World news is a general term for all the news that is not local, regional or national in nature. It includes the international coverage of wars, peace conferences and summits, natural disasters and weather events as well as political turmoil and elections. It also covers economic trends and other global matters of interest to the general public. The term is often shortened to foreign news or international news.
A reporter who is a full-time employee of a news organization that specializes in world news (or foreign news) is called a correspondent. A correspondent typically covers a region, a country or an entire continent and files articles regularly to his/her news editor. Correspondents may work for a single news agency, such as AFP (France), Reuters or DPA (Germany) or they can be freelancers who produce material for several different media outlets (sometimes known as stringers). Most major news agencies also maintain bulk wire services that distribute their stories to other newspapers, radio and television stations and the Internet. The wire services were originally established to make it easier for journalists to send news reports over long distances, such as by telegraph or later by telephone.