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.

Willie Mays in 1961 American baseball player Willie Mays (pictured) dies at the age of 93. A fire in a residential building in Mangaf, south of Kuwait City, kills fifty people. A plane crash near Chikangawa, Malawi, kills nine people, including Vice President Saulos Chilima. In tennis, Iga Świątek wins the women's singles and Carlos Alcaraz wins the men's singles titles at the French Open. Ongoing: Israel–Hamas war timeline Russian invasion of Ukraine timeline Sudanese civil war timeline Recent deaths: Éric Tappy Mike Downey Siri Kannangara Brad Dusek Matija Sarkic Neil Goldschmidt 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.

Suggestions

March 21

Portal:Current events/2018 March 21

March 21, 2018 (2018-03-21) (Wednesday) Armed conflicts and attacks Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen Houthis claim to have shot down a Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 jet over Sa'da province, Yemen. (Sputnik News) Syrian Civil War The Syrian government and rebel forces reach an agreement to allow 7,500 people to evacuate from rebel-held Harasta, Eastern Ghouta. (al-Jazeera) Boko Haram insurgency, Dapchi schoolgirls kidnapping Boko Haram releases most of the 110 Nigerian schoolgirls it had kidnapped in February 2018, and warns against sending them back to school. (The Globe and Mail) Disasters and accidents Accidents and incidents involving helicopters A Eurocopter 120 helicopter carrying five people crashes into the sea near Hardy Reef off the Whitsunday Islands, Queensland, Australia. Two people are killed. (The Guardian) Aftermath of the 2015 Shoreham Airshow crash The Crown Prosecution Service charges pilot Andrew Hill with 11 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence and one count of endangering an aircraft over an accident at Shoreham Airshow in England. (The Telegraph) Metro Hotel Dublin fire A fire breaks out in the upper floors of a hotel and apartment block building in Ballymun, Ireland, near Dublin Airport. The fire affects the top seven floors of the building and two floors of apartments, without casualties. (RTE) (The Irish Times) History of autonomous cars Police release onboard video from an autonomous Uber car that fatally struck a pedestrian crossing the road in Tempe, Arizona. (BBC) International relations Israel–Syria relations Israel admits for the first time that it carried out an airstrike on a suspected nuclear reactor in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria, on 6 September 2007. The strike allegedly killed ten North Korean workers. (Reuters) Austria–Israel relations Austrian foreign minister Karin Kneissl recalls diplomat Jürgen-Michael Kleppich from Israel after he is photographed wearing a t-shirt with slogans linked to Nazism. (The Local) Economy of the African Union The leaders of 44 African Union states sign an agreement in Kigali, Rwanda, to create the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA). (BBC) Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal Russia holds a briefing on the case for all foreign diplomats in Moscow, where it accuses the United Kingdom of "withholding evidence." (The Guardian) Poland in the European Union Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz accuses the European Union of "double standards" and of suffering "a deficit of democracy". Poland and the European Commission are engaged in disputes over migrant quotas and proposed reform of Poland's judiciary. (al-Jazeera) Law and crime Censorship in Singapore The Singaporean Parliament approves the Public Order and Safety (Special Powers) Act, which makes it a crime to take pictures and relay information during terror attacks. (Channel News Asia) Austin serial bombings Mark Anthony Conditt, the main suspect in the serial bombings, dies after detonating a bomb in his vehicle while being pursued by Austin police officers. The police chief warns residents that while they believe the bomber is deceased, he may have sent more packages before his death. (CNN) Crime in the United Kingdom James Ibori, a former governor of Delta State, Nigeria, launches a bid to overturn his guilty pleas on corruption charges in the UK alleging police corruption. (Africa News) Alleged Libyan influence in the 2007 French elections Former President of France Nicolas Sarkozy is preliminarily charged with illegal funding of his 2007 presidential campaign, passive corruption and receiving money from Libyan embezzlement. (Voice of America) Aftermath of the 2017 Parsons Green bombing The Independent claims the Metropolitan Police misidentified material in convicted bomber Ahmad Hassan's possession as not related to ISIS when in fact it was produced by the group. The newspaper says it has submitted evidence to the Central Criminal Court that could affect Hassan's sentence. (The Independent) Police in the Philippines fatally shoot 13 suspected drug dealers in Bulacan. (France 24) Politics and elections Politics of Myanmar Myanmar President Htin Kyaw resigns due to ill health. Vice-President Myint Swe, a former general, will become acting president until a new president is chosen. (CNN) (U.S. News & World Report) (BBC) Jackfruit becomes official state fruit of Kerala. 2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis Catalan activist Jordi Sànchez i Picanyol, imprisoned accused of sedition, drops his bid to lead the Catalan government. (BBC) Jordi Turull i Negre, ex-member of the dismissed regional government, who was imprisoned amid sedition and under investigation due to his connection in a corruption scandal involving CiU, is named candidate by the President of Catalan Parliament in an investiture for Thursday, March 22. (El Mundo) Resignation of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigns amid a vote buying scandal. (BBC) Antiguan general election, 2018 Voters in Antigua and Barbuda go to the polls, with Barbudan residents having to travel to Antigua in order to participate. (The Telegraph) Politics of Kosovo In Kosovo, opposition lawmakers set off tear gas to prevent the ratification of a border treaty with neighboring Montenegro. (CNN) Science and technology Discoveries of exoplanets Fifteen new exoplanets are discovered. Three of them, larger than Earth, are also discovered around the dwarf star K2-155. Furthermore, a 3D climate simulation was created to find out if K2-155d has water. (Health Thoroughfare) (ScienceDaily) 2018 in spaceflight Three people (two American, one Russian) launch successfully from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz MS-08 to the International Space Station as part of Expedition 55. (NASA)

