headline

headline command which uses NewsAPI.org

config.template

@@ -62,7 +62,11 @@ rssFeedURL = http://www.hackaday.com/rss.xml,http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/sl
 rssFeedNames = default,slashdot,mesh
 rssMaxItems = 3
 rssTruncate = 100
-
+# enable or disable the headline command which uses NewsAPI.org key at https://newsapi.org/register
+enableNewsAPI = False
+newsAPI_KEY = 
+newsAPIregion = us
+# 
 # enable or disable the wikipedia search module
 wikipedia = True
 # Use local Kiwix server instead of online Wikipedia

mesh_bot.py

@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ def auto_response(message, snr, rssi, hop, pkiStatus, message_from_id, channel_n
     "cartremove": lambda: handle_inventory(message, message_from_id, deviceID),
     "cartsell": lambda: handle_inventory(message, message_from_id, deviceID),
     "joke": lambda: tell_joke(message_from_id),
+    "latest": lambda: get_newsAPI(message),
     "leaderboard": lambda: get_mesh_leaderboard(message, message_from_id, deviceID),
     "lemonstand": lambda: handleLemonade(message, message_from_id, deviceID),
     "lheard": lambda: handle_lheard(message, message_from_id, deviceID, isDM),
@@ -1560,12 +1561,14 @@ def handle_boot(mesh=True):
             
             if my_settings.wikipedia_enabled:
                 if my_settings.use_kiwix_server:
-                    logger.debug(f"System: Wikipedia search Enabled using Kiwix server at {kiwix_url}")
+                    logger.debug(f"System: Wikipedia search Enabled using Kiwix server at {my_settings.kiwix_url}")
                 else:
                     logger.debug("System: Wikipedia search Enabled")
             
             if my_settings.rssEnable:
-                logger.debug(f"System: RSS Feed Reader Enabled for feeds: {rssFeedNames}")
+                logger.debug(f"System: RSS Feed Reader Enabled for feeds: {my_settings.rssFeedNames}")
+            if my_settings.enable_headlines:
+                logger.debug("System: News Headlines Enabled from NewsAPI.org")
             
             if my_settings.radio_detection_enabled:
                 logger.debug(f"System: Radio Detection Enabled using rigctld at {my_settings.rigControlServerAddress} broadcasting to channels: {my_settings.sigWatchBroadcastCh}")
@@ -1579,8 +1582,7 @@ def handle_boot(mesh=True):
             if my_settings.read_news_enabled:
                 logger.debug(f"System: File Monitor News Reader Enabled for {my_settings.news_file_path}")
             if my_settings.bee_enabled:
-                logger.debug("System: File Monitor Bee Monitor Enabled for bee.txt")
-            
+                logger.debug("System: File Monitor Bee Monitor Enabled for 🐝bee.txt")
             if my_settings.usAlerts:
                 logger.debug(f"System: Emergency Alert Broadcast Enabled on channel {my_settings.emergency_responder_alert_channel} for interface {my_settings.emergency_responder_alert_interface}")
             if my_settings.enableDEalerts:

modules/README.md

@@ -475,7 +475,62 @@ Configure in `[wikipedia]` section of `config.ini`.
 
 ---
 
+## News & Headlines (`latest` Command)
 
+The `latest` command allows you to fetch current news headlines or articles on any topic using the NewsAPI integration. This is useful for quickly checking the latest developments on a subject, even from the mesh.
+
+### Usage
+
+- **Get the latest headlines on a topic:**
+  ```
+  latest <topic>
+  ```
+  Example:
+  ```
+  latest meshtastic
+  ```
+  This will return the most recent news articles about "meshtastic".
+
+- **General latest news:**
+  ```
+  latest
+  ```
+  Returns the latest general news headlines.
+
+### How It Works
+
+- The bot queries NewsAPI.org for the most recent articles matching your topic.
+- Each result includes the article title and a short description.
+
+You need to go register for the developer key and read terms of use.
+
+```ini
+# enable or disable the headline command which uses NewsAPI.org 
+enableNewsAPI = True
+newsAPI_KEY = key at https://newsapi.org/register
+newsAPIregion = us
+```
+
+### Example Output
+
+```
+🗞️:📰Meshtastic project launches new firmware
+The open-source mesh radio project Meshtastic has released a major firmware update...
+
+📰How Meshtastic is changing off-grid communication
+A look at how Meshtastic devices are being used for emergency response...
+
+📰Meshtastic featured at DEF CON 2025
+The Meshtastic team presented new features at DEF CON, drawing large crowds...
+```
+
+### Notes
+
+- You can search for any topic, e.g., `latest wildfire`, `latest ham radio`, etc.
+- The number of results can be adjusted in the configuration.
+- Requires internet access for the bot to fetch news.
+
+___
 ## DX Spotter Module
 
