Wikipedia:In the news/Candidates

This page provides a place to discuss new items for inclusion on In the news (ITN), a protected template on the Main Page (see past items in the ITN archives). Do not report errors in ITN items that are already on the Main Page here— discuss those at the relevant section of WP:ERRORS.

This candidates page is integrated with the daily pages of Portal:Current events. A light green header appears under each daily section - it includes transcluded Portal:Current events items for that day. You can discuss ITN candidates under the header.

Ismail Haniyeh Ismail Haniyeh (pictured), the political leader of Hamas, is assassinated in Tehran, Iran. Landslides in Wayanad, India, kill more than 180 people. In Gaelic football, the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship concludes with Armagh defeating Galway in the final. Typhoon Gaemi leaves more than 70 people dead in the Philippines, China, Taiwan, and Cambodia. Ongoing: Israel–Hamas war timeline Russian invasion of Ukraine timeline Sudanese civil war timeline Summer Olympics timeline Recent deaths: Reyes Moronta John Anderson Murray Costello Edna O'Brien Wolfgang Rihm Randy Kehler view — page history — related changes — edit

Glossary Blurbs are one-sentence summaries of the news story. Altblurbs, labelled alt1, alt2, etc., are alternative suggestions to cover the same story. A target article, bolded in text, is the focus of the story. Each blurb must have at least one such article, but you may also link non-target articles. Articles in the Ongoing line describe events getting continuous coverage. The Recent deaths (RD) line includes any living thing whose death was recently announced. Consensus may decide to create a blurb for a recent death. All articles linked in the ITN template must pass our standards of review. They should be up-to-date, demonstrate relevance via good sourcing and have at least an acceptable quality. Nomination steps Make sure the item you want to nominate has an article that meets our minimum requirements and contains reliable coverage of a current event you want to create a blurb about. We will not post about events described in an article that fails our quality standards. Find the correct section below for the date of the event (not the date nominated). Do not add sections for new dates manually - a bot does that for us each day at midnight (UTC). Create a level 4 header with the article name (==== Your article here ====). Add (RD) or (Ongoing) if appropriate. Then paste the {{ITN candidate}} template with its parameters and fill them in. The news source should be reliable, support your nomination and be in the article. Write your blurb in simple present tense. Below the template, briefly explain why we should post that event. After that, save your edit. Your nomination is ready! You may add {{ITN note}} to the target article's talk page to let editors know about your nomination. The better your article's quality, the better it covers the event and the wider its perceived significance (see WP:ITNSIGNIF for details), the better your chances of getting the blurb posted. Headers When the article is ready, updated and there is consensus to post, you can mark the item as (Ready). Remove that wording if you feel the article fails any of these necessary criteria. Admins should always separately verify whether these criteria are met before posting blurbs marked (Ready). For more guidance, check WP:ITN/A. If satisfied, change the header to (Posted). Where there is no consensus, or the article's quality remains poor, change the header to (Closed) or (Not posted). Sometimes, editors ask to retract an already-posted nomination because of a fundamental error or because consensus changed. If you feel the community supports this, remove the item and mark the item as (Pulled). Voicing an opinion on an item Format your comment to contain "support" or "oppose", and include a rationale for your choice. In particular, address the notability of the event, the quality of the article, and whether it has been updated. Please do... Pick an older item to review near the bottom of this page, before the eligibility runs out and the item scrolls off the page and gets abandoned in the archive, unused and forgotten. Review an item even if it has already been reviewed by another user. You may be the first to spot a problem, or the first to confirm that an identified problem was fixed. Piling on the list of "support!" votes will help administrators see what is ready to be posted on the Main Page. Tell about problems in articles if you see them. Be bold and fix them yourself if you know how, or tell others if it's not possible. Please do not... Add simple "support!" or "oppose!" votes without including your reasons. Similarly, curt replies such as "who?", "meh", or "duh!" are not helpful. A vote without reasoning means little for us, please elaborate yourself. Oppose an item just because the event is only relating to a single country, or failing to relate to one. We post a lot of such content, so these comments are generally unproductive. Accuse other editors of supporting, opposing or nominating due to a personal bias (such as ethnocentrism). We at ITN do not handle conflicts of interest. Comment on a story without first reading the relevant article(s). Oppose a recurring item here because you disagree with the recurring items criteria. Discuss them here. Use ITN as a forum for your own political or personal beliefs. Such comments are irrelevant to the outcome and are potentially disruptive. Suggesting updates There are two places where you can request corrections to posted items: Anything that does not change the intent of the blurb (spelling, grammar, markup issues, updating death tolls etc.) should be discussed at WP:Errors. Discuss major changes in the blurb's intent or very complex updates as part of the current ITNC nomination.

December 20

Portal:Current events/2020 December 20

December 20, 2020 (2020-12-20) (Sunday) Armed conflicts and attacks War in Afghanistan; December 2020 Afghanistan targeted killings A car bombing in Kabul targeting Khan Mohammad Wardak, a lawmaker, kills nine people and wounds more than 20 others. Wardak is among the injured. Attacks also occur in Logar, Nangarhar, Helmand, and Badakhshan, with an unknown number of civilians and security forces killed. No group claims responsibility for these attacks. (Reuters) Iraqi conflict Eight rockets are fired at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, prompting the activation of C-RAM air defences. (ABC News) Business and economy Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announces that Congress has reached a deal on a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package that includes a new round of direct payments and help for families, businesses and unemployed Americans. (The New York Times) Disasters and accidents 2020 Pacific typhoon season Tropical Storm Krovanh (Vicky) makes landfall in the Philippines, resulting in the deaths of at least eight people and forcing the evacuation of nearly 10,000 others. (AFP via New Straits Times) Health and environment COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19 pandemic in North America COVID-19 pandemic in the United States COVID-19 pandemic in New Jersey Amazon announces that they will close the Robbinsville Township facility, also known as the PNE5, after several workers tested positive for COVID-19. (CNBC) COVID-19 vaccination in the United States The United States begins shipping the COVID-19 vaccine made by Moderna. (Wall Street Journal) COVID-19 pandemic in Canada COVID-19 pandemic in Nunavut Nunavut reports its first two deaths from COVID-19 complications. (Toronto Star) Variant of Concern 202012/01 The federal government restricts travel to and from the United Kingdom for 72 hours from tomorrow due to emergence to a new variant of SARS-CoV-2. The restrictions do not apply to cargo flights or stops where passengers do not disembark. (CTV News) COVID-19 pandemic in El Salvador El Salvador bans travelers who have been in the United Kingdom or South Africa in the last 30 days or whose flights included a layover in those countries. (Reuters) COVID-19 pandemic in Asia COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia Indonesia reports a record 221 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 19,880. (detikHealth) COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, Variant of Concern 202012/01 Iran suspends flights to and from the United Kingdom for two weeks due to the emergence of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 that was discovered in the UK. (Reuters) COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, Variant of Concern 202012/01 Israel bans entry of travelers from Denmark, South Africa, and the United Kingdom due to the discovery of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the latter country. Israeli citizens arriving from those countries will be required to quarantine at state-run quarantine hotels for up to 14 days. (The Jerusalem Post) COVID-19 pandemic in Qatar, COVID-19 vaccine The Ministry of Public Health approves the authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use in Qatar. (Gulf Times) COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia, Variant of Concern 202012/01 Saudi Arabia suspends all international passenger flights for one week as well as all entry through land and sea ports in response to a new variant of the SARS-COV-2 that was discovered in the United Kingdom. (Arab News) COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea South Korea reports a record 1,097 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total to 49,665 cases. (CNA) COVID-19 pandemic in Europe COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium, Variant of Concern 202012/01 Belgium bans entry for incoming rail and air passengers from the United Kingdom for at least 24 hours, beginning at midnight. Virologist Marc Van Ranst said yesterday that a variant of SARS-COV-2 from the United Kingdom had been found in four cases from a sample of 2,000 analyses in his laboratory. (VRT) COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria The government announces the suspension of all flights between Bulgaria and the United Kingdom from tomorrow until January 31. Anyone who already arrived from the UK is required to quarantine for 10 days. (Sofia Globe) COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark, Cluster 5 Denmark will exhume four millions of minks to prevention pollution contamination. This work will begin in May 2021, when the risk of coronavirus contamination from the dead animals has been eliminated. (DW) COVID-19 pandemic in Greece, Variant of Concern 202012/01 Greece introduces a seven-day quarantine for people arriving from the United Kingdom beginning tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. local time due to the discovery of a new variant of SARS-COV-2 in the country. (Greek Travel Pages) COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland, Variant of Concern 202012/01 Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan announces that the government will impose a 48-hour ban on flights to and from the United Kingdom from tomorrow following emergence of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, while ferries will be limited to freight travel. (RTE) COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands, Variant of Concern 202012/01 The government orders a ban on passenger flights from the United Kingdom from 6:00 a.m. today until at least January 1 due to the spread of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK, with a case of the variant already having been reported in the Netherlands. (The Independent) COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey, Variant of Concern 202012/01 Turkey temporarily suspend flights from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, and South Africa due to concerns over a new variant of SARS-CoV-2. (Daily Sabah) COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom reports a record 35,928 new cases in the past 24 hours. The government data also shows that 90% of local authorities in England have reported an increase in cases during the past week. (The Daily Telegraph) 2020 H5N8 outbreak Over 8,000 ducks are expected to be culled after a third case of H5N8 avian influenza was confirmed at a farm in Norfolk, UK. (Eastern Daily Press) Law and crime 2020 Tarlac shooting An off-duty police officer kills two unarmed neighbors in Paniqui, Tarlac, Philippines after opening fire against them following a dispute. The filmed incident circulates on social media hours later and sparks nationwide protests against police brutality and impunity. (BBC News) (Rappler) Politics and elections President of Nepal Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli dissolve the incumbent House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament. (The New York Times) Sports Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports COVID-19 pandemic in North America, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ice hockey The National Hockey League announces its truncated 2020–21 season will begin on January 13 and run for 56 games per team, ending on May 8. (WEYI-TV)

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RD: Doug Anthony

Article: Doug Anthony (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-20/former-deputy-prime-minister-doug-anthony-dies/12590524?utm_medium=social&utm_content=sf241285205&utm_campaign=fb_abc_news&utm_source=m.facebook.com&sf241285205=1&fbclid=IwAR26tDWqGAQ-YRUiMmpM1BwWFR2fI_PODkZ3vOBa6n--04M4mZZ84leqbPs
Credits:

• Nominated by HiLo48 (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Australia's longest-serving deputy prime minister HiLo48 (talk) 03:00, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

Weak oppose. While the subject is MORE than notable to qualify for ITN, along with a pretty slow week in terms of news, the article in question is somewhat under-referenced and doesn’t quite meet the standards of ITN. If the article is improved, I’ll support putting it on ITN. The Image Editor (talk) 03:13, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

• Comment. There's some uncited material, including the birth date. Something appears missing or scrambled at the start of the section "Deputy Prime Minister (1975–1983)". Otherwise looks in reasonable shape, although I have not done a sources check. Espresso Addict (talk) 07:23, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

