If you would like to improve your English by listening to and reading the news, you might be interested in these two websites.

VOA (Voice of America) Special English News uses clear and simple American English, and the stories are read at a slower speed. There are lots of stories and different topics to choose from, but most of them tend to be about the USA.

For something more challenging, try Words in the News from BBC Learning English. The English used is UK English, but the topics are more international. The vocabulary is more difficult, but there is always a list of definitions at the end to explain the more difficult words. The news is not read at a slower speed, so it’s more natural and realistic. Sometimes, there is a link to a quiz or an exercise that you can do after listening to and reading the story.

For both websites, you can use either RealPlayer or Windows Media Player (which your computer should already have), but I have had better results with Windows Media Player.