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Austin bomber blows himself up

Article: Austin serial bombings (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ The Austin bombings suspect kills himself in an explosion as authorities close in. (Post)
News source(s): New York Times
Credits:

• Nominated by Pawnkingthree (talk · give credit)

Nominator's comments: As suggested below, proposing a blurb for this. It is still in the news and the suspect blowing himself up will create new interest in the story. Pawnkingthree (talk) 16:48, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support Pulled from ongoing and not put in a blurb? Seems irregular to me. Major story that has dominated U.S. news (and been in news across the globe, not that that's necessary for ITN criteria) and has now reached its conclusion. Article is in good shape, and was just on the main page. – Muboshgu (talk) 16:53, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

[Pulled] Pull: Austin bombings

Article: Austin serial bombings (talk · history · tag)
Ongoing item removal (Post)

Nominator's comments: They identified, found, and chased down their culprit, who blew himself up in the chase, effectively ending the situation. The police are still making sure no other packages are out there, but the situation is otherwise completed. --Masem (t) 13:51, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

• Don't pull entirely. Take it out of "ongoing" and make it a blurb. Something like: "The Austin bombing suspect is no more. He has ceased to be. – Muboshgu (talk) 13:55, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
• Move to blurb per Muboshgu.--WaltCip (talk) 14:09, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
• Wait There are a lot of details that are still unreleased. I am fairly sure this will be in the news fro a few more days. Once things have quieted down we can pull it. Opoose blurb. Not important enough for that level of attention. -Ad Orientem (talk) 14:28, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

The suspect is dead, the case is closed. Any further details are purely ancillary.--WaltCip (talk) 15:30, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

What if he had accomplices? What if there are other bombs out there that haven't yet been found? – Muboshgu (talk) 16:00, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose blurb Even at the peak of the bombing it wouldn't have been posted if it were nominted for blurb and only marginally gained support for this ongoing posting. In addition, I Support removal from ongoing since reasonably it is no longer so with the death of the suspect. .–Ammarpad (talk) 15:29, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
  • We don't just pull something from ITN because it is resolved. By that logic we could pull every blurb currently on there because those stories are resolved. It's still in the news, because the suspect has been dead less than 12 hours. It was a mistake to pull the U.S. federal government shutdown blurb and we should not be making that into standard operating procedure here. – Muboshgu (talk) 15:58, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
    • While I mostly agree with you, the situation is a bit different for ongoing; however, the criteria here is that the article is still receiving regular updates with new information, and it seems likely that that will go on for a bit yet, so I'd weakly oppose removing this at this point. GoldenRing (talk) 16:04, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

  (edit conflict × 2) No, we do pull ongoing items when they're no longer "ongoing". That's common. Removing " blurb" may be less so, but this is not blurb, it is something posted while it is ongoing..and wouldn't hurt if it is removed when it is no longer ongoing. Nonetheless, I can agree with you that it is too soon to be removed now. –Ammarpad (talk) 16:15, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

• If it's not notable enough for a blurb then why do we bloody have it up there as ongoing??--WaltCip (talk) 15:29, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
  • Because when it was nominated, editors were trying to compare the significance of this to the Unibomber, which was crystal-balling the event. It was simple domestic racially-motivated terrorism , which, given that this is the US, is not something we would have otherwise posted if we knew the facts beforehand. --Masem (t) 15:37, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
• Pull. The event is over and an attack with two deaths (plus the attacker) is not significant enough to merit a blurb. I'm puzzled as to how this made it into the ongoing section in the first place, given the amount of opposition it received. Modest Genius ^talk 16:12, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
• Pulled, as suggested. It is not ongoing anymore, it can be considered as a blurb, if a consensus is reached. --Tone 16:15, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

