The United Nations' Department of Public Information has released its second annual list of Ten Stories The World Needs To Know. These should be compulsory topics for media coverage and national debate... and asking the question What Are We Going To Do About Them?

The ten stories for 2005 are:

• Somalia: Steps on a path to fragile peace in a shattered country
• Tragic blind spot in health care for women
• Northern Uganda: A humanitarian crisis that demands sustained focus
• Sierra Leone: Building on a hard-won peace
• Actors for change: The growth of human rights institutions
• Cameroon: Farming in the Dark
• Island after the hurricane: Grenada struggles to recover from devastation
• Behind closed doors: Violence against women
• A viable alternative: curbing illicit drugs through development
• Environment and health: New insights into spread of infectious diseases

(The Ten Stories site links to features on each of these.)

There's a 90 minute video (Real video) of the launch of the 2005 Ten Stories list as part of May 3's World Press Freedom Day.

It's worth noting the inaugural list from 2004.