World news is the area of journalism concerned with international affairs and events. A correspondent based in a foreign city (usually the capital of a country) files stories to his or her editor, gathering information from local officials and members of the community and reporting on events he or she witnesses. Correspondents can be full-time staff members of a newspaper or magazine, or they may work under contract and produce articles for several different media outlets at once, known as stringers.
A major development in world news was the News of the World phone hacking scandal, a series of revelations that began in 2005 and ended with the demise of the British tabloid newspaper in July 2011. The scandal led to the resignations of Rupert Murdoch’s son James as News International executive chairman and BSkyB chairman, former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks, and the chief of London’s Metropolitan Police.
In addition to allegedly hacking into the voice mail of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and relatives of victims of the 7/7 bombings, the paper was accused of hiring private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to collect personal information from celebrities and politicians. These allegations led to a public inquiry in 2011 called the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics and culture.
Other notable developments in world news included the discovery of the extinct prehistoric tyrant Huayracursor jaguensis on an island off the coast of Panama, the theft of a Rembrandt painting from Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, and the smuggling of cocaine and other drugs along hidden ocean routes in Central America and South America.