war has created a refugee crisis; famine threatens millions in Yemen; and a man is charged with murdering his pregnant wife in the US state of Georgia. Plus, saber-rattling from North Korea; an American journalist is held in Russia; and a cruise ship runs aground on the Arctic Circle with hundreds of people on board.

Whether they’re about weird animals, grisly crimes or interstellar drama, interesting news stories are those that capture our attention and imaginations. From the discovery of a previously unknown human ancestor to revelations about how the ancient Egyptian pyramids were built, these articles have the power to change lives – and even our understanding of ourselves.