March 20

Portal:Current events/2018 March 20

March 20, 2018 (2018-03-20) (Tuesday) Armed conflicts and attacks Syrian Civil War A rocket fired from rebel-held Eastern Ghouta strikes a popular market in Damascus, killing at least 35 people, according to Syrian state TV SANA. (Reuters) (Channel News Asia) An airstrike in Eastern Ghouta kills two women and 15 children in an underground school. (BBC) Military activity of ISIL Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj tells Parliament DNA testing on remains in a mass grave in Iraq confirms 39 Indian nationals believed to have been kidnapped by ISIL have been killed. (The Guardian) Business and economy Weinstein effect After a series of allegations of sexual misconduct against co-founder Harvey Weinstein, The Weinstein Company files for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company also states that it will release all employees from a non-disclosure agreement which could prevent them from coming forward regarding the alleged misconduct of Weinstein. (CNN) Economy of India Aircel, India's fifth-largest wireless provider, declares bankruptcy. (CNN) Disasters and incidents A Red Arrows jet crashes in North Wales, killing an engineer. (The Scotsman) History of autonomous cars Toyota pulls all its self-driving cars off U.S. roads in the wake of a fatal accident involving an Uber vehicle. (The Verge) Police state their investigation indicates the collision could not have been avoided. (AZ Central) 2017–2018 South African listeriosis outbreak The World Health Organisation says a listeria outbreak spread via infected food responsible for 200 deaths in South Africa may have spread to Namibia. The organisation reaches out to 16 African nations it assesses as at risk. (CBC) 2018 disasters in the Philippines A bus falls off a bridge in Occidental Mindoro, Philippines, killing at least 19 people and injuring 21 others. (Rappler) Saratov Airlines Flight 703 Russia's Ministry of Transport suspends all flights by Saratov Airlines after conducting checks on the company's Antonov An-148 aircraft. (The Aviation Herald) International relations 2017–2018 North Korea crisis Delegations from North Korea, South Korea, and the United States meet in the outskirts of Helsinki, Finland. (Reuters) North Korean state media KCNA claims that, as a result of its nuclear weapons program, there has been "dramatic atmosphere for reconciliation" with South Korea, and "a sign of change" from the United States. (SBS news) China–Japan relations, China–South Korea relations, Japan–South Korea relations Japan, China, and South Korea agree in principle to hold a trilateral summit in May. (SCMP) South Korea–United States relations South Korea and the United States announce that the Foal Eagle and Key Resolve military drills will start on April 1 and last for four weeks. (ABC News) United States recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas insults U.S. Ambassador to Israel David M. Friedman, calling him a "son of a dog" when he says Israeli settlers build on their land in the occupied West Bank. The U.S. warns Abbas to "choose between hate and peace". (The Kuwait Times) (Jerusalem Online) (The Telegraph) Palestinians are planning a mass demonstration in the Gaza Strip, ahead of the U.S. Embassy move. (Bloomberg) Human rights in China Chinese diplomat Chen Cheng repeatedly interrupts and objects to exiled dissident Yang Jianli's testimony to the United Nations Human Rights Council. (The Guardian) Cyprus dispute Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asserts his nation will secure Northern Cyprus' access to natural hydrocarbon resources off the Cypriot coast. The comments come amid disputes as to sovereign rights and access to offshore resources on the island. (The Daily Sabah) Brexit negotiations The Court of Session allows an appeal by a cross-party group of Scottish politicians seeking court permission for a referral to the European Court of Justice. The group wish for a ruling that the UK can abandon Brexit without permission from the European Union's other member states. A lower court will examine the claim. (The Guardian) Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal All 23 Russian diplomats expelled from the UK and their families depart on a flight to Moscow. (Sky News) Law and crime Austin serial bombings A bomb detonates overnight at a FedEx facility in San Antonio, Texas, United States. The FBI believes the bombing is linked to the other bombings in the area. The ATF reports that there were no serious injuries. Both the bomb's point of origin and intended destination were in Austin. (CNN) (NPR) A second package presumed to have been sent by the bomber is discovered in a FedEx facility near Austin–Bergstrom International Airport. (New York Times) School shootings in the United States A shooting occurs at Great Mills High School in Great Mills, Maryland. Two students are reported injured; the shooter is killed by police. (CNN) Alleged Libyan financing in the 2007 French presidential election Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is held for up to 48 hours and questioned by police in Nanterre over allegations that he illegally accepted €50 million from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to finance his bid in the 2007 presidential election. (NPR) Shooting of Justine Damond Minneapolis Police formally charge Mohamed Noor with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for the shooting death of Justine Damond. (Star Tribune) Human rights in Turkey The United Nations issues a report calling for an end to the nation's state of emergency, claiming it has been used to violate human rights. Turkey responds, calling the report "biased" and "unacceptable". (al-Jazeera) The European Court of Human Rights says that Turkish authorities violated the rights of journalists Mehmet Altan and Sahin Alpay when they were arrested in the aftermath of a failed coup. The court ruled the men, one of whom is now serving life, were innocent and their rights to freedom of expression and to liberty had been violated. (Euronews) Human rights in the United Kingdom The Department for Work and Pensions wins a court case holding that benefits claimants cannot raise arguments based on the European Convention on Human Rights at tribunals, and must instead go via the High Court. (The Canary) Legal status of cryptocurrencies U.S. President Donald Trump issues an executive order banning U.S. entities from trading in the Venezuelan Petro cryptocurrency. Trump calls the digital currency, launched last month, an "attempt to circumvent U.S. sanctions". (al-Jazeera) Politics and elections Politics of Norway Norwegian justice minister Sylvi Listhaug resigns amid controversy over remarks on human rights and national security. (The Guardian) Politics of Slovakia Protests continue in Slovakia after last week's collapse of the government, which included the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico. (NPR) Politics of Zambia Zambian Minister Bowman Lusambo is suspended by Parliament over an assault on a fellow lawmaker in October 2017. (Africa News) Science and technology Eschatology in Norse mythology Analysis of ancient ice cores extracted from Greenland dates an eruption on Eldgjá volcano in Iceland. Iceland's largest eruption in the last 2,000 years was described in ancient poem Völuspá. (Infosurhoy) Extinction threshold Sudan, the last known male Northern white rhinoceros, dies in captivity, leaving two females as the only surviving members of the subspecies. (BBC) ESA missions The European Space Agency announces a mission to study the atmospheres of exoplanets. Selected as Cosmic Vision medium class M4 mission, ARIEL is expected to launch in 2028. (BBC) Japan's space development Japan announces a fund worth US$940 million to encourage the foundation of new companies involved in space exploration. (CNBC) Marine debris A study commissioned by the UK government concludes marine plastic debris may treble within ten years, and predicts the "ocean economy" will double to US$3 trillion (£2 trillion) by 2030. (BBC)

