I am more historically-minded. That is, I have a hard time keeping up with the daily tick of decontextualized events. I like to read books or watch lectures on the Internet about the history of a given event or series of events.
There are various speakers who I pay attention to (whose speeches can be viewed on YouTube): Tariq Ali (political activist, author, novelist, expert on South Asian affairs, editor of New Left Review); Tim Wise (anti-racism activist, writer, and lecturer); Michael Parenti (leftist political scientist, writer, lecturer); Michelle Alexander (civil rights lawyer talking about her book, "The New Jim Crow," about how mass incarceration is creating a new undercaste (not class, caste). I occasionally check out some web sites: globalresearch. Ca, a canadian-based website devoted to research on issues of globalization; I might check out GlobalPost.Com, an online news services -- those are the two main ones.
For Major World News (you would not miss any big, breaking news) : 1stheadlines.com, for all kind of news : newsnow.co. UkFor selective news : news.google. ComAll these sites give me new ideas for writing hub.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.