The world desk

The World desk covers international affairs: governments, conflicts, diplomacy, trade, migration, and the organizations that sit between states.

Those organizations are named when they are the subject or the source: the United Nations and its agencies, the International Court of Justice, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the African Union, the European Union, ASEAN, and the rest. A communiqué from a foreign ministry is a claim by that ministry.

How we work without a bureau network

We do not invent a correspondent in a capital we have not staffed. When a story depends on a named wire service, a local newspaper, a primary document, or a person we interviewed, the story will say so. Second-hand accounts are attributed. Maps and casualty figures are dated to the source that issued them.

Politics inside a country still belongs on Politics or News when the reader needs the domestic frame. Humanitarian and public-health consequences may also run on Health.

Pitches and documents: editorial@lapress.org.