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[Ready] RD: Peter George Peterson

Article: Peter George Peterson (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): The New York Times
Credits:

• Nominated by TDKR Chicago 101 (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: Article has been updated and fixed referencing issues --> --TDKR Chicago 101 (talk) 21:30, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support No issues. Looks good. Pawnkingthree (talk) 01:34, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Article looks fine. –Ammarpad (talk) 15:36, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

RD: Katie Boyle

Article: Katie Boyle (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
Credits:

• Nominated by Mjroots (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: Needs minor attention to referencing. The book section should be easy enough to deal with. Mjroots (talk) 18:34, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Weak oppose a handful of unreferenced claims. The Rambling Man (talk) 18:46, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Weak support There are unreferenced claims, but not too much. Article in overall good shape. --TDKR Chicago 101 (talk) 21:09, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

[Closed] Northern white rhinoceros

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: Northern white rhinoceros (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ Last male Northern white rhinoceros dies in Kenya. (Post)
News source(s): BBC
Credits:

• Nominated by W.carter (talk · give credit)
• Updated by WikiHannibal (talk · give credit)

Article updated

Nominator's comments: Sad news that yet another species probably is heading towards extinction if in vitro fertilisation (IVF) techniques aren't successful. cart-Talk 13:47, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• The male rhino is already in RD. It's not yet the extinction of the species, as sperm samples were taken and an IVF programme is planned with the surviving females. The chances may be slim, but let's not WP:CRYSTAL. If/when the species goes extinct would be a better time to post this as a blurb. Modest Genius ^talk 14:05, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose it is a sub-species, not species, that is on the verge of extinction; add that the RD of Sudan is better suited as an entry, we should cover that instead. --Masem (t) 14:09, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose as per both above. RD works for now. The blurb implies that extinction is inevitable, which, due to IVF, may not be the case. --LukeSurl ^{t c} 14:24, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per all of the above. Python Dan (talk) 16:14, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose The RD is sufficient. –Ammarpad (talk) 16:15, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose RD is sufficient. Lepricavark (talk) 16:21, 20 March 2018 (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.

Abel Prize

Articles: Robert Langlands (talk · history · tag) and Abel Prize (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ American-Canadian mathematician Robert Langlands wins the Abel Prize. (Post)
Alternative blurb: ​ Mathematician Robert Langlands wins the Abel Prize for his development of the Langlands program
News source(s): Abelprize.no
Credits:

• Nominated by Ammarpad (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Hanche (talk · give credit)

One or both nominated events are 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: Article needs some work. –Ammarpad (talk) 11:26, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Yeah, getting the necessary level of referencing in Robert_Langlands#Research is going to require some serious mathematical understanding. --LukeSurl ^{t c} 11:54, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  I have posted about that on the talk page, hoping to resolve it, but now looking at how it was added. –Ammarpad (talk) 11:58, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• We should really mention the Langlands program in the blurb, as that's what he won it for; altblurb added. Unfortunately that article is in an even worse state for referencing, so we're a bit stuck without an expert. The rest of Langlands' article looks OK, it's just the research section that's problematic. Modest Genius ^talk 12:02, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
  • Even with a bit of basic understanding of modern algebra, I tried reading even the lowest-level summary of the Langlands program and while I understand where its going, nowhere close to understand the levels of detail that are necessary to explain it at a basic level; its not the type of thing I can even see an easy layman's version coming about, outside of being towards a grand unified theory of everything. --Masem (t) 14:33, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Agree with the above on the need for an expert to clean up the articles. I'm in favor of including "Langlands program" in the blurb. Davey2116 (talk) 17:25, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

[Closed] Nicolas Sarkozy arrested

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: Nicolas Sarkozy (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ Former President of France Nicholas Sarkozy (pictured) is arrested by police and held for questioning regarding allegations the 2007 French presidential election was influenced by Libya. (Post)
News source(s): Bloomberg ABC News
Credits:

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

Article updated

Nominator's comments: The arrest of the former head of state of a permanent member of the UN Security Council is of sufficient relative rarity to make it noteworthy. It has been covered widely outside of France. Chetsford (talk) 08:23, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Comment. I would note that there is a difference between being arrested and charged with a crime and being detained for questioning, this seems to be the latter, at least right now. 331dot (talk) 09:38, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose - Convicted, yes. Charged, maybe probably not. Arrested, no. -- KTC (talk) 11:12, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose - long standing consensus is that we post convictions. Mjroots (talk) 11:37, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

I would note that on rare occasions arrests do get posted, such as with El Chapo in 2014. 331dot (talk) 11:43, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose. This is not a case like El Chapo where the subject had been wanted for some considerable time. In those cases the arrest is newsworthy rather than, as here, the allegations but BLP considerations rightly mean that we don't post for just allegations. Also I think that being arrested for questioning is less significant in a civil law system such as France than in a common law system like the UK and USA (but having written that I'm now less certain than I Was). Thryduulf (talk) 11:48, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

I do think that the arrest of a former head of state on charges related to their own election to office might merit posting(Sarkozy is being investigated for allegedly accepting illegal campaign contributions) although right now he is just being questioned. 331dot (talk) 11:59, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose until convicted of something. The Rambling Man (talk) 12:02, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per WP:BLPCRIME - for the same reason we don't have a nomination for Ant, but not Dec, despite being plastered over the tabloids. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 12:15, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

