[rksprst]

Google actually wants you to add a unique number to the URLs. It's in one of their FAQs. That's probably why there are doing it (to help with seo on Google).

[chaosmachine]

"Google actually wants you to add a unique number to the URLs."

I think you're mistaken.

[justinchen]

I think that used to be a requirement for Google News inclusion, but I heard they dropped it.

[chaosmachine]

Interesting, you're correct:

http://www.blogstorm.co.uk/google-news-no-longer-requires-st...