December 19

Portal:Current events/2020 December 19

December 19, 2020 (2020-12-19) (Saturday) Disasters and accidents Gaziantep hospital fire A fire inside an intensive care unit for COVID-19 patients at a private hospital in Gaziantep, Turkey, kills nine people. (Reuters) Health and environment COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19 pandemic in Europe COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom COVID-19 pandemic in England British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces the introduction of "Tier 4" restrictions in London and South East England beginning at midnight. Households in those areas are to be banned from mixing over the festive season, while in the rest of the country, mixing of households will only be allowed on Christmas Day. (ITV) COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announces a travel ban to the rest of the United Kingdom and imposes the toughest level of restrictions across Scotland for three weeks beginning on Boxing Day. In addition, household mixing will now only be allowed on Christmas Day. (The Independent) COVID-19 pandemic in Wales, Variant of Concern 202012/01 First Minister Mark Drakeford announces that after urgent talks with ministers over the discovery of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the planned lockdown will now begin at midnight instead of on December 28. (BBC News) The United Kingdom surpasses two million cases of COVID-19. (The Evening Standard) COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland COVID-19 vaccination in Switzerland Swissmedic approves the authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use in Switzerland. (Swissmedic) COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal Portugal surpasses 6,000 total deaths of COVID-19. (Euro Weekly News) COVID-19 pandemic in Russia Russia surpasses 50,000 total deaths from COVID-19. (Al-Arabiya) COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey Turkey surpasses two million cases of COVID-19. (The Azeri Times) COVID-19 pandemic in Asia COVID-19 pandemic in China COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China China is expected to begin administering vaccines to healthcare, transport, and border control workers. (AP) COVID-19 pandemic in Israel COVID-19 vaccination in Israel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became the first person in Israel to receive the vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech and getting the shot on live television. (The Times of Israel) COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia Jakarta reports a record of 1,899 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours. (VOI) Bali requires anyone entering and leaving the province to have a negative PCR swab test for air travel, and a negative rapid antigen test for land and sea travel. However, children aged 12 years and under are exempted from these requirements. (The Bali Times) COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand Thailand reports 548 new cases, the biggest one-day increase in cases since the beginning of the pandemic, primarily due to an outbreak linked to the country's largest seafood market in Samut Sakhon Province as well as increased testing of migrant workers. (South China Morning Post) Due to the outbreak in a seafood market, Samut Sakhon Province enters a lockdown with a curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time which will remain in effect until January 3. (The Bangkok Post) COVID-19 pandemic in India India surpasses ten million total cases of COVID-19, becoming the second country after the United States to reach that number. (The Times of India) (ABC News) COVID-19 pandemic in Africa The total number of cases in Africa exceeds 2.5 million. (Reuters) COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The Northern Beaches Council local government area of Sydney goes into a partial lockdown until Wednesday. (ABC Australia) COVID-19 pandemic in Colombia Colombia reports a record 13,990 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total to 1,496,062. (Xinhua) COVID-19 pandemic in Canada Canada surpasses 500,000 cases of COVID-19. (Toronto Star) Politics and elections 2020 Central African general election The leaders of three of the main armed groups of the Central African Republic announce a coalition for next week's general election, a move that could further increase tensions ahead of the election, where the opposition fears massive voter fraud. The armed groups named themselves the Coalition of Patriots for Change and invited other armed groups to join, while urging them to protect the integrity of civilians. (Al Jazeera) 2020 United States federal government data breach President Donald Trump speaks for the first time about the breach, saying it is "well in control". He also suggests China is to blame, contradicting earlier U.S. government claims that put forward Russia as a suspect. (NBC News) Sports COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports The 2020 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is cancelled for the first time in the race's 76-year history after the Tasmanian Government imposed a 14-day quarantine requirement on all travellers from Greater Sydney due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the Northern Beaches. (The Sydney Morning Herald)

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2020 United States federal government data breach

Article: 2020 United States federal government data breach (talk · history · tag)
Ongoing item nomination (Post)
News source(s): See article
Credits:

• Nominated by Banedon (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Zazpot (talk · give credit) and GoingBatty (talk · give credit)

Article updated

Nominator's comments: Bit late to post this as blurb now, how about ongoing? Banedon (talk) 09:33, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

• Tentative support Having now read WP:ITNCRIT, it's clear the article meets the second criterion. (Check the article's reflist if you think press coverage has been narrow or shallow, and I'm sure you'll see it has not been; the topic is very much "in the news" and seems likely to be significant for a while, both politically and technologically.) As the article creator, though, I feel I should abstain on whether the quality of the article is sufficient, so I'll just comment that I hope other editors feel I have done a good job with it. (And if not, then I'll try to engage on the article's talk page to address specific criticisms.) Comment As the article creator, I think I should abstain from voting on this. I'll let other people decide. Thanks for pinging me, though, Thanks, Zazpot (talk) 09:39, 19 December 2020 (UTC); edited Zazpot (talk) 18:42, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment I think this would have been better suited as a blurb if it was nominated a few days ago. But I'm not sure if it will work for ongoing. I mean, how long would we keep it,till the investigations are concluded? Scaramouche33 (talk) 12:23, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose Not really "in the news" or "ongoing" (the breach has already happened). If the article was about an investigation into this which was receiving significant continuous media coverage that would be different. This is better suited for a blurb, but even then the exact extent is not known to gauge its aptness for that. Gotitbro (talk) 12:44, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose not in the news, not ongoing-worthy, not remarkable in any sense, not even really interesting. So that's a no. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 13:14, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support blurb The article is really good, which is the most important thing. This would be hard to find normally because of the title, so we could do some good by featuring it. I'm confused by the "not in the news" comments; I can't get away from this story. I don't think that we should go straight to ongoing just because it was expanded over a few days. GreatCaesarsGhost 13:18, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

  Not in my news, anywhere. Much more interesting and novel things in the news than this. Also, not a US ticker. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 13:30, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose This may be in the news but definitely not on the front page and it doesn't portend anything with a long-lasting impact. And if the article looks good, then it could get nominated for an FP and appear on the main page as such but I'm not going to buy that argument to make concessions on this nomination.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 14:10, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose – There was some coverage, but the 'breach' doesn't seem highly impactful in a world dominated by more threatening issues. – Sca (talk) 14:13, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose It's definitely in the news, but its a slow-motion train wreck that's being attributed to yet more antics from the Trump administration that did actions to allow it to happen, and hence getting a bit of over-coverage here in the US. --Masem (t) 14:52, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support, either a blurb or ongoing. "Not in the news"? Please, give me a break! As of today, it is front page news at BBC[1], France24[2], DeutcheWelle[3], LeMonde[4], just for starters. Guardin reports[5] that, with Trump still being silent, Biden has indicated there will be significant retaliation once he takes office. This story definitely has legs and it will have major impact. Nsk92 (talk) 15:02, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Let's wait for the impact, then judge whether it's major. – Sca (talk) 15:29, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

No, it's America so it's guaranteed to have a "bigly impact". After all, it's only the US that gets hacked by the Russians, isn't it? The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 15:33, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

The horrible but impactful Americans raise their ugly heads once again. Help! — Sca (talk) 15:43, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Terrible business. I suggest we all climb into boats and have a rowing race down the Thames, to settle this once and for all.  — Amakuru (talk) 16:15, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Or a round of snooooker. – Sca (talk) 16:18, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

• Hah, BBC.com, sure. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 15:27, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

  A blurb would require a separate nom I believe. Gotitbro (talk) 19:50, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

  Not necessarily. We blurbed the Indian farmers protests from what was originally an Ongoing nomination. Personally I think it should be very rare for a story to go straight to Ongoing, with no blurb first. If it's newsworthy enough to merit an Ongoing entry then we should first tell our readers about the opening and latest developments, as a full blurb. Then move to Ongoing once it falls off the bottom.  — Amakuru (talk) 20:43, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose per above. Not really impactful enough IMHO.  — Amakuru (talk) 15:26, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

...he said tactfully but impactfully. – Sca (talk) 16:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

• Comment Listing me as an "updater" is kind, but may be misleading. I primarily worked on making the references look consistent. I didn't make any significant updates to the content. GoingBatty (talk) 16:24, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

What he means is, his impact on the nom. was modest. – Sca (talk) 16:30, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

• Fun Fact An incident this major calls for "Federal Responders" to "safeguard" the details of it, to "the extent permitted" by law, per section III(c) of Presidential Policy Directive 41. What happened will be speculative, hard to find and/or partially factual. That much is near certain. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:53, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose ongoing, Support blurb when information regarding the investigation is revealed, i think the blurb ks better suit for this. 36.65.40.44 (talk) 23:20, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose Espionage and signal intelligence has been an ongoing activity of great powers for over 100 years. Nowadays "the NSA intercepts and stores the communications of over a billion people worldwide" and that probably includes everything that we're typing here too. Andrew🐉(talk) 00:20, 20 December 2020 (UTC)
• Weak Support Blurb I don't remember seeing such sustained coverage of what should otherwise be usual espionage. Trump's silence is also more interesting. Maybe re-nom as blurb? 104.243.98.96 (talk) 08:22, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

December 18

Portal:Current events/2020 December 18

December 18, 2020 (2020-12-18) (Friday) Armed conflicts and attacks War in Afghanistan An explosion at a religious gathering during a Quran recitation ceremony in Ghazni, Afghanistan, has killed at least 15 civilians and wounded 20 others. (Al Jazeera) Somali Civil War Seven civilians and three soldiers are killed after a suicide bomber detonates his device outside a stadium in Galkayo, Mudug. Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble was due to address a gathering at the stadium. (Xinhua) Tigray conflict Ethiopia offers a reward of 10 million birr (about US$250,000) for information leading to the capture of Tigray People's Liberation Front officials, including leader Debretsion Gebremichael, who are currently in hiding following the fall of Mekelle. (France 24) Disasters and accidents War in Afghanistan An explosion kills 15 children and injures another 20 people in Ghazni, Afghanistan, after a piece of unexploded ordnance blows up when the children try to sell it to a vendor. (BBC News) Health and environment COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19 pandemic in North America COVID-19 pandemic in the United States COVID-19 vaccine COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C. Vice President Mike Pence, Second Lady Karen Pence, Surgeon General Jerome Adams, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine today. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, who recovered from COVID-19 in October, say that they will receive their vaccines "at the appropriate time". (NBC News) (The State) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorizes the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. (Detroit Free Press) COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota Minnesota Senator Jerry Relph dies from COVID-19 complications. (AP) COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state) New York reports a record 12,697 new cases in the past 24 hours, surpassing the previous record set in April. (Bloomberg) COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico Mexico City and the State of Mexico move back to the "red traffic light". All non-essential activity will be suspended until January 10 due to an "alarming" increase in both infections and hospital occupancies. (Milenio) COVID-19 pandemic in Europe COVID-19 pandemic in Austria Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announces that the country will impose a third nationwide lockdown beginning on December 26. However, people who take part in mass testing programmes between January 15 and 17 and test negative will be allowed to enter shops and restaurants beginning on January 18. (Barron's) COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Italy Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announces a second nationwide "red zone" lockdown from December 24–27, December 31–January 3, and January 5–6. On those days, people will only be allowed to travel for work, health or emergency reasons. An "orange zone", where shops are allowed to open, will be in effect from December 28–30 and on January 4. However, all bars and restaurants will remain closed during the holiday season. (Reuters) COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia Interior Minister Davor Božinović announces that Croatia will impose a ban on travel outside one's county between December 23 and January 8. (Croatia Week) COVID-19 pandemic in France, COVID-19 pandemic in Burundi Former President of Burundi Pierre Buyoya dies from COVID-19 at a hospital in Paris, France. (Macau Business) COVID-19 pandemic in Germany Germany reports a record 33,777 new cases in the past 24 hours, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 1,439,938. (Bild) COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia Prime Minister Igor Matovič tests positive for COVID-19. (The Slovak Spectator) COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, COVID-19 vaccine Health Minister Salvador Illa announces that the nationwide vaccination campaign will begin on December 27. (RTVE) COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden Prime Minister Stefan Löfven announces new measures to reduce the second wave of the pandemic. All non-essential public services will close until January 24, alcohol sales will be banned after 8:00 p.m. local time, and the number of people at restaurants will be limited to four per table. It also recommended to use face masks on public transport at certain times. (The Local Sweden) COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland The Swiss government announces that restaurants, bars and sports and leisure centres, as well as libraries, museums and other cultural institutions will close on December 22 to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 as the total numbers of cases and deaths surpass 400,000 and 6,000 respectively. (Swiss Info) COVID-19 pandemic in Africa COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria The Lagos State Government orders all public and private schools in the state to close until further notice. The government also recommends that all public servants from Grade Level 14 and below, except emergency workers and first responders, work from home for 14 days beginning December 21. (Nairametrics) COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa South Africa surpasses 900,000 total cases of COVID-19. (TimesLive) 501.V2 Variant Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announces the discovery of a severe variant of SARS-CoV-2, named 501.V2, which contributed to the second wave of COVID-19 in the country. (Independent Online) COVID-19 pandemic in Asia COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Malaysia surpasses 90,000. (The Malaysian Insight) COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines The Philippines reports 2,122 new cases, the highest daily total in more than a month, bringing the nationwide total to 456,562 cases. (ABS-CBN News) COVID-19 pandemic in Panama Starting from December 21, Panama will reimpose nationwide restrictions by require men and women to carry out holiday shopping on different days. On Christmas and New Year's Day there will be total lockdown for all genders. (The Straits Times) Law and crime 2020–2021 United States racial unrest George Floyd protests, George Floyd protests in New York City The New York City Department of Investigation accuses the police department of mishandling their response to Black Lives Matter protests in the city, which broke out following the killing of George Floyd. (The Wall Street Journal) Mexican drug war Aristóteles Sandoval, former Governor of Jalisco, Mexico, is killed in an attack in Puerto Vallarta. Current Governor Enrique Alfaro Ramírez said that Sandoval was the victim of a "direct attack". (Reuters) The Supreme Court of the United States, in an unsigned 6–3 decision, dismisses Trump v. New York, ruling that the challenge to the Trump administration's memo requiring the Census Bureau to report the results of the 2020 United States census with the exclusion of undocumented immigrants for apportionment is premature, and that no judicial review can be taken until after the data has been collected. The Bureau faces a December 31 deadline to report the results, which they have previously indicated that they may miss. (The New York Times) Islamic Defenders Front, Islam in Indonesia Supporters of the controversial Indonesian Islamic cleric Muhammad Rizieq Shihab clash with police during a demonstration in Jakarta, demanding immediate release of Shihab from police detention. Shihab was arrested last weekend for violations of health protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic after large gatherings occurred to celebrate his return to the country from self-exile in Saudi Arabia. (Reuters) Politics and elections LGBT rights in Switzerland Switzerland legalizes same-sex marriage and for people to change their gender on official documents, pending an expected referendum challenging the law. (Reuters) Science and technology 2020 United States federal government data breach The Department of Energy confirms that it has been breached along with other federal government agencies, but says that the country's nuclear weapons arsenal has not been compromised. The mass data breach is now considered the worst ever cyberattack on the U.S. government. (BBC) A review of some recent medical studies shows that memory T cells may play a role in a phenomenon known as cross-reactivity, which researchers found may perhaps give certain people, in some cases, some level of immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19 even without them having been exposed to or infected with the virus, or having received a vaccine. There are certain structural and clinical similarities between the virus that causes COVID-19 and the other coronaviruses that are related to it, which cause SARS and MERS. (MSN) The British Antarctic Survey confirms that Iceberg A-68, one of the largest ever recorded icebergs with a surface area of 5,800 square kilometres, has broken in two in the South Atlantic as it approaches South Georgia island. The new smaller iceberg has been named A68D. (The Guardian)

