World news is international news, usually gathered by a media outlet with a global reach (like newspapers, radio or television). The term can also refer to a news agency, which is a group of journalists based abroad who supply news to other journalism sources. Most news agencies, like AFP (France), Reuters (UK) or Wolff (Germany), provide the majority of their news reports in foreign languages.
The term “world news” can also be used to refer to a particular story on one of these foreign sources, such as a breaking news event. The earliest newspaper stories were world news, as registered in the courants of 17th-century Europe. The term was not officially coined until later, when innovations in telecommunications enabled the widespread dissemination of news outside of local communities.
Cryptids and half-animal half-human hybrids are common WWN topics. These creatures include the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, the Abominable Beachman, real-life mermen, frog babies and kangaroo women. Also stock WWN subjects are alien abductions, time travel and prophecies of oncoming depressions or apocalypses. Other stock WWN characters include the infamous bat half-boy known as Bat Boy and P’lod, an extraterrestrial who interferes with Earth politics.
In recent years, WWN has added a series of feature segments. The most popular of these is the New E-mails segment, in which an anchor reads a humorous e-mail sent by a viewer. Occasionally, a guest celebrity will join the program to answer questions from the audience. Another popular segment is Insomniac Theater, in which a staff member gives a review of a new film. Insomniac Kitchen follows, in which a staff member visits a restaurant to get ideas for late-night snacks that viewers can make at home.