Use The News to read newspaper headlines from twenty countries

Who it is for

This skill is for people who want an assistant to read current headlines from many newspapers and view public news by country. Officially it is: through a public API, give the assistant the main titles from many newspapers and news sites in twenty countries.

It is not a full news desk and will not write copy for you. The better use is: you already have a clear country or comparison question and need breaking news, live events, comparative analysis, a global view, or a checkable multi-source snapshot. If you only want a blended commentary, get the raw titles first, then decide how to use them.

Official notes:

https://github.com/sfkislev/the-news

First try in 3 minutes

The official install command is only this one:

npx skills add sfkislev/the-news

Before running it, confirm you want it in the current assistant environment. Do not add a second install command.

After install, do a low-risk read: have the assistant view one country's headlines via the official API. The path on the page is:

GET https://www.thehear.org/api/country-view/[country]

This is an outbound request. Before sending, confirm the country parameter, and only read — do not change remote data. The cited notes say twenty countries are supported, but they do not list the roster in this passage, so do not guess country codes that are not there. Use only a country value you have already checked.

Success signal: it returns the main titles of that country's newspapers. Read the raw titles first, then see whether an AI overview is attached.

Use cases

Case 1: Pull current headlines by country. Use the GET path above to read one country's country-view. On success you should see main titles from several newspapers. Do not loop through twenty countries on the first try, and do not auto-post yet. The page does not describe auth steps beyond query parameters.

Case 2: When reading breaking or comparative news, keep the two text types apart. Evidence says the assistant can use the API for breaking news, live events, comparative analysis, a global view, or micro historical data. It also says: raw titles are objective historical material and a fact source; the AI overview only helps you understand that material, is written by a model from titles and prior overviews, and must not be treated as verification. When comparing two countries' narratives, conclusions must rest on the raw titles.

Limits

The API serves headlines by country and supports twenty countries. The cited notes do not give a complete roster; do not hard-guess unknown countries. Confirm address and parameters before any outbound request.

Treat raw titles and the AI overview as separate. The overview can help you enter context, but cannot prove a story is true. The page does not describe paid tiers, language filters, or a full-text article API. Missing capabilities stay with the existing notes; do not add install commands for other news sources.