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(Posted) RD: Jerry Relph

Article: Jerry Relph (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Star Tribune
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Nohomersryan (talk · give credit)
• Updated by TheTechnician27 (talk · give credit)

Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Not super long, but seems okay for a one-term state senator. No ref problems I can see. Nohomersryan (talk) 04:40, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

• Comment. Needs a source for the birth date (only year in source given) and middle initial. There is very little detail between 1974 (legal graduation) and 2016 (election), though his notability derives solely from his short political career. Otherwise seems an acceptable start-class article. ETA: I note, however, there's been some conflict over the text on his votes in office; a part of this section has now been removed but looking at the history all of it appears to be disputed. Espresso Addict (talk) 05:25, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
  • I'm not seeing too much dispute there outside of the insulin claim, which shouldn't be that hard to verify, but probably not worth it if it's contentious. What's left in the article now appears to be fairly cut and dry. There's no wiki article on the publication for the DOB source I just added, but the article's from a former Star Tribune/New Yorker political writer, so it looks like RS to me Nohomersryan (talk) 06:24, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Weak support bare bones, but given his non-notable career until 2016, I suppose it's understandable. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 15:35, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support Good enough. Every paragraph is cited and it isn't a stub. Mlb96 (talk) 19:56, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
•  Posted — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 21:00, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

RD: Pierre Buyoya

Article: Pierre Buyoya (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Bloomberg
Credits:

• Nominated by Alsoriano97 (talk · give credit)

Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Former dictator of Burundi dies from COVID-19. Alsoriano97 (talk) 00:21, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose Half of the article is uncited. Mlb96 (talk) 01:18, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose. In addition to the lack of sourcing, there is no clarity on, for example, whether he was in prison at the time of his death. Espresso Addict (talk) 04:07, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

RD: Òscar Ribas Reig

Article: Òscar Ribas Reig (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Diari d'Andorra
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Alsoriano97 (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Williamsdoritios (talk · give credit)

Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: 1st Prime Minister of Andorra who led the Principality during the Constituent process. Working to improve his article. Alsoriano97 (talk) 22:49, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose Vast majority uncited. I wish you luck in improving this mess. Gex4pls (talk) 03:46, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose. Recent edits have unfortunately created a garbled mess. Espresso Addict (talk) 03:53, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Yes, I'm working on it. Alsoriano97 (talk) 12:00, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

• Attention required Espresso Addict Gex4pls. Can you both take a look now? I have improved it. Alsoriano97 (talk) 19:18, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

@Alsoriano97: It's somewhat improved, thanks, but still nowhere near main-page quality. There needs to be a coherent account of his notable career in detail, which is completely sourced to reliable sources. For example, just under "Beginnings" (which I'll edit to something better in a moment), when did he join the National Liberal Party; which exact party is referred to (wikilink); was he elected to the General Council or appointed in some fashion; if elected in what election, representing whom; what did he do as a council member; what happened between 1979 and 1981... And so on. Espresso Addict (talk) 20:53, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for your contribution, but I have to say that I'm struggling to find information as there's few specific information in the net. Alsoriano97 (talk) 21:40, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

@Espresso Addict and Gex4pls: I added more sources and info, but as I said, there's not much more. I will continue tomorrow if it's necessary. Alsoriano97 (talk) 23:06, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

The article is significantly better now, thanks. I'm still puzzled by what happened between 1979 and 1981 -- was the General Council dissolved, or was he just not elected in 1979? Also there's nothing on the basic personal life -- marriage(s), children -- apart from unsourced material in the infobox. There's also a requested source in the awards. I have not checked the non-English sources. Espresso Addict (talk) 05:04, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

It is significantly improved, though I've noticed one one uncited sentence and a preexisting cn tag. Get those fixed and I'll change my !vote to a Support. Gex4pls (talk) 20:56, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

RD: José Vicente Rangel

Article: José Vicente Rangel (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Reuters, El País
Credits:

• Nominated by NoonIcarus (talk · give credit)

Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Venezuelan senior ranking politician, including former Vice President, presdential candidate and journalist. Prominent figure in the left wing political history of the country. NoonIcarus (talk) 20:50, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

• Comment 1 section unreferenced (tagged) and a couple of citations elsewhere (tagged), could also use ISBN's for the books if available. Will support when fixed. JW 1961 Talk 21:27, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose. Incoherent, no information on his career in government, lacks sources throughout. Espresso Addict (talk) 04:00, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

(Posted) RD: Michael Jeffery

Article: Michael Jeffery (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7062335/former-governor-general-gentleman-and-great-australian-michael-jeffery-dies/
Credits:

• Nominated by HiLo48 (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Former Governor-General of Australia HiLo48 (talk) 06:33, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose several cn tags and unreferenced paragraphs Scaramouche33 (talk) 12:45, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose at present per WP:PROMO. Lots of advert-like language at the moment, though that could probably be fixed relatively quickly. AleatoryPonderings (???) (!!!) 16:38, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
  • Support. It's been cleaned up substantially. Only outstanding issue I see that we're missing a page reference for Who's Who in Australia, but I'm not super worried about that. AleatoryPonderings (???) (!!!) 14:05, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment. I've removed some promotional text, but there are still sources required throughout. Espresso Addict (talk) 00:25, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support looks alright to me. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 15:36, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• @MSGJ, Black Kite, Dumelow, Stephen, and Spencer:, pardon the intrusion, this is ready to be posted to homepage / RD. Thanks Amakuru. Ktin (talk) 16:55, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Posted  — Amakuru (talk) 17:12, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

December 17

Portal:Current events/2020 December 17

December 17, 2020 (2020-12-17) (Thursday) Armed conflicts and attacks Boko Haram insurgency Kankara kidnapping Katsina's governor Aminu Bello Masari says 344 pupils kidnapped from a boarding school in Kankara by Boko Haram on December 11 have been freed in Zamfara. (Al Jazeera) Sinai insurgency Two roadside bombings near Sheikh Zuweid in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, kill three Egyptian Army troops and wound 10 others. Separately, Egyptian military raids on Sheikh Zuweid kill four Islamist militants. (ABC News) Terrorism in Australia A knifeman kills two elderly people after storming their home and then tries to attack police officers on a highway in Brisbane, Australia. The attacker, who is shot dead by police, has been identified as a 22-year-old man inspired by the Islamic State. He was arrested in early 2019 when he tried to join the group in Somalia. (CNA) Arts and culture UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists Malaysian Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Nancy Shukri announces that the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage has listed pantun and wangkang on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. This marks the first time that Malaysia has gained UNESCO recognition along with other countries, as the pantun was jointly nominated with Indonesia and the wangkang ceremony was jointly nominated with China. (NST) The Finnish sauna culture is inscribed on the UNESCO list. As authorized by the state, the Finnish Heritage Agency commits, together with Finnish sauna communities and promoters of the sauna culture, to safeguard the vitality of the sauna tradition and to highlight its importance as part of customs and wellbeing. (YLE) Disasters and accidents 2020–21 South Pacific cyclone season Cyclone Yasa makes landfall in Bua Province, Fiji, at around 6:00 a.m. UTC (6:00 p.m. FJT), two hours ahead of its forecasted schedule. (FBC News) Health and environment COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19 pandemic in Europe COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland The Northern Ireland Executive agrees to impose a new lockdown beginning on Boxing Day, which means that non-essential shops will be closed from the end of trading on Christmas Eve. During the first week of lockdown, essential shops will have to close each day at 8:00 p.m. GMT. (BBC) COVID-19 pandemic in France President Emmanuel Macron tests positive for COVID-19. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, Secretary-General of the OECD José Ángel Gurría and President of the European Council Charles Michel self-isolate after having contact with Macron earlier this week. (BBC News) COVID-19 pandemic in Germany The Robert Koch Institute reports a revised total of more than 30,000 cases in the past 24 hours, a new record, because around 3,500 cases in Baden-Württemberg were not initially reported. (The Local Germany) COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands The Netherlands reports a new single-day record of 12,844 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 652,525. (NL Times) Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge says that vaccinations using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will begin on January 8 if the European Medicines Agency approves it for use next week. (ABC News) COVID-19 pandemic in Poland Health Minister Adam Niedzielski announces a nationwide lockdown that will close hotels and ski slopes from December 28 to January 17. He also says that a curfew will be imposed on New Year's Eve from 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. local time. (Poland In) COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal Prime Minister António Costa says that an overnight curfew beginning at 11:00 p.m. will be in effect in the country on New Year's Eve. He also added that people would not be allowed to leave their homes between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. from January 1 to 3. (CNA) COVID-19 pandemic in San Marino The Government imposes a curfew between 00:30 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. from 18 December. (San Marino TV) COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey Turkey reports a record 243 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 17,364. (Daily Sabah) COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine Mayor Hennadiy Kernes of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, dies in Germany due to complications caused by COVID-19 after contracting the virus in September. (Kyiv Post) COVID-19 pandemic in Asia COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan issues a gubernatorial instruction and decree that requires anyone leaving and entering the city from tomorrow until January 8 to have a negative rapid antigen test result. The order also limits the capacity of offices to 50% and requires cafés, restaurants and tourist attractions to close at 7:00 p.m. local time from December 24 to 27 and December 31 to January 2. (The Jakarta Post) (Jakarta Globe) COVID-19 pandemic in Japan The Tokyo Metropolitan Government raises its healthcare alert level to the top level for the first time as the number of infections continues to increase. This comes as Tokyo reports a record of 822 new cases in the past 24 hours. (The Straits Times) COVID-19 pandemic in Palestine The Palestinian Authority impose a two-week lockdown in the entire West Bank that orders schools, universities, restaurants, barbershops, gyms and leisure venues to close. As part of the lockdown, the curfew has also been extended for two weeks. (The Times of Israel) COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia begins its vaccination campaign a day after it received two shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. More than 150,000 people have registered to receive the vaccine. (Al Jazeera) COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea South Korea reports a record 22 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 634. (Yonhap News Agency) COVID-19 pandemic in North America COVID-19 pandemic in the United States The U.S. surpasses 17 million cases of COVID-19. (The Daily Beast) COVID-19 pandemic in California California reports 52,281 new cases and 379 deaths in the past 24 hours, both a new single-day record for the state and nationwide since the beginning of the pandemic. (KABC-TV) COVID-19 pandemic in Texas Texas reports a new single-day record of 16,864 cases, bringing the totals to 1,371,223 confirmed cases and 167,966 probable cases. (KEYE-TV) COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C. Cedric Richmond, advisor to President-elect Joe Biden, tests positive for COVID-19. (CBS News) COVID-19 pandemic in Canada COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta Alberta reports a record 30 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the provincial death toll to 790. (Calgary Herald) COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario Ontario reports 2,432 cases, a new-single day record. (The Globe and Mail) Canada reports over 7,002 cases, a new-single day record. (Global News) COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The New South Wales Northern Beaches outbreak reaches 17 cases, leading to fears of a second wave in the state. Western Australia and Queensland have reimposed border restrictions on people travelling from New South Wales. (News.com.au) Law and crime Legality of euthanasia The Spanish Congress of Deputies approves the decriminalisation of euthanasia, becoming the sixth country to do so. (La Vanguardia) The Chilean Chamber of Deputies approves a bill to allow euthanasia. (La Tercera) Adass Israel School sex abuse scandal Israeli Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn signs an extradition order to Australia for accused child sex abuser Malka Leifer, after she was convicted of faking mental illness to avoid extradition earlier this year. (The Guardian) Human rights in Australia An ombudsman report finds that the Victorian state government's decision to briefly impose a "hard lockdown" on public housing towers in July in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, not allowing anyone in or out, was a violation of human rights. The state government refuses to apologise to the tower residents despite the report's recommendations. (The Guardian) Modern display of the Confederate battle flag New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signs into law a bill banning the display and sale of Confederate battle flags, Nazi swastikas and other 'symbols of hate' on state-owned property. Cuomo has promised to address concerns that this law could violate freedom of speech. (WNBC-TV) Jean-Luc Brunel, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein, is arrested in France on charges of rape and sex trafficking. (The New York Daily News) Science and technology 2020 United States federal government data breach Microsoft confirms it has discovered malicious software in its operating systems related to a mass data breach targeting the federal government of the United States. (Reuters) The Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launches communications satellite CMS-01 into a geostationary orbit from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. (Space.com) Sports Russian doping After a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling, Russia is banned from international sports for two years, including the 2020 Summer Olympics, the 2022 Winter Olympics, and other World Championships due to doping. (AP)