@Ritchie333: Is a former President not a public figure and covered by WP:WELLKNOWN?(genuine question) 331dot (talk) 12:20, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

Oh yes, good point well made (for those watching at home, here is an important lesson as to why you should read policy instead of just quoting it with what you think it says) - nevertheless, until there is an actual conviction, I think we should err on the side of caution. There's plenty of mud thrown at Trump, but not much has been proven yet in a court of law, for instance. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 12:22, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

I do agree that posting now is not appropriate(count that as a formal oppose). 331dot (talk) 12:24, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose The only time I'd think we'd post the arrest of a leader is if it was while they still held office. Otherwise, as pointed out above, we'll wait on the conviction itself to post. --Masem (t) 14:11, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per most of the above. If he were still president I would probably support on the basis that sitting presidents being arrested is pretty unusual. But he is not in office. And last I looked he has not actually been charged with anything... yet. -Ad Orientem (talk) 14:52, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose this would be more suitable for the future conviction... if it occurs. Kirliator (talk) 14:54, 20 March 2018 (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.

[Posted] RD: Ayaz Soomro

Article: Ayaz Soomro (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Dawn
Credits:

• Nominated by 39.48.73.97 (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Saqib (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: Short but well referenced. Lets see if it just needs one Support before getting posted like the RDs from West or it requires Support from everyone on WP before getting posted because of the usual WP:BIAS. 39.48.73.97 (talk) 07:08, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Comment it only needs one support from an admin who judges it meets the quality required to post, regardless of where the individual is from. The Rambling Man (talk) 08:00, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
  • Personally I generally tend to look for comments (not necessarily supports) from at least two people other than the nominator before posting, but that's not a policy requirement. Thryduulf (talk) 11:54, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Weak support just above stub, but just above is enough. The Rambling Man (talk) 08:01, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support - I have expanded it considerably. A national level lawmaker died while in office. --Saqib (talk) 08:23, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Article is sufficient for RD. –Ammarpad (talk) 11:53, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Posted. Thryduulf (talk) 11:54, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

[Closed] Cambridge Analytica

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: Cambridge Analytica (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ The UK's Information Commissioner will seek a warrant to look at the databases used by British firm Cambridge Analytica, a company accused of using personal data of 50 million Facebook members to influence US presidential election in 2016. (Post)
News source(s): BBC
Credits:

• Nominated by Sherenk1 (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Bahudhara (talk · give credit) and TheFrenchTickler1031 (talk · give credit)

Article updated

Nominator's comments: Big news, fall in Facebook stock. Sherenk1 (talk) 04:58, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose It's yet another facet of the investgation of the election. --Masem (t) 06:01, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
  • Sure, but, I mean, 50 million users is pretty significant if you ask me. That said, if anything were to be posted, I'd probably use a different (and shorter) blurb to take note of the general incident. Master of Time (talk) 06:38, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose keywords being "will seek a warrant". It's a long way from "will seek a warrant" to "have received a warrant" to "have found something" to "have concluded that Cambridge Analytica has used the personal data of 50 million Facebook members to influence the 2016 US presidential election" to "have enacted ____ as punishment". When we get to the last step, then we can reexamine. Banedon (talk) 06:58, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose I think that, once the warrant is served, this would be very much worthy of revisiting. However, as of now, a person announcing their intention to maybe do something at some point in the undetermined future may be a little too much on the edge. Chetsford (talk) 08:28, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose - There's no there there. Not an actual finding of fact of election tampering.--WaltCip (talk) 11:01, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose at least until formal charges are brought. 331dot (talk) 11:03, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Comment - Incidentally, a fall in stock price is meaningless. The market volatility is at its highest that it's been in years. The stock is just as likely to recover once the market-timers stop panic selling and buy back in within a few days.--WaltCip (talk) 11:09, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support dominating the news since this weekend, decent article. --76.122.98.135 (talk) 12:10, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

IP user, we don't generally post allegations or investigations. Formal charges, maybe; convictions, likely. But not every step in the process. 331dot (talk) 12:12, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

I was "CosmicAdventure" (scrambled my password to enforce a wiki break and then lost it ... oops). It's in the news now, the article is decent now, post it now. #twocents anyway. --76.122.98.135 (talk) 12:53, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Comment This is one of those cases where it will be WP:Crystalball up until the point that it's stale. In two years, FB will have gone the way of Myspace, and this is why. The warrant is not the issue, it's Facebook obscene breach of trust. GCG (talk) 12:28, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

Comment - This is angle I was going for. Maybe someone can help write blurb from this viewpoint. Sherenk1 (talk) 12:41, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

We need FB or a gov't doing the "action" in the blurb I think; we can't say "A whistleblower says..." Perhaps "FB acknowledges the unauthorised disclosure of data on 50 MM users to CA...blah, blah" GCG (talk) 12:56, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose no charges have been brought yet. I don't believe we ever post investigations before they yield actual results. Lepricavark (talk) 16:32, 20 March 2018 (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.

