The World

US President Donald Trump addressed the nation today and said the US will continue to "evaluate options in response to Iranian aggression," but backed away from military confrontation. And, a Ukraine International Airlines flight leaving from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after takeoff Wednesday morning. We get the latest from Kyiv. Also, Italian Vogue reimagines the cover photoshoot for its January issue to promote sustainability.

Iran said it launched a missile attack on US-led forces in Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday in retaliation for the US drone strike on an Iranian commander whose killing has raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was asked Tuesday about claims that Iran was planning imminent attacks against Americans ahead of Qasem Soleimani's killing. American allies in Europe are watching carefully and also criticizing the US airstrike. And, should we prepare for cyberattacks from Iran? That's the message coming from the US government, which expects retaliation from Iran. Also, a knitted green sweater has become deeply symbolic to people working to remember the lessons of the Holocaust. The sweater, from an exhibit at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, was knit for a girl named Krystyna Chiger by her grandmother. Chiger wore it the entire time she was in hiding in the sewers of Ukraine. To honor Chiger's story of survival, knitters have developed a pattern for the sweater and are encouraging others to create their own.

We know that Russia has been honing its tools of disinformation since the Cold War, but how did Soviet-era sabotage make the jump into the digital age? How have imposters on social media caused real-world tumult? In Part II of a miniseries on Russian interference from The World's partners at the podcast "Raw Data," we get into the mechanics of it all by taking a look at two specific instances when Russia tested out its disinformation strategy inside the United States. Renee DiResta and Kate Starbird, leading experts in the burgeoning field of digital misinformation, bring us up to speed on how Russia honed its misinformation campaign in the lead up to the 2016 election.

What was the Trump administration's rationale for the targeted killing of Qasem Soleimani, the second most powerful figure in Iran? And, what's left of the international agreement that controlled Iran's nuclear program? The World's Shirin Jaafari has the latest. Also, an update on the Australian wildfires and the devastating impacts they're having on wildlife there. Plus, pop star Miley Cyrus has settled a $300 million copyright infringement lawsuit by Jamaican songwriter Michael May, aka Flourgon, over a line that she allegedly ripped off of his 1988 track "We Run Things."

A drone strike authorized by US President Donald Trump killed Iran's top security and intelligence commander, Maj. Gen. Qasim Suleimani. Who was Suleimani, and why is this such a momentous, and controversial, move? Also, Iranians are in a state of shock, wondering how their country might respond and fearing where this might lead. And, we'll bring you the view from Iraq. Iraqis have been incensed recently about being caught in the middle of a proxy battle between the US and Iran. The killing of Suleimani escalates that feeling of vulnerability significantly.

The Iran-backed militia members that stormed the US Embassy in Iraq are known as Kataib Hezbollah, a group many of us had not heard of before this week. So, just who are they? Plus, long-time commissioner of the NBA, David Stern died on Wednesday. Stern is credited with transforming the league into a global brand. Part of his legacy: European superstars on American courts. We look at the hottest European star in the NBA right now, 20-year-old Slovenian Luka Dončić. And, Sesame Street's international growth and appeal.

The attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad is testing the diplomatic relationship between the United States and Iraq. Also on this special New Year's Day edition, we take a deep dive into the Arabic typewriter. It's a tale of two inventors: His whole life, Walid Waked had been told that his great-grandfather invented the Arabic typewriter. And then, one day, he learned that another family — the Haddads — believed they invented it. We unravel the mystery. Also, we're going on another dive, this one into ice. Jill Heinerth is an underwater explorer and filmmaker who has gone scuba diving in places most of us can barely imagine, including going inside a massive iceberg in Antarctica. That iceberg dive captured dramatic images, but came with great risk.

Protesters attacked the US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday in reaction to US airstrikes there. What is the symbolism of protesters breaching the compound, the largest and most expensive embassy ever built? Also, LGBTQ rights have seen both progress and setbacks over the last 10 years. Some countries have surprised activists by writing protections into law, while other countries have enforced regulations and further restrict their LGBTQ citizens. Plus, communities in Bermuda and Eastport, Maine, ring in the New Year with nontraditional ball drops. How are people ringing in the new year elsewhere around the world?

Russians posing as Americans, wild conspiracy theories about political figures, outright fabrications — these were all part of Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 US presidential elections. But it turns out this kind of disinformation has been around for decades, since the early days of the Soviet Union. It’s just gotten a lot more powerful, thanks to tech and social media. To understand what is happening now, we have to understand how we got here: The end of communism in Russia, the rise of democracy, and, ultimately, its demise at the hands of the man behind all this modern-day manipulation — Russian President Vladimir Putin. In this featured episode from The World's partners at the podcast "Raw Data," we get a front-row seat to the story with the US former ambassador to Russia — and a guy who knows about disinformation on a very personal level —  Michael McFaul. This is the first of a three-part series from "Raw Data."

In Sydney, Australia, city officials are going ahead with New Year's fireworks, despite calls for the spectacle to be canceled amid record dry conditions and massive wildfires. And, the US military struck Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria Sunday, a reprisal for a rocket attack last week that killed an American contractor. Plus, an Israeli-Canadian doctor working in an indigenous community built a six-foot tall menorah out of ice.