10 January 2011 Last updated at 11:31

News feeds from the BBC

What are News Feeds?

News feeds allow you to see when websites have added new content. You can get the latest headlines and video in one place, as soon as it's published, without having to visit the websites you have taken the feed from.

Feeds are generally known as RSS ('Really Simple Syndication') which are just web pages, designed to be read by computers rather than people.

BBC News provides feeds for both the desktop website as well as for our mobile site and the most popular feeds are listed here.

You can also access RSS feeds directly from pages on the site - the orange RSS icon will appear when a feed is available.

How do I start using feeds?

You will need one of the following to read RSS feeds:

Modern web browser

Most modern browsers, including Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Safari and Chrome automatically check for feeds when you visit a website, and display the orange RSS icon when they find one. Many of them allow you to add RSS feeds as a browser favourite or bookmark folder, automatically updating them with the latest content.

Web-based news reader

Web-based news readers check feeds and displays any new articles that have been added. They let you catch up with your RSS feed subscriptions from any computer, making this option useful if you want to access the feeds from multiple computers or devices.

Desktop news reader

Some email software allows you to read RSS feeds. In addition, there is dedicated news reader software available that you can download and install on your computer.

How do I get a news reader?

There is a range of different news readers available and new versions are appearing all the time.

Different news readers work on different operating systems, so you will need to choose one that will work with your computer.

Once you have chosen a news reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want it to receive. For example, if you would like the latest BBC News Business stories, simply visit the Business section and you will notice an orange RSS button on your browser.

If you click on the RSS button you can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including by dragging the URL of the feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your news reader. Most sites that offer feeds use a similar orange button, but some may just have a normal web link.

Using BBC News feeds on your site

If you run your own website, you can display the latest headlines from other websites on your own site using RSS.

We encourage the use of BBC News feeds as part of a website, however, we do require that the proper format and attribution is used when BBC News content appears. The attribution text should read "BBC News" or "bbc.co.uk/news" as appropriate. You may not use any BBC logo or other BBC trademark.

We reserve the right to prevent the distribution of BBC News content and the BBC does not accept any liability for its feeds. Please see our Terms of Use for full details.

Top Stories

The 'Top stories' feed is actually available in 3 different versions and defaults to the one aimed at the part of the World you live in.

However, you do have the option to view an alternative version of the feed if you would prefer. The versions are aimed specifically at audiences in the UK, the US & Canada and the rest of the world.

These are the links you will need if you want to view a specific version of the top stories:

UK

US & Canada

Rest of the world

Popular News Readers