March 19

Portal:Current events/2018 March 19

March 19, 2018 (2018-03-19) (Monday) Armed conflicts and attacks Turkish military operation in Afrin The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army rebels loot the Syrian city of Afrin. (BBC) The United Nations reports that from January 2017 to January 2018 a total of 47 people were killed in protests against Congolese President Joseph Kabila. (Yahoo! News) Arts and culture "Gaudete et exsultate" ('Rejoice and Be Glad'; from Matthew 5:12) is the third apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis, dated on the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, and is subtitled "on the call to holiness in today's world". It addresses the universal call to holiness, with a focus "to repropose the call to holiness in a practical way for our own time". (Catholic Herald) Business and economy Economy of the United States After struggling with debt from a leveraged buyout, Claire's files for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States. The company has issued a statement that it expects its stores to remain operational while it restructures its debt. (CNN) Disasters and accidents History of autonomous cars A woman in Tempe, Arizona, dies after being hit by a self-driving car operated by Uber, in what appears to be the first death of a pedestrian struck by an autonomous vehicle on public roads. In response to the fatal accident, Uber suspends self-driving car tests in all U.S. cities as well as Toronto. (The Guardian) (BBC) Law and crime Austin serial bombings In Austin, Texas, a fourth bomb detonates, injuring two men. The Austin Police Department believes it is connected to the other parcel bombings, but do not believe it to be connected to the bomb threat leveled at the SXSW festival. (BBC) (NPR) Turpin case The seven adults of the "Turpin children" are reported to have been released from the Corona Regional Medical Center in California and placed into an undisclosed residential home to lead normal lives. (ABC) Crime in Turkey Turkish police discover 1.4 kilograms (3.1 lb) of radioactive-labelled material in a car in Ankara. Initially claimed to be californium by the smugglers, the material is later identified as a type of polystyrene sulfonate. (BBC) (Daily Sabah) 2018 Riverview killings A Florida man is arrested after killing his girlfriend and nine-year-old daughter in their home in Riverview, Florida. (Bay News 9) Politics and elections Federal drug policy of the United States U.S. President Donald Trump unveils his plan to combat the United States's opioid epidemic which includes harsher penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty. (CNN)

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RD: Keith O'Brien

Article: Keith O'Brien (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): BBC The Guardian The Times Vatican News
Credits:

• Updated by Proxima Centauri (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: This person is the last cardinal in Scotland, and there is a developing story about his behaviour around other people. Do the Danse Macabre! (Talk) 20:16, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose tagged. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:17, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• OpposeNeeds more sourcing. --TDKR Chicago 101 (talk) 21:08, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

[Posted] RD: Sudan (rhinoceros)

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: Sudan (rhinoceros) (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): BBC
Credits:

• Nominated by Sherenk1 (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Ackatsis (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: The world's last surviving male northern white rhino. Sherenk1 (talk) 07:12, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

Comment I just got an edit conflict trying to post this here! Most statements in the article are referenced, but I haven't explored all the cites in detail. Will try to do some more cleaning up tonight. Ackatsis (talk) 07:16, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support good to go. The Rambling Man (talk) 08:03, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Posting. The article is in a good shape. --Tone 08:07, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• That rhino got onto the RD ticker pretty darn quick.--WaltCip (talk) 11:08, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  What's your point? The Rambling Man (talk) 12:03, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  It's impossible to get an animal posted to RD without at least one person making a sarky comment.--Pawnkingthree (talk) 12:25, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  In this case, the posting is justified. Thankfully, this issue does not come up very frequently. Lepricavark (talk) 16:27, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  I make a simple observation and people think I'm either being snarky or hiding some subtext. I'm not. I'm just surprised at how fast it got onto the main page, animal or not.--WaltCip (talk) 17:27, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  Why? It was of decent quality and that's all that's required to post an RD, right? The Rambling Man (talk) 17:45, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  Exactly; yet somehow we struggle to get the Grammys up there for lack of quality.--WaltCip (talk) 18:11, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  Well it tells its own story, people are correctly more interested in the destruction of a sub-species and less interested in a navel-gazing exercise in self-indulgent bullshit that is meaningless to anyone bar the recipients who sell a few more albums. It feels like the right way round to me. The Rambling Man (talk) 18:17, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  Sorry I misread you WaltCip. Now I'm going to try and get Bento the Keyboard Cat up there too...--Pawnkingthree (talk) 17:50, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Maybe it should specify (rhinoceros), because right now on the main page, it looks like the country of Sudan died. Natureium (talk) 18:17, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  And how, pray tell, does a "country" die? The Rambling Man (talk) 18:18, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  That's exactly why it looks like a hoax. Natureium (talk) 18:59, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  It's not a hoax, ITN doesn't do "hoax". The Rambling Man (talk) 19:17, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  What ITN does doesn't matter when it comes to what it looks like. Natureium (talk) 19:20, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  It doesn't look like a hoax unless you're incredibly naive, we assume our readers have a level of competence too. Where are all the complaints, or where are all the memes that suggest "Sudan (the country) has died"? The Rambling Man (talk) 19:25, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  It looks like an error; I wouldn't be surprised if someone who knew nothing about the machinations of WP posted on WP:MP/E about this. — Hugh (talk) 19:44, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  Someone already did—and they were called an idiot by our friendly editors. Natureium (talk) 19:46, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  No they weren't, try to stick to facts. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:47, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  "You would have to be an idiot to think that a country had died." It's right there on the Errors page. — Hugh (talk) 21:20, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  Are you trying to demonstrate that there are no friendly editors? Natureium (talk) 19:52, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  No, I'm trying to demonstrate that people stick to facts before making personal attacks or fake accusations. WHat are you "trying to demonstrate"? The Rambling Man (talk) 19:55, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  We've been in this situation before where the name of an animal matched that of a well-known person, but we did not add the disambiguation since hovering/clicking the link took you to the animal, not the person. This is following that practice. --Masem (t) 18:41, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Comment This should read Sudan (rhinoceros) or at least Sudan (rhino). Come on. — Hugh (talk) 19:41, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  Why? The Rambling Man (talk) 19:45, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  Normally it wouldn't be an issue, but given that the country of Sudan actually split in two a few years back, some readers might very well be confused. Lepricavark (talk) 20:32, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  Countries don't "die", we need to assume our readers our competent enough to understand that. If some of our users don't get that, well that's another thing altogether, WP:CIR covers that. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:40, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  I hadn't realised until today how difficult it must be for some editors of Main Page sections such as ITN and FA to envisage how text might read to the uninitiated. Expecting competence should not clash with, for just one policy example, MOS:EGG. — Hugh (talk) 20:44, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  It would be EGG if there was any such concept of a "country dying". And there isn't. So this is a gross waste of time. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:57, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  I had to click the link to figure out what "Sudan" meant. It hurts nothing to add (rhinoceros). --76.122.98.135 (talk) 23:33, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  Agreed. This has to be one of the sillier and more trivially solved arguments I've ever seen on WP. — Hugh (talk) 01:08, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

