$from = "news.dat.txt";
my %h;

open(FILE, "$from") || die "Can't open $from!\n";
while (<FILE>) {
   chomp;
   ($title,$url,$site,$date,$description) = split(/~/,$_);
   
   # if the date has already been seen, tack this entry on to the hash
+ value
    if( $h{$date} ){ 
        $h{$date} .= "|$title~$url~$site~$description";
    }    
    
    # date hasn't been seen, so create a new hash entry
    else
    {
        $h{$date} = "$title~$url~$site~$description";
    }
}

#sort the dates in desc. order
foreach $key (sort {$b cmp $a} keys %h)
{
   #do for each item for that date
    @items = split '\|', $h{$key};
    foreach $item (@items)
    {
        #split back out the values and print the table
        my($title,$url,$site,$description) = split /~/,$item;
        print "<table width=400><tr>";
        print "<td><a href=\"$url\"><font color=blue>$title</font></a>
+<br><font color=black>$key,$site<br>$description</font></td>";
        print "</tr></table><br>";
    }
}
[download]

Thanks a million for all the help. I ended up using Cubicspline's suggestion and it worked perfectly. Now, I just need to disect the code so that I have a better understanding on how hashes work. Thanks.

I prefer to sort dates by formatting them yyyymmdd, at which point they can be numerically sorted (or character sorted, too, in ASCII :) There may be better ways, but this one's quick and easy.

CPAN has numerous date functions that may be of help.