The BBC has developed what they call the News Globe. It has a virtual globe globe that you spin, and there are points on it. When you place your cursor on the points a short introduction to a news story based on that location shows-up, and you can click on it to go to the complete report. You type in a query for the types of news you’re looking for.

I had previously added the BBC’s prototype for this application to The Best Visually Engaging News Sites. Their final version has much more functionality, and I’ve changed the link in that list to the final version.