---

(Posted) RD: John Barnard Jenkins

Article: John Barnard Jenkins (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): https://www.bbc.co.uk/cymrufyw/55362586
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Kosack (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Former leader of Welsh nationalist group Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru. Imprisoned for a bombing campaign in Wales and surrounding areas. 15:22, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support Article is well-referenced. Hanif Al Husaini (talk) 16:38, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
•  Posted — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 22:27, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

RD: Jeremy Bulloch

Article: Jeremy Bulloch (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): BBC
Credits:

• Nominated by Muboshgu (talk · give credit)

Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Boba Fett. Needs some sourcing. – Muboshgu (talk) 22:16, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Weak support. Pretty well sourced, in the process of replacing some references to his website. Per below, filmography needs work. Yeeno (talk) 🍁 22:37, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment. Folks, sorry about this, but, the filmography section is almost fully unsourced. Will have to be sourced prior to going to homepage / RD. Ktin (talk) 22:42, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  That was something I overlooked, I'll see what I can add. Yeeno (talk) 🍁 22:48, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Weak oppose the television appearances section is almost entirely unreferenced. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 15:37, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

(Posted) RD: R. N. Shetty

Article: R. N. Shetty (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): NDTV
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Ktin (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Espresso Addict (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Indian businessman. I have not read the article in detail. Surely some amount of rewrites will be required. Will get to it this evening. Posting this here in case someone wants to get started prior to me getting to it. Update: Been a long day, have not able to get to this, will have it picked tomorrow. Edits done. Rewrote most of the article to avoid reading like a corporate press release. Meets hygiene requirements for homepage / RD. Ktin (talk) 19:14, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Comment. Needs much better sourcing. The entire career section is sourced to a single article of 2010, now offline, so out of date and quality unjudgeable. Despite some editing to tone it down, it still reads like a corporate press release. Also no personal life beyond childhood, a >30-year period between birth and setting up R N Shetty & Company which is largely undocumented. Espresso Addict (talk) 04:50, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment. Edits done per request above. Rewrote most of the content to avoid reading like a press release. Meets hygiene conditions for homepage / RD. Ktin (talk) 05:53, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment. Please can I request a pair of eyes on this article. Thanks. Ktin (talk) 12:34, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support - looks good to me after the updates, thanks Ktin. Marking as ready.  — Amakuru (talk) 12:49, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• @MSGJ, Black Kite, Dumelow, Stephen, and Spencer:, pardon the intrusion, this is ready to be posted to homepage / RD. Thanks Amakuru. Ktin (talk) 16:55, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

  Since I'm currently the lone support on this, I'd prefer another admin to cast eyes on it, or at least one more support, before it's posted. Cheers  — Amakuru (talk) 17:08, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

  Oh, and I've just noticed that I was not in the "please post" ping, but in the "thanks Amakuru" ping so I should definitely read messages fully next time!  — Amakuru (talk) 17:09, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

•  Posted — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 17:13, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Appeal of Russia doping case penalties

Article: Doping in Russia (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ On appeal of the ruling from the World Anti-Doping Agency related to Doping in Russia, the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduces the penalties against Russia, allowing Russian athletes to participate in the Olympics and other international events but only as neutral athletes for a two year period. (Post)
Alternative blurb: ​ The Court of Arbitration for Sport reduces the ban against Russia to two years in the doping in Russia scandal and allows Russian athletes to compete as neutral athletes during the ban period.
News source(s): AP
Credits:

• Nominated by Masem (talk · give credit)

Article updated

Nominator's comments: We posted the original WADA ruling last December [6] where Russia was outright banned from the Olympics for four years. This appeal ruling drastically cuts that to still allow Russia to compete but as a "Neutral Athlete/Team" for a period of two years. Among other factors. Masem (t) 19:03, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Comment The news reports that they can appeal against this decision made on an accepted appeal (AP). Are we going to post it every time the penalties are reduced upon accepted appeals until the ban is lifted?--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 20:10, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
  • If the appeal results in a significantly different outcome, yes. I would consider that the change from "Can't participate at all for 4 years" to "Can participate, but limited to 'Neutral' for 2 years" is a significantly different outcome here. When I first read this AP story and comprehended what it meant, I thought it was only a reduction from 4 to 2 years but otherwise under the same terms, and thus would have considered that not significant enough to post. But as I reviewed what we had already on the target article, it made sense this is a big change. --Masem (t) 20:24, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Weak support Target article is well referenced. Update is present and referenced. It's not very extensive, but it's enough I guess. --Jayron32 20:30, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Weak oppose Update is not great, quite short. Also meh in general This post was made by orbitalbuzzsaw gang (talk) 02:34, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support. Post now and post again, if and when Russia pays off enough officials to have the ban lifted completely. This shame bears beaing reposted. I am also adding a shorter alt blurb. Nsk92 (talk) 02:02, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose "Powerful and corrupt fat cats scratch each other's backs" is not news. GreatCaesarsGhost 13:46, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose Corrupt people are corrupt, what's new? Gex4pls (talk) 02:59, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

RD: Saufatu Sopoanga

Article: Saufatu Sopoanga (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): (New Zealand Government)
Credits:

• Nominated by Alsoriano97 (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Former PM of Tuvalu. Article seems good. Alsoriano97 (talk) 15:00, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose Multiple missing citations, odd structuring, and some very weird grammar. Not to mention nothing on his death. Gex4pls (talk) 15:07, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

RD: Hennadiy Kernes

Article: Hennadiy Kernes (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Ukrinform, BBC Ukrainian (in Ukrainian)
Credits:

• Nominated by Hanif Al Husaini (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Yulia Romero (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Mayor of Kharkiv. Article is quite decent. Hanif Al Husaini (talk) 12:49, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support looks good --Tensa Februari (talk) 14:35, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Slight Oppose Article looks almost good, just the awards section needs more sources. Gex4pls (talk) 15:13, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support good article, seems to have a notable history other than as mayor as well. Albertaont (talk) 16:25, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment The business career section states that he's been described as a mini-oligarch. Shouldn't there be a citation for that claim? Scaramouche33 (talk) 18:01, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment. I've hidden some material that needs sourcing, and requested other sources. Has anyone been able to check the non-English sources, particularly for the negative material? Espresso Addict (talk) 03:50, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment Orange tag in awards section, will support when fixed JW 1961 Talk 21:32, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
• @Hanif Al Husaini and Yulia Romero: any chance that section could be referenced? — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 20:55, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Great conjunction

Article: great conjunction (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ The closest visible great conjunction since the year 1226 occurs on December 21st (UTC). (Post)
Alternative blurb: ​ The closest visible great conjunction since the year 1226 occurs on December 21st.
Alternative blurb II: ​ The closest great conjunction since the year 1623 occurs on December 21st.
Alternative blurb III: ​ The closest great conjunction, between Jupiter and Saturn, since the year 1623 occurs on December 21st.
News source(s): Guardian Forbes (soft paywall) NPR Rice University (very interesting if you like to geek out with orbital math
Credits:

• Nominated by Sagittarian Milky Way (talk · give credit)

Article updated

Nominator's comments: (nominated early to ensure sufficient time if this barely wins) "great conjunction" is the technical astronomy term and astrologic mumbo for this rarest category of planetary alignment known before the discovery of Uranus. They occur on a c. 19.86 year cycle and this one's only 0.2 Moon diameters apart for most of the world. All longitudes and most latitudes can see, only early night or dusk. This is also the start of an air trigon mutation in astrology meaning the triangle is in air signs for awhile, two trigons ago the fire one starting in 1603 made people freak out about apocalypse causing a papal bull banning divination and mentions by Shakespeare, Bacon, Dante, Tycho and Kepler. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 05:05, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

Extended content

Complete list 1800 to 2230: Jul 17 1802: 7 times further apart than 2020 Jun 19 1821: 12 times further apart than 2020 Jan 26 1841: 6 times further apart than 2020 Oct 21 1861: 8 times further apart than 2020 Apr 18 1881: Invisible Nov 28 1901: 4 times further apart than 2020 Sep 10 1921: Lost in Sun's glare Aug 08 1940: 12 times further apart than 2020 Oct 20 1940: 12 times further apart than 2020 Feb 15 1941: 13 times further apart than 2020 Feb 19 1960: 2.5 times further apart than 2020, predawn Dec 31 1980: 10 times further apart than 2020 Mar 04 1981: 10 times further apart than 2020 Jul 24 1981: 11 times further apart than 2020 May 31 2000: Lost in Sun's glare Dec 21 2020: Double planet Oct 31 2040: 11 times further apart, near bright dawn only Apr 07 2060: 11 times further apart than 2020 Mar 15 2080: About as close as 2020 but must look at dawn Sep 18 2100: 12 times further apart than 2020 Jul 15 2119: 9 times further apart than 2020 Jan 14 2140: 2.5 times further apart than 2020 Dec 21 2159: 12 times further apart than 2020 May 28 2179: 7 times further apart than 2020 Apr 07 2199: 4 times further apart than 2020 Oct 31 2219: Invisible

Each event is c. 243° counterclockwise of the last which looks like 117° clockwise which looks like a counterclockwise spinning triangle when you connect them with lines in chronological order

• Support in principle There's a lot of hype around the event in every astronomical community that I'm familiar with. While I'm not sure how famous the event is to the average Joe,it's nevertheless being reported in major news outlets and given the rarity of the event, I think it deserves a blurb. However, the target article has a lot of problems so oppose until that's fixed. Scaramouche33 (talk) 05:47, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support per Scaramouche33. But don't use the term win; we're not winning anything there. Several of my blurbs get rejected in the past and I don't consider it as a loss, just stale. Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 07:32, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose tagged. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 11:38, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose, despite being an astronomer myself. Although the event is underway, closest approach doesn't happen until 21 Dec. It's also pretty unimpressive to see and has zero scientific interest or value. Some amateur astronomy organisations are promoting it, but there's little-to-no interest among professionals. For the general public it's less impressive to look at than the Geminid meteor shower that's also happening right now. Whilst I like to see astronomy stories in ITN, I think general readers would see that blurb, think it was something dramatic like an eclipse, then be hugely disappointed to realise what's actually visible. We certainly shouldn't be promoting the pseudoscience of astrology on the Main Page. Modest Genius ^talk 11:56, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  It's great to have an actual astronomer here, it really helps us differentiate the important stuff from the trivia Scaramouche33 (talk) 12:05, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  To be honest I don't know at what point 2 points of light are close and similar enough to be visually impressive. If this was Venus (brightness about minus 4) and Jupiter (about minus 2) several arcminutes apart it would definitely be visually impressive, this is 6 arcminutes apart and only about magnitude 0 and minus 2. I won't guess if they will be or won't be close enough to impress the general public in a good telescope. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 14:19, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  Support. The claims made above are incorrect. The event will be impressive to see; both planets will be visible in the same field of view in a telescope (only the second time this has happened since the invention of the telescope). Another close conjunction won't happen again until 2080 so this is a very rare event, and it is important as it has been given significant prominence in many astronomical almanacs/year books/magazines. The event is also of some scientific value: I know of some astronomers who are are using this event to study Jupiter's magnetosphere as Saturn passes through it as seen from Earth. However, I do agree that the article should be improved (help would be appreciated), the mentions of astrology removed (as unimportant), and the blurb reworded a bit something like "The planets Jupiter and Saturn appeared at their closest together in the sky for almost 400 years on 21 December, in an event known as a great conjunction (explaining what it is rather than just mentioning it).

QuantumPulsar2002 (talk) 17:32 (edited 23:03), 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Huh you're right, I hadn't thought of that. Jupiter is I believe the only planet in the solar system who's magnetic field is long enough to "touch" another planet. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 17:55, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support I saw this covered on The Sky at Night yesterday and it looked quite special. I looked at the planets earlier in the year when out late observing the comet, which we blurbed. The planets were a lot brighter than the comet then and this conjunction will make them even more prominent. Unlike Brexit and other human affairs, this is quite a sure thing and it is good to give people advance notice so they have a chance to see it themselves.

