Website Design Suggestion

I know we only have two months to develop our website and for most of us this is a first. However, our results should not reflect the work of amateurs. With that in mind, I think our website should be in a three column format with a white background because it's easier to read information on a white bacground. At the very top, there should be a date and time display of when our site was last updatedd. Below that should be the title bar displaying our name and logo. On the main or front page we should have the headlines and part of our top stories for that week or month. These headlines and top stories should be linked to a page that feature their respective region. For example, the top story from china on the front page should continue on China's page.
In addition, we should have an expanding menu bar at the far left side of the main page that lists our three regions. Each region on that menu bar should have a hang down menu listing the different topics about from that particular country, i.e., education, politics and entertainment. These topics should link readers to their relevant stories. At the far right we should have a menu bar listing our advertisements, staff, contacts, contributors, opinions posts ect... There should be photographs and vidoes that go along with the headlines and top stories on the front page. At the bottom of the page, we can add the real time news link that our professor suggested.The colors on the site should reflect the colors of the flags in the three regions that we are covering. As far as font, I think we should stick to one that is easy to read. These are just suggestions, so feel free to disagree with any. Thank you.