Current Events
General News Sources

• ABC News Online
• Al Jazeera -- Mideast news service, right on the spot and the best coverage for that part of the world.
• AlterNet -- "is an online magazine and information resource where pressing issues are subject to examination and debate." Excellent.
• Associated Press -- the source of stories for many local papers. Also called the "AP wire" in journalism jargon.
• BBC News --check this out for a British slant on the news, also the best global coverage.
• CBS News
• Chicago Tribune - the Midwest paper.
• CNN -- Online Cable News Network.
• Des Moines Register -- Iowa's newspaper.
• DocuTicker -- a daily update of new reports from government agencies, ngo's, think tanks, and other groups.
• International Herald Tribune -- see what English speakers in the rest of the world reads.
• NBC News 
• New York Times -- America's paper of record
• NPR Online -- National Public Radio maintains this news site.
• QC Times -- newspaper for the Quad Cities, IA and IL
• Reuters -- There are international editions too if you scroll down to the very bottom of the screen
• World News Forecast -- for any region of the world, the World News Forecast tells you what scheduled events are upcoming which may shape the news for the coming months.

Local, National and International Newspapers

• AJR Newslink-- provides comprehensive links to newspapers, magazines, and broadcasting resources, online columns and a job line.
• Newspaper Index -- websites of newspapers from all over the world. It often has an English language edition too, but you may need to BabelFish it.
• Pacific Islands Report -- news from countries in and around the Pacific Ocean.
• Pandia Newsfinder -- presents current news from around the world.  Includes search capabilities and an online tutorial for effective internet searching.
• World News Network --an excellent site that not only gets you to today's news internationally with links to region's newspapers, but also arranges topics with links not only of news pertinent to that topic, but includes links to organizations, journals, companies and more. Excellent statistics as well. A site that more fully reaches for the true potential of the internet to meet informational needs.