Note also that we have had Nana Akufo-Addo as the picture blurb for an entire week now and it's embarassing to have such a low-impact story as our lead for so long. Like the comet, the conjunction will have plenty of good pictures for us to highlight and so we should make the most of them.

Andrew🐉(talk) 13:10, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Comment – How does this affect anyone on Earth? – Sca (talk) 13:46, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  People on earth are learning about it because media are covering it, and they are likely to be interested in a quality Wikipedia article on the topic. --Jayron32 13:52, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  Answer: it doesn't. It's almost embarrassing to consider it encyclopedic. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 14:25, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  Of course it doesn't, nothing really does except a direct hit by an asteroid. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 14:40, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  Depends on where it lands.--WaltCip-(talk) 15:04, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  Lol. Unless it's an even rarer huge one. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 15:08, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  ASTEROID STRIKES THE US, THOUSANDS CONFIRMED DEAD "Us centric" Gex4pls (talk) 15:22, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose in deference to Modest Genius and his credentials.--WaltCip-(talk) 13:54, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose – Per Modest. Not of general significance or impact. – Sca (talk) 14:37, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment Is there a precedence of garden-variety total lunar eclipse nominations not being posted, that might help clarify minimum visual impressiveness for events that science has already learned all it could from as TLEs impress kids but are "eh I'll look but that's it" at best to astronomy PhDs and people who've had an astronomy hobby for long enough. I recommend collecting photographs of lunar eclipses with different skyscrapers or mountains or whatever to cure those repetitive doldrums. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 14:40, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  Sagittarian Milky Way, Wikipedia:In_the_news/Candidates/July_2018#(Posted)_Longest_lunar_eclipse_of_the_21st_century appears to be the last time we posted a lunar eclipse. Hanif Al Husaini (talk) 14:59, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support. It's an interesting and rare event. While it has no scientific value, that's also true for almost all other news stories. Count Iblis (talk) 14:57, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support per above. 108.41.121.223 (talk) 15:42, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose appears to be of astrological, rather than astronomical, importance per Modest. – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 16:44, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  Not quite, it's important in astrological mumbo jumbo but it's still the 2 most visually impressive planets in a telescope being unusually close (less than or about 10 Jupiter or Saturn diameters). They're only in the same telescope field of view once every few decades much less this close. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 17:00, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  Fair enough, although I stand by my oppose as it doesn't seem as significant as, say, an eclipse. – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 17:03, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose deferring to expertise of Modest Genius This post was made by orbitalbuzzsaw gang (talk) 17:02, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose, per Modest and others. – Ammarpad (talk) 05:29, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support pending improvements to quality and appropriate update. This is both in the news and of general interest to our readers. We should not be so pompous to reject this as not being scientifically important. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 09:44, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

  There's hardly anything pompous about scientific importance, especially compared to other ITN/R topics such as award shows or horse-racing.--WaltCip-(talk) 13:39, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

  Indeed. This is not pomposity, it's just a rejection that in general (per the nomination) this is "very interesting if you like to geek out with orbital math". Enough said. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 13:45, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

  Science may have had its last significant discoveries about conjunctions with Tycho's measurement advances, Kepler's elliptical orbits and Galileo's work 4 centuries ago but it would still be new and interesting to some readers. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 16:08, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support per nominator and Andrew. Visible worldwide with significant media coverage. Opposers fail to convince that this is not an ITN-worthy blurb. Tagged section can be edited down or removed to the article Talk page for discussion as needed. Jusdafax (talk) 15:31, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

  "... Tagged section can be edited down or removed ..."!! That's two-thirds of this shoddy article... The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 16:16, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose on article quality. ~ Destroyer🌀🌀 17:10, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose due to article quality; parts are unsourced, much that is sourced depends on a reference that is someone's private webpage, half of it is astrological nonsense. Black Kite (talk) 17:19, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

  Am I at least halfway done with bringing article to minimum quality? There is less pseudoscience and more positional astronomy now. And anything of that pseudoscience that might generously be called history has been moved to new section called in history Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 19:18, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

• Comment There's a lot more astronomy bytes in the article now and a lot less astrology and more sourcing and no tags. I note that a planetary science Ph.D. (U. of Arizona) who's been full professor at Rice University since 2007 has cared enough to write these detailed articles on great conjunctions: [7] [8], making 3,000 and 20,000* year lists and writing about the cyclical mathematics and so on, one astronomy PhD not finding this interesting wouldn't mean they all don't. Those institutions aren't bad, University of Arizona's astronomy program is rated 5th to 24th in America depending on metric and their planetary science is 6th to 33rd. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 20:05, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Luzy Bronze

Article: Lucy Bronze (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ English footballer, Lucy Bronze, is awarded The Best FIFA Women's Player as the top women's player of the year at the The Best FIFA Football Awards 2020. (Post)
News source(s): Sports Illustrated, Sky Sports, Eurosport
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Hmlarson (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Ampimd (talk · give credit)

Article updated

Nominator's comments: Top global award for footballers Hmlarson (talk) 17:40, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose. a) There are already seven football events per year on WP:ITNR; I don't think the sport needs even more coverage. b) I don't remember us ever posting blurbs about individual awards in other team sports. c) The article The Best FIFA Women's Player is little more than a stub, indicating how little interest there is in this award. d) It's strange not to include the men's award that was announced at the same time. e) The Ballon d'Or is a more prestigious award. Modest Genius ^talk 18:02, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

• Thanks for your feedback Modest Genius. Can you share which specific football events are featured per year? Hmlarson (talk) 18:48, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

They are listed in WP:ITNR#Football_(association). Espresso Addict (talk) 00:10, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

• I was surprised to find that the Ballon d'Or doesn't appear to be ITN/R, but it wasn't awarded this year, so that seems to be moot. If we post this, we definitely should have both men's and women's together. Espresso Addict (talk) 00:10, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support - definitely worthy and the article quality looks good. Could more be written about the award and the circumstances? Why was she awarded, any reaction, etc.? — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 22:33, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
• Seems like a nice enough article, which should matter here. Does anyone recall if we post the men? GreatCaesarsGhost 02:07, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

December 16

Portal:Current events/2020 December 16

December 16, 2020 (2020-12-16) (Wednesday) Armed conflicts and attacks War in Afghanistan Gunmen attack a security checkpoint in Puli Khumri, Baghlan Province, killing 13 police officers. An armoured personnel carrier and several police vehicles are also destroyed during the attack, which Afghan officials blame on the Taliban. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. (Al Jazeera) 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war Dozens of Artsakh Defence Army troops are reportedly captured during an Azerbaijani "anti-terror" raid on several villages in Nagorno-Karabakh. The villages had previously been returned to Azerbaijan as part of the 2020 ceasefire agreement. Artsakh's Defence Ministry says that it "lost contact" with a number of military posts overnight, with as many as 60 to 160 personnel missing. Videos uploaded to social media appear to show captured soldiers. (BBC News) Business and economy Libyan peace process The Central Bank of Libya agrees to a devalued exchange rate of 4.48 Libyan dinars to 1 U.S. dollar beginning January 3, in its first board meeting since 2014. (Reuters) History of bitcoin The cryptocurrency bitcoin hits an all-time high of US$20,440 after jumping more than 4.5% amid high demand from large investors. (BBC News) Health and environment COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19 pandemic in Europe COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom COVID-19 pandemic in Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford announces that all non-essential retail, leisure and fitness centres, as well as all hospitality premises will be closed as of December 25. The country will also move to the highest "Level 4" restrictions beginning December 28, which means that people will be ordered to limit their Christmas gatherings to only two households. (Sky News) COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announces that the country will impose a full nationwide lockdown from December 25 to January 3 that will close malls, shops, and other non-essential activities during the holiday season. This comes after a record of nearly 3,700 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours. (France 24) COVID-19 pandemic in Germany Germany reports a record 952 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 23,427, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute. (DW) COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands The Netherlands reports a record 11,214 new cases in the past 24 hours. (NL Times) COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey Turkey reports a record 240 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 17,121. (Reuters) COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland Former President Flavio Cotti dies from COVID-19 at the age of 81. (France24) COVID-19 pandemic in Asia COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia President Joko Widodo announces that the COVID-19 vaccine would be free of charge for all Indonesians, amending the government's earlier decision to limit the free vaccination programme only for healthcare frontline workers and the poor. (Jakarta Globe) COVID-19 pandemic in Japan Tokyo reports a new single-day record of 678 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the prefecture to 48,668. (The Japan Times) COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea The number of confirmed cases in South Korea reaches a record 1,078 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total to 45,442 cases. (Al Jazeera) COVID-19 pandemic in the United States COVID-19 pandemic in Alaska Two health care workers at Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau have a severe allergic reaction after being administered Tozinameran, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19. Both healthcare workers are expected to recover. (KTUU-TV) COVID-19 pandemic in California California reports a record 53,711 new cases and 293 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total of confirmed cases to 1,671,081 cases and death toll to 21,481. (KABC-TV) COVID-19 pandemic in Tennessee Tennessee reports 11,410 cases, a new single-day record. (WMC-TV) COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C. The White House announces that Vice President Mike Pence, his wife Karen, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams will receive the vaccine on Friday. President-elect Joe Biden also announces that he will receive the vaccine next week. (MarketWatch) Rep. Joe Wilson tests positive for COVID-19 and is expected to self-isolate throughout the holidays. (CNN) Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt tests positive for COVID-19, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo enters quarantine after a possible exposure to the virus. (The Washington Post) (CNN) COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan Michigan surpasses 11,000 deaths from COVID-19, eight days after surpassing 10,000. (WDIV-TV) COVID-19 pandemic in Australia New South Wales reports the first locally-transmitted case in two weeks, after a 45-year-old Sydney man who drives international flight crews to and from the Sydney Airport tested positive for COVID-19. (ABC Australia) COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil Brazil surpasses seven million total cases of COVID-19, becoming the third country to do so after India and the United States. (The Jerusalem Post) 2020 H5N8 outbreak About 32,000 birds will be slaughtered and buried in Sukumo in Kochi Prefecture after a highly pathogenic avian influenza was discovered at an poultry farm. (The Japan Times) International relations Belarus–European Union relations Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya calls for the European Union to support protesters in her country as she is awarded the Sakharov Prize. (ABC News) Switzerland–United States relations, United States–Vietnam relations The United States Department of the Treasury formally labels Switzerland and Vietnam as currency manipulators, accusing them of intervening to limit the rise of their currencies against the U.S. dollar. Switzerland rejects the label. (BBC News) Law and crime Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot Six men are indicted by a federal grand jury in the failed plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. (Detroit Free Press) A source claims that the United States Department of Justice will unseal new charges in connection with the 1988 bombing of the Pan Am Flight 103. (AP) A man arrested in the Philippines in July 2019 is indicted by federal prosecutors in New York for plotting to carry out a 9/11-style attack in the U.S. The suspect was allegedly directed by the terrorist organization al-Shabaab to attend a flight school in the Philippines and research how to hijack a commercial airliner. (NBC News) Science and technology Misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic Twitter says that it will ban false and misleading claims about COVID-19 vaccines on its platform. (Reuters) Chinese space program China National Space Administration (CNSA) spacecraft Chang'e 5 returns to Earth carrying samples of lunar rocks and soil from the surface of the Moon. The capsule will be airlifted to Beijing for formal opening and the samples will be made available to scientists in other countries, according to the CNSA. (The Guardian)

---

Kan-etsu Expressway

Article: Kan-etsu Expressway (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ Around 1,000 drivers are stranded on the Kan-etsu Expressway after heavy snowfall impacts northern Japan. (Post)
News source(s): NBC News The Japan Times
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Mccunicano (talk · give credit)

Article updated

Nominator's comments: A major disruption to the country's national expressway network that is not able to be remedied in a routine manner. Military is involved. The image included is of the expressway from two years ago.  ❯❯❯ Mccunicano☕️ 06:45, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

• Snow close (sorry; I couldn't help it) this is not nearly significant enough, nor is the update all that substantial. GreatCaesarsGhost 02:05, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

RD: Anthony Casso

Article: Anthony Casso (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): NY Daily News
Credits:

• Nominated by Poydoo (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Vaselineeeeeeee (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: High-profile mobster. Death from COVID. Poydoo can talk and edit 22:11, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

• Comment The "Big money" section seems undercited. Would support if those and a few other uncited paragraphs got citations. Mlb96 (talk) 23:27, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose too much unreferenced. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 11:36, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• @Poydoo and Vaselineeeeeeee: any progress with the article? — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 20:51, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• I've removed some unsourced pov, but there are still problems that The Rambling Man pointed out with the tags. I have half a mind to remove the "big money" section unless sourcing can be found. Maybe User:Lenin and McCarthy can help? Vaselineeeeeeee^★★★ 00:44, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

