World News

Founded in 1998, the World News Network provides access to over 500 media sources and 4000 thematic and regional news sites in numerous languages at its Web site. The main page’s top half features links to major news stories, with links across the very top to stories on business, science, society and sports; news photographs; Web-accessible broadcasts; the site map; site archives; and feedback. Further down the page are links to regional news from North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America, Africa, Australia and the Caribbean. At the bottom are links to the previous week’s news. Links on the left refer users to sites covering world and regional news, entertainment, social and cultural affairs, science, sports and business. Also offered are a search engine for obtaining company financial information via stock market ticker symbols and audio links to Web broadcasts of the BBC, CBC, NPR and Canal Sur Radio in Spain. Despite the large number of links, the main page is very organized and easy to navigate. In addition to browsing, the site includes basic and advanced search functions. The basic search provides keyword searching in 23 languages. Search results show brief records containing story headlines, followed by the first several sentences of the story and the original source. Searching may be limited to stories appearing in the last three days, last three weeks or last two months and may be sorted by 11 categories. It will be useful for locating information on current events and cultural affairs.