Disambiguator added, enough people are genuinely confused about this, and no good argument not to do this in this one case has been presented. Fram (talk) 08:40, 21 March 2018 (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.

[Posted to Ongoing] Austin package explosions

Article: Austin package explosions (talk · history · tag)
Ongoing item nomination (Post)
News source(s): NY Times, Reuters
Credits:

• Nominated by Valoem (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Classicwiki (talk · give credit)

Article updated

Nominator's comments: Ongoing serial bombings Valoem ^{talk contrib} 19:28, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• Comment - is this intended as an ongoing nomination? Currently, it is an RD, which is not apt. I would support an ongoing nom. Stormy clouds (talk) 19:51, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

Sorry this is my first time nominating, ongoing is fine. Valoem ^{talk contrib} 20:11, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support- this is a recent event, should be posted in the news, the event has already passed through, Awestruck1(talk)20:59, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose too small-scale an event to qualify for either ongoing or a blurb. Lepricavark (talk) 22:06, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support for ongoing, it's clearly being reported around the globe and is most certainly unresolved at this point. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:10, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose There are multiple problems with the nomination. (1) No blurb has been suggested. (What is an "Austin package"? In what country is Austin located?) (2) The article does not provide any prose/proof explaining how/why the bombings are connected to each other. (3) Only two people have died, so the story isn't worthy of a mention on In The News. (4) I don't see how this can be an ongoing item, unless the nominator has inside information about similar bombings that are planned for the future. Chrisclear (talk) 03:57, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Global coverage and is ongoing seeing that it is unsolved. --TDKR Chicago 101 (talk) 04:34, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

Comment I don't understand that logic. Suppose this was posted as an ongoing item, does that mean it would remain an ongoing item until the case was solved? Chrisclear (talk) 04:48, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

It would remain an ongoing item while there were significant developments and regular updates.--Pawnkingthree (talk) 18:30, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose Appears to be a domestic situation, not related to international terrorism. --Masem (t) 04:43, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per Masem, local issue, the bombings themselves are also unpredictable. SamaranEmerald (talk) 04:47, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per WP:CRYSTAL. We don't know if there are going to be any more explosions.--39.48.73.97 (talk) 07:50, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose too local right now Chetsford (talk) 08:41, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Another explosion has been reported at a nearby FedEx facility. This is becoming a top story in the news and a lot of readers will be looking at Wikipedia's "In the News" section for a link to an article. --Tocino 10:21, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support - As per above post. Sherenk1 (talk) 11:46, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Opppse local bombing, many of them happen around the world daily. This didn't rise to the level that can merit Ongoing posting. –Ammarpad (talk) 14:15, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support, this is a well-developed article on a topic that is in the news. The investigation is ongoing, not necessarily that there will be more explosions, so ongoing makes sense and isn't CRYSTAL. -- Tavix ^(talk) 14:16, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose the interval at which the attacks occur is unpredictable, unless the perpetrator(s) is/are caught, these attacks may continue indefinitely as far as some above users have noted, which is why this nomination is a victim to WP:CRYSTALBALL. Kirliator (talk) 14:49, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per Lepricavark. -Ad Orientem (talk) 14:55, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support 2/3 dead, 3/4 injured and the person is on the loose. We posted the washington area shootings a couple of years ago. This is similar. Believe we also posted an attack in London with injures and no deaths (or maybe about the same). Although Sunday's was a trip wire appaerently, so maybe change the title.Lihaas (talk) 15:56, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose – not similar in scale to the DC sniper. This could possibly be national news, but not important enough for the main page. Natureium (talk) 16:02, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per most of the above opposers, the attacks are a small-scale issue that is too small to be noteworthy on ITN. Python Dan (talk) 16:07, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Comment - another explosion in the region, this continues to dominate in media, even receiving radio attention in Ireland and appearing on Sky News. Stormy clouds (talk) 16:17, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support per Tocino. It's a big story getting updates very consistently over the past week. Davey2116 (talk) 17:17, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Developing story which is getting widespread coverage.--Pawnkingthree (talk) 18:19, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Weak Oppose this series of events is notably overhyped, while it is getting international coverage, its largely a local-sized series of unfortunate events (pun not intended). 161.6.7.130 (talk) 18:27, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