(Posted) RD: Flavio Cotti

Article: Flavio Cotti (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen
Credits:

• Nominated by Alsoriano97 (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Sandstein (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Former President of the Swiss Confederation. Dies from COVID-19. The article is...quite insufficient Alsoriano97 (talk) 21:19, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

Weak oppose Seems like a stub but fully cited. Needs expansion. Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 23:52, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose. Undersourced stub. Espresso Addict (talk) 00:06, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support now that I've expanded the article. Sandstein 10:52, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support now it's long enough for RD. Hanif Al Husaini (talk) 12:42, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
•  Posted — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 17:28, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

(Posted) RD: Jack Steinberger

Article: Jack Steinberger (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): NYTimes
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Ktin (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Espresso Addict (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Physics Nobel prize winner. Death announced today 12/16 in English Media, and yesterday, 12/15 in German media. Article requires some amount of work in referencing. Added tags in case someone wants to give it a go in the next couple of hours. Completed the referencing. If someone finds any other edits that are required, let me know. I will be up for the next three hours. Ktin (talk) 20:10, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support I think it's good to go, although one question. Isn't the term married to his wife a bit tautological? Scaramouche33 (talk) 04:35, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  Scaramouche33, done. Fixed this one. Thanks. Ktin (talk) 05:00, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Comment. The lead could do with expansion to include his major positions held and a summary in layperson's terms of the impact of his research. I also noticed that several claims in the text are only supported by primary sources or later reviews authored by Steinberger -- all of this needs to be sourced independently. Espresso Addict (talk) 06:42, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  Espresso Addict, while the lede can be expanded, can you be specific about the latter comment? The nature of research papers is that the papers themselves are the sources. I will not claim to be an expert on this topic, but, reading the article, it didn't jump out as something that I would rush to change. Ktin (talk) 06:48, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

Not a physicist, but my understanding is that one can state "scientist researched x topic" with a primary source, but one can't state "scientist discovered x, proved y, or demonstrated z", or the like, without a secondary source. Espresso Addict (talk) 06:56, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

It's also a bit lacking in dates; I tried to construct a list of where he was when but there isn't precise enough info in most cases. In particular, the retirement date from CERN is missing. Espresso Addict (talk) 07:06, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

Espresso Addict, Added the retirement date from CERN. Added the other sources that you'd wanted. Anything else that I can help? Ktin (talk) 07:32, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

Espresso Addict, don't get me wrong, but, you've got to be more specific than this. The statement It's also a bit lacking in dates doesn't give me anything to work with, particularly when the article is littered with dates. Ktin (talk) 07:45, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Comment. Alright folks, I am calling it a night. I think the article as it stands is good to go to homepage / RD. Above feedback is good, but, to the extent that specific feedback has been provided, those have been incorporated. With this, I believe we should be good to go. Ktin (talk) 08:00, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support good enough. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 11:30, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
•  Posted — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 11:37, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

(Posted) RD: Awesome Again

Article: Awesome Again (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): The Press Box
Credits:

• Nominated by Joseywales1961 (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Canadian Hall of Fame Racehorse, article in surprisingly better condition than a lot of human BLPs JW 1961 Talk 18:33, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support - You're right, that is a good article. Poydoo can talk and edit 19:26, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support Horse article is good article. Gex4pls (talk) 20:31, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

 Posted – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 00:43, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

(Posted) Chang'e 5

Article: Chang'e 5 (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ Chang'e 5 successfully completes its lunar sample-return mission. (Post)
Alternative blurb: ​ The Chang'e 5 sample-return mission returns samples of the Moon to Earth
News source(s): AP, Space News
Credits:

• Nominated by Masem (talk · give credit)

Article needs updating
The nominated event is listed on WP:ITN/R, so each occurrence is presumed to be important enough to post. Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article and update meet WP:ITNCRIT, not the significance.

Nominator's comments: Please note this has not happened yet but the return vessel is in the final approach stages to land in Inner Mongolia real soon now (next few hours of writing this). As confirmed by the Space News link, the return capsule has been successfully recovered. Since I've been one heavily cautioning about posting this until this point, I figure I will be one to get this going since this is the point I've said we should make ITN. Masem (t) 18:18, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support Should we be using a CGI of the lander, maybe of the return capsule instead? Landing was confirmed by Spacenews and CNet. Albertaont (talk) 19:06, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

• Replaced image with one which shows the lunar lander, lunar ascender, and return to earth modules.

• Support. I have healthy scepticism of anything reported in Chinese state media, and the BBC and Guardian both caveat the news with 'Xinhua said' or similar, but there's no particular reason to doubt that the capsule has arrived in some form. We should probably avoid explicitly saying it was a success until there's independent confirmation. This is the right point to post this story and the article seems in good enough shape. I've added an altblurb. Modest Genius ^talk 20:03, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
  • PS. There seems to be some back-and-forth reverting of the article regarding whether the capsule recovery has a reliable source. Maybe wait a few hours for that to settle down before posting. Modest Genius ^talk 20:05, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
  • Good news organizations, if they can't have eyes on the actual event, nearly always use "According to (source), this happened..." and this is well beyond anything China related. I know we need to be cautious around China + state-sponsored media, but let's not go overboard here. --Masem (t) 00:31, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support As promised. Gex4pls (talk) 20:19, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support Quality and referencing is good.  Nixinova   T   C   00:16, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment. In the UK, the BBC now seems to be stating in its own voice, while The Guardian is still quoting Xinhua. It would be nice to get two independent non-Chinese sources stating success directly. An alternative would be to post the main blurb, deleting the word "successfully". Espresso Addict (talk) 00:27, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
  • There are times where we should be cautious of the China-state sponsored media for what they report, but their space program is not one of those things they seem to "make up" compared to other factors related to governance. The fact that the Guardian and AP take Xinhua at their word should be sufficient for us here. --Masem (t) 00:30, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
  • NYT is even showing videos now, can also find the pictures everywhere. Albertaont (talk) 03:27, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

Support. I think there's adequate confirmation and update now. Espresso Addict (talk) 06:11, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

@Masem: Aren't you an admin? You should've been able to insert it yourself considering the consensus now. Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 07:35, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

It's considered a conflict of interest for an admin to post their own nom, even with consensus.-- P-K3 (talk) 19:44, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

This. The only time (I recall) I posted my own nom was a clear SNOW support for the death of Stephen Hawking. This nom wasn't a clear SNOW due to source questioning. --Masem (t) 19:51, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Posted, as no-one seems to have objected. Espresso Addict (talk) 08:32, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• I have listed File:Change-5.png at CMP, but I think a version without captions would be better because they will be too small to read — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 11:58, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  Image updated — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 06:57, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

RD: Leticia Lee

Article: Leticia Lee (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): HKFP, SCMP, The Standard (HK)
Credits:

• Nominated by Feminist (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Hanif Al Husaini (talk · give credit) and Citobun (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Known for anti-gay, pro-police activism in Hong Kong and as an opponent of the city's pro-democracy movement. feminist (talk) 12:50, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

Needs a bit of work. None of the information mentioned in the lead is cited or mentioned in the main article - Dumelow (talk) 13:03, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

I'm working on it - feminist (talk) 13:08, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

Can take another look now. feminist (talk) 04:53, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

• Comment. The lead now needs expanding again. I haven't looked in detail at the sourcing, but is it possible to find a different source for Ref. 24, about her son? The title of the current one appears unduly negative about a living person. Espresso Addict (talk) 07:10, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• @Feminist: any response to the above? — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 22:36, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

  I treat this nomination as stale. feminist (talk) 08:27, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

  No it's not! Especially now we are running with a new system, as long as it's ready within a week ... — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 20:50, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support What's there seems narrowly over the line, though I would acknowledge there are issues. GreatCaesarsGhost 23:53, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose This is now stale. Even had it been posted, it would have cycled off by now. 104.243.98.96 (talk) 08:25, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

December 15

Portal:Current events/2020 December 15

December 15, 2020 (2020-12-15) (Tuesday) Armed conflicts and attacks Boko Haram insurgency Kankara kidnapping Jihadist group Boko Haram claim responsibility for Friday's mass kidnapping in Kankara, Katsina, Nigeria. (BBC News) War in Afghanistan; December 2020 Afghanistan targeted killings A bombing in Kabul kills the deputy governor and his secretary, and wounds their bodyguards. In a later attack in the Ghor Province, a deputy provincial council head was killed while another council member and their driver were wounded when a sticky bomb attached to their vehicle detonated. (Associated Press) Disasters and accidents 2020–21 South Pacific cyclone season Tropical Cyclone Yasa intensifies into a category 5 storm. It is expected to head towards Fiji later today. (FBC News) Two magnitude 4.0 earthquakes occur in Northern California at around 6:55–7:00 a.m. PST and are felt from San Jose to as far north as San Francisco. There are no reported injuries or deaths. (San Jose Mercury News) Health and environment COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19 pandemic in Asia COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases mandates the wearing of a "full" face shield in addition to wearing a face mask when going outside. Face shields were previously compulsory in enclosed areas, such as shopping malls. (Rappler) COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea South Korea reports a record 13 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 600. (Anadolu Agency) COVID-19 pandemic in Africa COVID-19 pandemic in Morocco Morocco surpasses 400,000 total COVID-19 cases. (Xinhua) COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria The northwestern Nigerian state of Kaduna announces the closure of schools from tomorrow due to an increase of COVID-19 cases. (The Punch) COVID-19 pandemic in Canada COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario Ontario reports 2,275 cases, a new single-day record. (National Post) COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec Quebec Premier François Legault announces that all non-essential businesses in the province will be closed from December 25 until January 11 in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. (The Globe and Mail) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces that the country has ordered 168,000 doses of Moderna's vaccine. (Reuters) COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey Turkey reports a record 235 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 16,881. (Reuters) International relations Russia–United States relations Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulates President-elect Joe Biden for the first time. (CNBC) Mexico–United States relations Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador congratulates President-elect Joe Biden for the first time. (The Washington Post) Brazil–United States relations Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro congratulates President-elect Joe Biden for the first time. (WXXI) Kenya–Somalia relations, Foreign relations of Somaliland The Somali Minister of Information Osman Abubakar Dubbe announces that the Government of Somalia is recalling its diplomatic staff from Kenya and is giving Kenyan diplomats seven days to leave Somalia. This comes after Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi's visit to Nairobi where he was received by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. (DW) Law and crime Capital punishment in Japan The Tokyo District Court sentences serial killer Takahiro Shiraishi, dubbed the "Twitter killer", to death, for murdering nine people at his apartment in 2017 and dismembering their bodies. Shiraishi, who was found mentally competent, pled guilty and told the court his crimes had a sexual motive. (CNN) LGBT rights in Hungary The National Assembly passes a number of changes to the Constitution of Hungary which bar same-sex couples from adopting children. The amendments also lowers the legal threshold for the government to declare a state of emergency, and further reduces the oversights the government is required to take with regard to the spending of public funds, which critics say will allow the government to use state money to benefit loyalists. (The New York Times) Philippine drug war The International Criminal Court says that they have found evidence that crimes against humanity were committed during Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war. (The Washington Post) Finnish-Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard is arrested by Canadian police after being indicted by U.S. authorities on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. The U.S. is seeking his extradition from Canada. Nygard denies the allegations. (BBC News) Politics and elections Rena Lalgie is sworn in as Governor of Bermuda, making it the first time that the British territory has a black woman as governor. (ABC News) Science and technology 2020 United States federal government data breach United States National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien interrupts a trip to Europe, returning to Washington, D.C. to address a cyberattack that is said to have targeted several federal government agencies. The U.S. National Security Council announces the formation of a "Cyber Unified Coordination Group," based on Presidential Policy Directive 41. (Politico) (NextGov)

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(Posted) RD: Donald Fowler

Article: Donald Fowler (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Post and Courier
Credits:

• Nominated by PCN02WPS (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Hanif Al Husaini (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Former DNC chair, leukemia. PCN02WPS (talk | contribs) 18:42, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose - Lots of cn tags. Poydoo can talk and edit 19:29, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment I have reduced it to two citation needed tags. Hanif Al Husaini (talk) 09:29, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support @Poydoo: All citation needed tags have been fixed. Hanif Al Husaini (talk) 13:19, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
•  Posted — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 09:39, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