 The DX Spotter module allows you to fetch and display recent DX cluster spots from [spothole.app](https://spothole.app) directly in your mesh-bot.

modules/rss.py

@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 # rss feed module for meshing-around 2025
 from modules.log import logger
-from modules.settings import rssFeedURL, rssFeedNames, rssMaxItems, rssTruncate, urlTimeoutSeconds, ERROR_FETCHING_DATA
+from modules.settings import rssFeedURL, rssFeedNames, rssMaxItems, rssTruncate, urlTimeoutSeconds, ERROR_FETCHING_DATA, newsAPI_KEY
 import urllib.request
 import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
 import html
 from html.parser import HTMLParser
 import bs4 as bs
+import requests
+import datetime
 
 # Common User-Agent for all RSS requests
 COMMON_USER_AGENT = 'Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/58.0.3029.110 Safari/537.3'
@@ -136,3 +138,39 @@ def get_rss_feed(msg):
         logger.error(f"Error fetching RSS feed from {feed_url}: {e}")
         return ERROR_FETCHING_DATA
 
+def get_newsAPI(user_search="meshtastic"):
+    # Fetch news from NewsAPI.org
+    user_search = user_search.lower().replace("latest ", "", 1).strip()
+    try:
+        headers = {'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome'}
+        last_week = datetime.datetime.now() - datetime.timedelta(days=7)
+        newsAPIurl = (
+            f"https://newsapi.org/v2/everything?"
+            f"q={user_search}&language=en&from={last_week.strftime('%Y-%m-%d')}&sortBy=popularity&pageSize=7&apiKey={newsAPI_KEY}"
+        )
+
+        response = requests.get(newsAPIurl, headers=headers, timeout=10)
+        news_data = response.json()
+
+        if news_data.get("status") != "ok":
+            error_message = news_data.get("message", "Unknown error")
+            logger.error(f"NewsAPI error: {error_message}")
+            return [f"NewsAPI error: {error_message}"]
+        logger.debug(f"System: NewsAPI Searching for '{user_search}' got {news_data.get('totalResults', 0)} results")
+        articles = news_data.get("articles", [])[:3]
+        news_list = []
+        for article in articles:
+            title = article.get("title", "No Title")
+            url = article.get("url", "")
+            description = article.get("description", '')
+            news_list.append(f"📰{title}\n{description}")
+        
+
+        # Make a nice newspaper style output
+        msg = f"🗞️:"
+        for item in news_list:
+            msg += item + "\n\n"
+        return msg.strip()
+    except Exception as e:
+        logger.error(f"Error fetching news: {e}")
+        return [f"Exception: {e}"]

modules/settings.py

@@ -276,6 +276,9 @@ try:
     rssMaxItems = config['general'].getint('rssMaxItems', 3) # default 3 items
     rssTruncate = config['general'].getint('rssTruncate', 100) # default 100 characters
     rssFeedNames = config['general'].get('rssFeedNames', 'default,arrl').split(',')
+    newsAPI_KEY = config['general'].get('newsAPI_KEY', '') # default empty
+    newsAPIregion = config['general'].get('newsAPIregion', 'us') # default us
+    enable_headlines = config['general'].getboolean('enableNewsAPI', False) # default False
 
     # sentry
     sentry_enabled = config['sentry'].getboolean('SentryEnabled', False) # default False

modules/system.py

@@ -153,10 +153,14 @@ if wikipedia_enabled or use_kiwix_server:
     help_message = help_message + ", wiki"
 
 # RSS Feed Configuration
-if rssEnable:
+if rssEnable or enable_headlines:
     from modules.rss import * # from the spudgunman/meshing-around repo
-    trap_list = trap_list + ("readrss",)
-    help_message = help_message + ", readrss"
+    if rssEnable:
+        trap_list = trap_list + ("readrss",)
+        help_message = help_message + ", readrss"
+    if enable_headlines:
+        trap_list = trap_list + ("latest",)
+        help_message = help_message + ", latest"
 
 # LLM Configuration
 if llm_enabled:
@@ -1153,7 +1157,6 @@ def handleAlertBroadcast(deviceID=1):
         if enableDEalerts:
             deAlerts = get_nina_alerts()
 
-
         if usAlerts:
             alert_types = [
                 ("fema", alertFema, ipawsAlertEnabled),