All articles starting with W
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World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations
The World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) is a permanent UNECE working party through which governments adopt UN technical regulations for motor vehicles and equipment.
World Forum on Shooting Activities
The World Forum on Shooting Activities (WFSA) is an international association of hunting, sport shooting, and firearms industry organizations founded in 1996, representing more than 50 member associations.
World foundation models for Physical AI
World foundation models for Physical AI are large video-trained generative models that predict a scene's next visual observation, popularized by NVIDIA's Cosmos launch in January 2025.
World Fund
World Fund is a Berlin-based climate technology venture capital firm founded in 2021 by Daria Saharova, Danijel Višević, Tim Schumacher, and Craig Douglas, investing in European decarbonization startups.
World Future Energy Summit
The World Future Energy Summit (WFES) is an annual renewable energy conference and exhibition in Abu Dhabi, first held in 2008 and hosted by Masdar.
World Games
The World Games, run by the International World Games Association (IWGA, founded 1980), is an 11-day quadrennial multi-sport event for non-Olympic sports; first held Santa Clara 1981, latest Chengdu 2025, next Karlsruhe 2029.
World Games host city selection and organisation
The World Games host city is chosen by the International World Games Association through a bid, evaluation, and ratification process, with the host city carrying the costs.
World Geodetic System
World Geodetic System (WGS), current version WGS 84: the U.S. DoD global Earth-centered reference frame and datum for GPS, defined by four constants, repeatedly re-realized (G730, G873, G1150, G1762, G2296) and aligned to ITRF within about one centimeter.
World Giving Index
World Giving Index: annual CAF ranking of countries by self-reported giving (helping a stranger, donating money, volunteering) from Gallup World Poll data; Indonesia topped the 2024 edition; replaced by the World Giving Report in 2025.
World Gold Council
The World Gold Council (WGC) is a membership organization of gold mining companies, formed in 1987, that promotes gold demand, publishes research, and sets mining standards.
World Golf Championships
World Golf Championships (WGC), a series of elite professional golf events launched in February 1999 and sanctioned by the International Federation of PGA Tours; four events including the Dell Match Play and HSBC Champions; series ended after 2023.
World Golf Hall of Fame
World Golf Hall of Fame: golf's hall of fame, founded Pinehurst 1974, moved to St. Augustine 1998, returned to Pinehurst 2024 with the USGA; 170 members, 75% vote elects.
World government
World government: the idea of all humankind under one common political authority. Traced from Dante, Hobbes, Saint-Pierre, Rousseau, and Kant through postwar world federalism (Einstein, United World Federalists, 1947), with realist, cosmopolitan, and democratic-feasibility objections, and its distinction from global governance.
World Government (世界政府) (One Piece)
World Government (世界政府, Sekai Seifu) is the One Piece fictional union of 170+ nations founded by twenty royal families, headquartered at Mary Geoise, publicly led by the Five Elders but secretly ruled by Imu on the Empty Throne.
World Grand Prix (darts)
World Grand Prix (darts): annual PDC major since 1998, the only double-in, double-out tournament on the circuit, played in sets; Phil Taylor won a record 11 titles, Dolan hit the first double-start nine-darter in 2011.
World Guide to Covered Bridges
The World Guide to Covered Bridges is the reference register of covered bridges maintained by the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges, first published in 1959.
World Gymnastics
World Gymnastics, legal name Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), is the Lausanne-based world governing body for gymnastics disciplines, rebranded December 2025, with 167 member federations, Codes of Points, the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation, and AI judging support.
World Happiness Report
Annual UN-affiliated report ranking countries by self-reported life evaluation on the Cantril Ladder (0-10), using Gallup World Poll data from 140+ countries since 2005; published by Oxford's Wellbeing Research Centre; Finland has ranked first since 2017.
World Health Day
World Health Day, observed 7 April since 1950, marks the 1948 founding of the WHO; each year has a theme, such as 2025's maternal health focus and 2026's Stand with science.
World Health Organization
World Health Organization (WHO), UN specialized health agency founded 1948, Geneva; governed by World Health Assembly and Director-General Tedros; funded under 20% by dues; eradicated smallpox 1980; United States withdrew 22 January 2026.
World Health Organization ranking of health systems in 2000
WHO's 2000 ranking of health systems, from The World Health Report 2000, scored 191 member states on five indicators; France ranked 1st, Italy 2nd, the US 37th, and the exercise drew heavy methodological criticism.
World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe), one of WHO's six regional offices, serves 53 Member States from Copenhagen; governed by the annual Regional Committee, led by Regional Director Hans Kluge, and implements the European Programme of Work.
World Heavyweight Championship (WWE, 2002–2013)
World Heavyweight Championship (WWE, 2002–2013), the Big Gold belt world title created by Eric Bischoff on Raw for Triple H after the brand split; unified into the WWE Championship by Randy Orton at TLC 2013.
World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)
The World Heavyweight Championship is WWE's men's world title introduced in 2023 by Triple H, won first by Seth Rollins at Night of Champions 2023, with a new lineage separate from the retired 2002-2013 Big Gold Belt title.
World Heritage Committee
The World Heritage Committee is UNESCO's 21-state intergovernmental body under the 1972 World Heritage Convention; it inscribes World Heritage sites, monitors conservation, manages the World Heritage Fund, and meets annually (48th session: Busan, 2026).
World Heritage Convention
The World Heritage Convention, adopted by UNESCO in Paris on 16 November 1972, obliges each state party to protect cultural and natural heritage of outstanding value on its territory.
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are cultural or natural properties of outstanding universal value inscribed by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee under the 1972 World Heritage Convention; 1,248 sites in 170 countries as of 2026, with a parallel List of World Heritage in Danger.
World Heritage Sites by country
World Heritage Sites by country: distribution of UNESCO World Heritage List properties among States Parties to the 1972 Convention; 1,273 sites in 173 of 196 countries, skewed toward Europe and North America.
World history (field)
World history (field): academic study of the global human past, also called global history. Distinguished by comparative method, global-scale periodization problems, Eurocentrism debates, and professionalization since McNeill's 1963 Rise of the West.
World Hockey Association
The World Hockey Association (WHA) was a professional ice hockey league that challenged the NHL from 1972 to 1979, famously signing Bobby Hull with a $1 million bonus.