December 14

Portal:Current events/2020 December 14

December 14, 2020 (2020-12-14) (Monday) Armed conflicts and attacks The BW Group says the crew of one of their ships saw an oil tanker suffer an explosion after being hit by "an external source" off the coast of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. They also say that oil may have leaked from the site of the blast. (The Times of Israel) Tigray conflict An International Rescue Committee staff member and three Danish Refugee Council aid workers are shot dead in Ethiopia's Tigray Region. (The Telegraph) Arts and culture Italian intellectuals Corrado Augias and Giovanna Melandri hand back their medals of the Legion of Honour, France's highest order of merit, to France. They protest the news that President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion at the same time that prosecutors in Rome indicted four top security officials of the Sisi regime over the 2016 abduction and torture to death of Giulio Regeni, an Italian doctoral student, in Cairo. (AP) Disasters and accidents 2020–21 South Pacific cyclone season Cyclones Yasa and Zazu threaten several Pacific countries, especially Fiji. Yasa intensifies into a category 2 storm, remaining in the waters between Fiji and Vanuatu. It is expected to reach Fiji on Thursday as a category 4 storm. Zazu also brings heavy rains to Tonga. (RNZ) Health and environment COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19 pandemic in North America COVID-19 pandemic in the United States The death toll from COVID-19 in the United States exceeds 300,000. (CNN) COVID-19 vaccination in the United States The United States begins administering their first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Sandra Lindsay, a nurse at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, becomes the first person in the country to receive the vaccine outside of a clinical trial. (ABC News) COVID-19 pandemic in West Virginia Governor Jim Justice becomes one of the first elected officials to receive the vaccine. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announces that the city will rollback to phase 2 and tighten their restrictions as an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. (AP) (WCVB-TV) COVID-19 pandemic in Canada Canada begins administering the vaccine to healthcare workers and elderly nursing home residents. (Reuters) COVID-19 pandemic in Europe COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom COVID-19 pandemic in England Health Secretary Matt Hancock announces that London and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire will move into the highest level "Tier 3" restrictions on December 16 at 00:01 a.m. GMT. (Sky News) The United Kingdom discovers a new variant of COVID-19 which is growing faster in some parts of England. (BBC) COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte imposes a tough five-week nationwide lockdown. Schools, museums, gyms and all non-essential shops, will be closed from midnight until January 19. (AP) COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announces that the country will impose a five-day full lockdown from December 31 at 9:00 p.m. local time until January 4, as a record 229 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours. (Arab News) COVID-19 pandemic in Asia COVID-19 pandemic in India COVID-19 pandemic in Delhi Delhi surpasses 10,000 total deaths from COVID-19. (India Today) COVID-19 pandemic in Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announces that the Go To Travel campaign will be suspended nationwide from December 28 to January 11. He also says that Tokyo and Nagoya will be removed as eligible destinations for the campaign. (The Japan Times) COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore, COVID-19 vaccine Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says that Singapore has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The country expects to receive shipments of the vaccine by the end of the year and to vaccinate 5.7 million people for free by the third quarter of 2021. (CNBC) COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea South Korea orders schools in the Seoul Capital Area to close from tomorrow until the end of the month due to an increase in new COVID-19 cases, which has broken records not seen since the pandemic began. (CNA) COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa announces that public gatherings will be limited to no more than 100 people for indoor events and 250 people for outdoor events, and that the nationwide curfew will be extended from 11:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. throughout the holiday season. He also said that alcohol will only be sold from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. local time, Monday to Thursday. (Independent Online) International relations Sudan–United States relations, Global war on terrorism Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces that the United States has removed Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Sudan had recently paid a $335 million settlement to the US government for US victims of terrorist attacks. (Reuters) Turkey–United States relations, CAATSA Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces that the United States has imposed sanctions on Turkey over its acquisition of the S-400 missile defense system from Russia. This move is the first time that the CAATSA has been used to penalize a U.S. ally. (AP) North Korea–South Korea relations South Korea bans the launching of propaganda leaflets into North Korea. The balloon propaganda campaigns have been used by North Korean defectors and Korean reunification activists for decades to spread anti-government propaganda, news from the outside world that is restricted in the North, money, food, and USBs containing South Korean media. The ban also outlaws the use of loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts. Violators of the ban will face up to three years in prison or 30 million won ($27,400) in fines. (Reuters) Law and crime Capital punishment in Singapore The judicial commissioner of Singapore sentences a Bangladeshi national to death after he was found guilty of murdering his Indonesian girlfriend two years ago. In Singapore, a charge of murder carries the mandatory death penalty. (The Straits Times) Politics and elections 2020 United States presidential election The Electoral College meets in the state capitals to officially elect the next President. Joe Biden, the presumptive president-elect, is officially elected president after securing California's 55 electoral votes and will be inaugurated on January 20. Outgoing President Donald Trump continues to dispute the results of the election, claiming widespread electoral fraud, despite numerous failed lawsuits. (The Guardian) 2020 United States presidential election in Michigan The Michigan State Capitol is closed to the public for the day and its legislative sessions are cancelled due to "credible threats of violence" in response to the election. (CNN) List of Trump administration dismissals and resignations President Trump announces that William Barr will resign as United States Attorney General on December 23. (CNBC) Science and technology Several Google services go down without warning around 11:50 UTC, including YouTube, Google Search, and the Google Play Store. The chatting app Discord and mobile video game Pokémon Go also go down. The cause was revealed to be an “authentication system outage” by the Google Cloud Twitter account. (IGN) (Newsweek) Amid controversy over alleged illegal content, Pornhub removes all non-verified user-uploaded videos, which make up the majority of the videos on the platform. Pornhub says that its new measures are now "more strict than any social media platform". (BBC News)

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(Posted) RD: Ann Reinking

Article: Ann Reinking (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Variety
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Gobonobo (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Aoba47 (talk · give credit)

Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

 gobonobo ^{+ c} 00:07, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose Seeing uncited sentences here and there; the credits section needs a lot more sources and the awards are completely unsourced. Gotitbro (talk) 00:58, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
  • @Gotitbro: Sources have been added, thanks to User:Aoba47. Hanif Al Husaini (talk) 05:19, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
    • Support Looks good to me now. Gotitbro (talk) 06:26, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support I believe everything is cited Scaramouche33 (talk) 06:43, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support I'm not sure how standard some of the table formatting is, but everything is cited. Looks like we can confirm Playbill archives for Broadway credits. Kingsif (talk) 17:27, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support Article well-referenced. Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 02:04, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
• Posted  — Amakuru (talk) 12:37, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

(Posted) RD: Totilas

Article: Totilas (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Horse & Hound
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Dumelow (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: I've added the death, just working on referencing elsewhere - Dumelow (talk) 07:44, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support Article is good enough for RD. Hanif Al Husaini (talk) 11:10, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
• Posted  — Amakuru (talk) 12:37, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

(Posted) RD: Roddam Narasimha

Article: Roddam Narasimha (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): The Hindu
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Ktin (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Espresso Addict (talk · give credit) and Hanif Al Husaini (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Indian scientist. Padma Vibhushan awardee. I have not looked at the article in detail. But, will do so in a bit. Clear reasons to look at the article in detail (read below). Anyways, a thorough rewrite has been done. Here's the link to Earvig Copyvio [9]. Ktin (talk) 07:01, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support Looks fine to me. Gotitbro (talk) 12:42, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment bare URLs need fixing. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 16:45, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

  The Rambling Man, thanks for the catch. Fixed them. In addition, some links were dead / returning 404s, replaced them as well. Ktin (talk) 18:23, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support Article well-referenced. Note on the last book in the "Book" section: it would be better if someone gives a translation to the title. Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 02:06, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

  Jeromi Mikhael, Done. Good idea. Thanks. Ktin (talk) 03:35, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

• Comment. I was considering posting this but it looks like much of the article was orginally a cut & paste from his profile [10]. Espresso Addict (talk) 04:06, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

  Espresso Addict, Eikes. Let me have a look once I get back. Ktin (talk) 04:23, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

In addition to needing the copied material on his career and awards rewritten and replaced, little of it seems to be cited to proper independent sources; usually all awards need a proper source, not just the academic bio. The material on his research that I removed as a copyvio was cut and pasted from the bio, and so was not an independent appraisal of its significance. Espresso Addict (talk) 05:07, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

Espresso Addict, please have a look now, have given this one a thorough rewrite. Happy to make any edits. I will be awake for the next hour. Ktin (talk) 05:54, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

@Ktin: Sorry, my internet went down shortly after I commented, and now I'm headed offline for the day. Will take a look once I'm back, if it isn't posted before then. Espresso Addict (talk) 09:57, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

• Posted - it looks OK from my angle, thanks to Ktin's rewrites. Espresso Addict if you do see any further issues then please let me know or remove it directly. Cheers  — Amakuru (talk) 12:42, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

  Amakuru, I love the new template with comma separated values for updater names. Thanks to the folks who enabled that one. Very nice touch. Ktin (talk) 15:03, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

  @Ktin: as far as I can gather, we can mainly thank MSGJ for this nice improvement to the templates. Plus maybe others behind the scenes. Cheers  — Amakuru (talk) 23:27, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

  MSGJ, thanks Martin! Very nice touch. Ktin (talk) 00:00, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

(Posted) RD: Herman Asaribab

Article: Herman Asaribab (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Jeromi Mikhael (talk · give credit)

Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Second highest officeholder in the Indonesian Army (sort of). Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 07:02, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support Looks good. Gotitbro (talk) 12:42, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• cricket noises
• Support Seems cited fine enough, though there's a bit of odd grammar in "Enembe remarked that 'Papuans should be reach the rank of general, either in the police or in the armed forces'". I'm not sure if that's translation error or just a mistake on his behalf, so I'm not willing to remove it. Gex4pls (talk) 18:57, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
  • I have fixed the grammar. Hanif Al Husaini (talk) 01:30, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
  •  Done Fixed the quote. Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 01:59, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
• Note to admin please decide the fate of this RD nom; otherwise it would be stale and not recent anymore.Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 05:33, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
• Posted  — Amakuru (talk) 12:37, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

(Posted) RD: Benjamin Abeles

Article: Benjamin Abeles (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Idnes (in Czech)
Credits:

• Nominated by Dumelow (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Artegia (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Czech physicist. Article looks OK - Dumelow (talk) 15:22, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support Barely long enough for RD and well-referenced. Hanif Al Husaini (talk) 16:48, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment from a duplicated nomination: Austrian physicist. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the news in English media. Article is a tad small in size, but is start-class. Article seems to pass hygiene requirements for homepage / RD. I did not have to make any edits. But, if there are any edits required, I can give it a go, albeit with Google Translate as my aide. Ktin (talk) 03:43, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose. Very stubby on his career and research. The lead is inappropriate in its focus, and material appears there that is not expounded in the body. Espresso Addict (talk) 05:31, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support, notwithstanding the above comment which is reasonable, I do think it is acceptable for RD. —Brigade Piron (talk) 21:48, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support Meets minimal standards. Items in the lead are sourced in the body, though not explained in detail any further.—Bagumba (talk) 08:57, 17 December 2020 (UTC)
•  Posted — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 11:41, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

(Closed) Sudan's removal from U.S. SST

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Article: State Sponsors of Terrorism (U.S. list) (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ The U.S. removes Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. (Post)
Alternative blurb: ​ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces that the United States has removed Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Alternative blurb II: ​ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo removes Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism after it pays $335 million to US terror victims and families.
News source(s): Reuters
Credits:

• Nominated by 98.116.113.164 (talk · give credit)
• Created by Ed Poor (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Thepharoah17 (talk · give credit)

Article updated

• Comment Wasn't this linked to relations with Israel of Sudan? Also this is stale now, was already known/"in the news" a few weeks back; this is just procedural. Gotitbro (talk) 00:55, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Create altblurb 2 Its important to note how Sudan was removed from the list. Albertaont (talk) 03:04, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose it seems we're nominating US foreign policy announcements on a near-daily basis. This is not interesting. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 12:34, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose Not notable event. --cyrfaw (talk) 13:25, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose Many countries have some kind of list like this. It just happens that one big country took a country off their list. Gex4pls (talk) 13:39, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose Quoting GreatCaesarsGhost: AGF and all, but this is why we get accused of thinking this is US-pedia. This is such a small story it shouldn't even get an article, let alone be on ITN.Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 13:47, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

  Well, I think this one warrants an article, but it's abundantly clear the SST label is political BS. Witness Iraq being removed only for the length of their war with Iran. GreatCaesarsGhost 14:14, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose We need to be wary of any policy decision that is being made during the lame duck period of Trump's presidency, as all are subject to change subsequent to Biden taking office in January.--WaltCip-(talk) 14:08, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose – Per Walt. Quack! – Sca (talk) 14:19, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose as the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list is not notable enough for ITN, no matter who the president is. NorthernFalcon (talk) 16:12, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

This user gets it! 😊 Regards, Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 16:34, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Total solar eclipse

Article: Solar eclipse of December 14, 2020 (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ A total solar eclipse occurs in Chile and Argentina (path pictured). (Post)
News source(s): France24
Credits:

• Nominated by Brandmeister (talk · give credit)

The nominated event is listed on WP:ITN/R, so each occurrence is presumed to be important enough to post. Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article and update meet WP:ITNCRIT, not the significance.

