This will sound crazy to most readers, but the "World Socialist Web Site" ("Published by the International Committee of the Fourth International") is a pretty good source of news. You have to ignore some jibes at free markets and the like, but I like it better than the New York Times, The Economist, CNN, and Wired. The articles are oriented to providing information rather than entertainment. (No reporters reporting on reporting with cute leads like 'If it's true that Al Gore created the Internet, then I created the "Al Gore created the Internet" story.') For example, this article on HIV in rural China is good: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/aug2001/aids-a06.shtml HIV spread like crazy in rural China because commercial blood collection centers mixed the blood of several people before separation and return to the donors. "The operators were generally government bodies, such as hospitals, or private entrepreneurs connected with government officials." The Chinese government has discouraged efforts to honestly educate the population about HIV, including banning ads recommending the use of condoms as a prevention measure. While the U.S. government is not as backward, the article strikingly illustrates the problem of governments that view change with fear and suspicion and actively prevent constructive responses to serious problems. While China has achieved more horrific results, the basic behavior of the U.S. government towards cloning, cryptography, and the Net, is not fundamentally different.