How can I arrange the News as it is done on the XOOPS.ORG Homepage?

This seems to be a really popular question.

It has had several answers.

One quite long and I think quite descriptive thread can be found HERE

Alternatively do a little search on something like News like on the XOOPS.ORG and you should find plenty of existing threads.

I will just say that from what I understand it is a combination of the spotlight module and some hack(s) but you should get more info from the above link.

Hope that points you in the right direction.

Dave