 Brandmeister^talk 18:51, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose on quality. Article is really bare bones at the moment. The lead needs expanding to actually cover the details of this eclipse (it is mostly about eclipses in general right now). And the "Visibility" section has no refs at all.  — Amakuru (talk) 20:42, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose on quality - for now. Ping me when improved/expanded.BabbaQ (talk) 22:54, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose Per above. Needs sources and better/more prose. Gotitbro (talk) 00:52, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment: the article is poorly referenced and has minimal prose. Given that most observing events were cancelled due to COVID, there might not be much to say about this particular eclipse, which is a shame. I'd be surprised if there aren't at least a dozen popular news stories though. Modest Genius ^talk 12:01, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose on quality little more than a stub, and poorly referenced. Particularly the sections on Argentina and Chile- though that may be due to the pandemic. Joseph2302 (talk) 12:18, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose Comment – Ephemeral event. – Sca (talk) 14:21, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
  • Comment As stated in the proposal, this is covered by WP:ITN/R, so please restrict opposition to article quality issues only. 73.81.117.35 (talk) 16:46, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

pokes IP editor Who are you, IP editor? Jeromi Mikhael ^(marhata) 02:01, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

(Posted) RD: Gérard Houllier

Article: Gérard Houllier (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): The Guardian
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Amakuru (talk · give credit)
• Created by Arwel Parry (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Hanif Al Husaini (talk · give credit) and Messi R9 R10 CR7 Thiago LFC (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: French football manager, who was in charge of Liverpool, amongst others  — Amakuru (talk) 10:52, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

• Weak support that "award section" needs a ref otherwise ok. RIP. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 12:35, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Weak oppose "Return to the French national team" and "Awards" sections and one paragraph of the Liverpool section is unsourced. Joseph2302 (talk) 12:37, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

  @Joseph2302: the sections you mention are now fully cited I believe. Cheers  — Amakuru (talk) 18:10, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

• Weak oppose the update is not sufficient. Any cause of death? Related to his heart problems?-- P-K3 (talk) 15:52, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

  Update is all we have. No RS that I have seen do anything more than you have done, i.e. speculate. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 16:03, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

  There you go: "... following a heart operation." added. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 16:08, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

  That's better, thanks.-- P-K3 (talk) 17:32, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

• Comment "Return to French..." and "Honors" sections need sources. Gotitbro (talk) 17:05, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support now well sourced. Joseph2302 (talk) 19:39, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support per above JW 1961 Talk 21:21, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support Looks good. Tradedia^talk 22:02, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment - this one looks ready, if anyone's around to post it!  — Amakuru (talk) 08:54, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Comment. I haven't looked at sourcing but the tone veers out of encyclopedic in several places, there's no section on his personal life (marriage, children?), and his activities after retiring in 2011 only seem to be mentioned in the lead. Espresso Addict (talk) 10:50, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

  Not perfect, but good enough for RD — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 11:37, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

•  Posted — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 11:37, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

(Posted) RD: Huang Zongying

Article: Huang Zongying (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Shine.cn
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Dumelow (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Chinese actress. Article is actually a GA already. Filmography needs citing though, looking at it now - Dumelow (talk) 09:41, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose Article hasn't been updated to reflect her death and the filmography is completely unsourced. Gotitbro (talk) 10:01, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

  Gotitbro, just done my first run through and think I've covered all the missing refs and updated tense etc - Dumelow (talk) 10:28, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

  @Dumelow: Can you cite/remove the brother (Huang Zongluo) part from the lead/ib, isn't mentioned in the body as well. Gotitbro (talk) 10:37, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

  Gotitbro, done - Dumelow (talk) 10:41, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support Looks very good now. Gotitbro (talk) 12:59, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support Indeed, looks good now.BabbaQ (talk) 18:03, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support looks good, I have marked as ready to go as well. Joseph2302 (talk) 18:05, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Posted  — Amakuru (talk) 18:14, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

December 13

Portal:Current events/2020 December 13

December 13, 2020 (2020-12-13) (Sunday) Armed conflicts and attacks Terrorism in Pakistan An IED explodes near a police station in Rawalpindi, Punjab, injuring 25 people. (The News) Health and environment COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19 pandemic in North America COVID-19 pandemic in the United States COVID-19 vaccine COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C., COVID-19 vaccine President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, and other federal government officials are expected to be among the first people to receive the vaccine. (USA Today) Pfizer and BioNTech announce that they have started shipping their vaccine from a Michigan facility to all 50 states. (The Wall Street Journal) COVID-19 pandemic in North Dakota North Dakota reports zero deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, making it the first time since September 20 that this has occurred. (AP) COVID-19 pandemic in Canada COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta Alberta reports 22 deaths from COVID-19, a new single-day record. (Edmonton Journal) The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrive in Canada. (CBC) COVID-19 pandemic in Asia COVID-19 vaccine COVID-19 pandemic in Bahrain Bahrain's National Health Regulatory Authority approves the registration of the BBIBP-CorV vaccine developed by Sinopharm after Phase III clinical trials results showed an 86% efficacy rate. (Gulf News) COVID-19 pandemic in Kuwait Kuwait's Ministry of Health approves an Emergency Use Authorization of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine. (Arab News) COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea The number of new confirmed cases in South Korea surpasses 1,000 for the first time since the pandemic began, bringing the nationwide total to 42,766. (Yonhap News Agency) COVID-19 pandemic in Africa COVID-19 pandemic in Eswatini Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini dies at the age of 52 after weeks of hospitalization due to COVID-19. He is the first sitting national head of government to die as a result of the virus. (Swaziland News) COVID-19 pandemic in Mauritania Mauritania's government reimposes a nighttime curfew in response to an increase in COVID-19 cases. (Barron's) COVID-19 pandemic in South America COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, COVID-19 vaccine The Supreme Court of Brazil orders Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello to fix the starting date for a nationwide vaccination program. (Reuters) COVID-19 pandemic in Uruguay Uruguay reports a new single-day record of 528 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 9,708. (gob.uy) COVID-19 pandemic in Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel announces that after meeting with leaders of the 16 states, a hard lockdown will occur from December 16 to January 10. Non-essential shops and schools will be closed. New Year's Eve events, including the sale of fireworks and public consumption of alcohol will be banned. (BBC News) International relations Trade negotiation between the UK and the EU The United Kingdom and the European Union agree to extend trade talks beyond today's deadline. (CNN) Law and crime Women in Iran A court in Tehran, Iran, sentences two women's rights activists to a combined total of 15 years in prison. Hoda Amid and Najmeh Vahedi, who were arrested in 2018, were accused of "collaborating with the United States government against the Islamic Republic on the issue of women and the family". (Al Arabiya English) Electronics industry in India Authorities vow to crack down on workers who went on a violent rampage at a Wistron iPhone factory near Bangalore, India over allegations of unpaid wages and exploitation. Over 100 people have been arrested. Videos of the violence show glass panels smashed with rods and cars flipped on their side. (CTV) 2020 United States federal government data breach CISA, a federal agency of the United States, was breached by suspected Russian hackers, but Russia denies the allegation. The perpetrator(s) are still unknown, along with the cause and what was breached. (NPR) Sports Cleveland Indians name and logo controversy The Cleveland Indians announce that they will change their name after the 2021 season. (Newsweek)

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(Closed) RD: Vasubahen

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Article: Vasubahen (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Akila News
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Nizil Shah (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Article might need some copyediting. Nizil (talk) 12:53, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

Nizil Shah, thanks for the nomination. Unfortunately, the carousel has already moved past December 13. Ktin (talk) 15:01, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

(Re-posted) Blurb/RD: Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini

Article: Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination
Blurb:  Sitting Prime Minister of Eswatini Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini dies at the age of 52. (Post)
Alternative blurb: ​ Sitting Prime Minister of Eswatini Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini dies at the age of 52 from COVID-19.
News source(s): Reuters
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Johndavies837 (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Joofjoof (talk · give credit)

Article updated
Recent deaths of any person, animal or organism with a Wikipedia article are always presumed to be important enough to post (see this RFC and further discussion). Comments should focus on whether the quality of the article meets WP:ITNRD.

Nominator's comments: Not sure if this would qualify for a blurb but he's a sitting head of government and the first to die of COVID-19. Unfortunately the article is pretty short at the moment. Johndavies837 (talk) 22:45, 13 December 2020 (UTC)

Support RD once article is expanded beyond stub tier, and willing to support blurb on the significance of an incumbent head of government dying, especially being the first incumbent to die of COVID-19, despite the fact that Eswatini is officially a monarchy.  Vanilla  Wizard 💙 01:49, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

• support The article is well sourced and has enough information. Not only being the first incumbent world leader to die in office because of Covid, but Eswatini is notable for its traditions and status in the world as an absouloute monarchy. I would be willing to support a blurb as well Cavejohnson13 (talk) 02:05, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• OR Alert Before weighing significance, do any sources say COVID killed him? InedibleHulk (talk) 02:14, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

• He died in a South African hospital while being treated for COVID-19, so the consensus among sources is that COVID is the assumed cause of death, but it's fair to say that this is still just an assumption unless or until Eswatini officials announce it. Nearly every result for the term "eswatini" in DuckDuckGo's news tab reads something along the lines of "dies after testing positive for COVID-19", but it's also true that his cause of death still remains unspecified for the time being. If he's notable enough for a blurb regardless of the cause of death, then we can post it without mentioning the cause of death and update the blurb once we get some sort of confirmation from Eswatini. Otherwise, if the cause of death being COVID is what makes the story notable, then we can post it to RD first and then move it to a blurb if it gets announced that he died of COVID.  Vanilla  Wizard 💙 02:45, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

Do any sources say he did anything except die after diagnosis? InedibleHulk (talk) 02:51, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

At the moment, no, which is why I agree with you that we shouldn't yet use a blurb that says he died of COVID.  Vanilla  Wizard 💙 02:54, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

Why would you support a blurb at all? If he did nothing, what's the impact, the loss, the effect? Not seeing it a bit. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:01, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

• Oppose Unclear what his corporation was called (two versions noted) and whether the redlinked deputy is the PM now, or nobody is. InedibleHulk (talk) 02:35, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
  • Deputy shouldn't be redlinked because he has an article at Themba N. Masuku. I fixed it by creating a redirect. I assume he's acting PM now but I haven't seen any sources saying so.Johndavies837 (talk) 03:01, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
    • Thanks. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:05, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Precedent His more successful predecessor was nommed in nearly identical circumstances two years ago and went stale after weak RD support, worth a link, I can't paste. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:26, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Weak support RD, per improvement. InedibleHulk (talk) 04:05, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support RD I don't mind changing this to blurb if a few more sources on his life and premiership can be added, right now I would say it is a "high-quality" stub. Albertaont (talk) 06:10, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Weakly support blurb in principle, as a deceased sitting head of government. If it turns out he died from Covid, we can (but by no means must) break the "no Covid blurbs until it's over" guideline and mention it in the blurb. – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 06:25, 14 December 2020 (UTC) Oppose blurb per absolute monarchy. – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 07:49, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Oppose Neither does the prime minister hold real power in Eswatini (the king does), nor is the article up to par for an RD let alone a blurb. Gotitbro (talk) 07:10, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

Nor does Prime Minister of Eswatini have a standalone article; hard to be blurbworthy without general notability, one should think. Survivor Series (1989) is notable, and Zeus was the first from his match to die, of anything! Give him the presumptive COVID bump, if anyone. InedibleHulk (talk) 07:22, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

• Support RD contingent on article's expansion and outright oppose for a blurb. I fail to see any significance of a prime minister, albeit sitting, in an absolute monarchy and the fact that the article is merely a stub at the time of his death tells a lot.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 07:38, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• oppose blurb I think we should blurb prime ministers from constitutional monarchies and parliamentary republics only ( and maybe semi-presidential republics as well),but since Eswatini is an absolute monarchy, I don't think he's blurb-worthy Scaramouche33 (talk) 07:42, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support RD only just about long enough for RD but what is there is decently referenced JW 1961 Talk 08:21, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Weak oppose RD only article is barely above stub, hardly a good summary of someone who purports to have held such a prominent position. The Rambling Man (Hands! Face! Space!!!!) 08:33, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
•  Posted to RD — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 16:46, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Pull / Oppose on quality. Article has no detail whatsoever on his tenure as PM, and is basically a glorified stub.  — Amakuru (talk) 18:16, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

  There were several unaddressed opposes with this one even before posting, and it needs improvement before it would be ready for the main page. No detail on his premiership at all. Please can someone remove it. Cheers  — Amakuru (talk) 23:04, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

• Pulled. Per Amakuru, this is a stub with no information about his notable role as PM. Espresso Addict (talk) 23:22, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support RD Information about him as Prime Minister has been added by Joofjoof. Hanif Al Husaini (talk) 04:00, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Support RD - thanks to Joofjoof for the updates, it looks much better now. I think it can be re-posted.  — Amakuru (talk) 09:06, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
• Restored. Thanks everyone. Espresso Addict (talk) 10:16, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

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