  As a complete outsider, this has all the hallmarks of another Unabomber, so I'm not sure it's about "unfortunate incidents", more about "traps designed to murder innocent people", but your mileage may vary. The Rambling Man (talk) 18:30, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support Ongoing this is getting international coverage. While I do agree with some of the opposition that the media outlets are indeed overhyping this issue, and that it is [at the moment] small/local scale; the fact is this series of attacks has been going on for over 2 weeks now and it has attracted attention similar to the Unabomber as TRM mentioned above, which makes it fit perfectly for Ongoing criteria. The article itself is short, but also straightforward and clean. Hornetzilla78 (talk) 18:44, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support ongoing Yesterday I couldn't decide if it should be a blurb now or wait until the perp is caught (they found the Unabomber, they'll find him/her). Given that yet another package has exploded and people are on edge, ongoing is appropriate. – Muboshgu (talk) 19:37, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Posted to Ongoing Stephen 22:38, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• There was clearly no consensus to post this. Lepricavark (talk) 22:59, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

10 support and 12 Oppose and we still posted. Disclaimer: I supported posting it. Sherenk1 (talk) 05:38, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

Opposition to posting a blurb is different from opposition to posting to ongoing. Master of Time (talk) 05:50, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

It is also not a straight vote. 331dot (talk) 08:14, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

Pull - My count is 12 Support votes (incl. the nominator) and 12 Oppose votes. There was no blurb MoT, so everyone who voted Oppose actually opposed posting to Ongoing. 39.48.37.7 (talk) 08:59, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

Discussions like this are not a straight vote, but a weighing of arguments as well. 331dot (talk) 09:03, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

• It's no longer ongoing as the suspect has apparently blown themselves up. Pull. WaltCip (talk) 10:20, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

Which will create more interest in the story. Seems odd to remove it when our readers will be looking for it. Pawnkingthree (talk) 10:22, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

But the suspect is dead, meaning that the bombings have stopped and that the story is effectively over. No longer ongoing.--WaltCip (talk) 11:02, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

March 18

Portal:Current events/2018 March 18

March 18, 2018 (2018-03-18) (Sunday) Armed conflicts and attacks Turkish military operation in Afrin The Turkish Army and Free Syrian Army seize the Kurdish stronghold of Afrin from the YPG in northern Syria, raising the Turkish flag above the city centre. A statue of the Kurdish legendary figure, Kaveh the Blacksmith, is bulldozed by Turkish-backed forces. (BBC) (Reuters) Disasters and accidents 2018 Manila Pavilion Hotel fire Three people are killed in a fire at the Manila Pavilion Hotel in the Philippines. (Reuters) Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapse The Miami Police Department states that they believe they have recovered the last of the victims killed by the bridge's collapse. (NPR) Cirque du Soleil fatal accidents A Cirque du Soleil performer dies after falling 15 feet (4.6 m) during a performance in Tampa, Florida. (CBC) 2017–18 Australian bushfire season A bushfire destroys dozens of buildings in Tathra, New South Wales, Australia. (BBC) Law and crime 2018 anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka ends the state of emergency declared on March 6, 2018. (BBC) Far-right politics in the United Kingdom Lutz Bachmann, the founder of the German nationalist group Pegida, is detained and prevented from speaking at a free speech rally at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, London, at which activist Tommy Robinson is also speaking. (The Independent) (The Guardian) Politics and elections Russian presidential election, 2018 Voters in Russia cast their votes for the President of Russia. Incumbent Vladimir Putin wins a fourth term in office, with just over 75% of the popular vote. (Reuters) Sports 2018 Winter Paralympics The closing ceremony of the Winter Paralympics takes place with the United States team winning the medal table with 36 medals (13 gold, 15 silver and 8 bronze). (BBC)

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First self-driving car fatality

Article: Autonomous car (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ Elaine Herzberg becomes the first uninvolved pedestrian to be killed by an autonomous car. (Post)
News source(s): [1] [2] [3]
Credits:

• Nominated by Banedon (talk · give credit)
• Updated by 172.58.35.236 (talk · give credit)

Article updated

Nominator's comments: Putting this here when the crash happened, but it has continued to generate coverage. "Uninvolved pedestrian" because she wasn't part of the test. Banedon (talk) 08:02, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

• I'm pretty sure someone has already been killed in relation to a self-driving vehicle before this happened. How many specific scenarios are we willing to post blurbs for? I can't say I support this one. Master of Time (talk) 08:06, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

• But those people were inside the car and actively participating in the test. Elaine Herzberg was outside it and effectively uninvolved. Banedon (talk) 08:20, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose I think the fact the victim's article is heading for deletion says it all. The Rambling Man (talk) 08:28, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose. While unfortunate, this is being reported as a relatively minor story. I also think long term this will just be a footnote in the history of autonomous cars; few people (unfortunately) will know who this person is. Most people don't know who the first pedestrian killed by a regular car is. 331dot (talk) 08:40, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose. Cars with drivers kill hundreds more on a daily basis.--WaltCip (talk) 11:03, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose It was more a matter of when there was going to be a self-driving car-related fatality, the industry never claimed perfection. This happened to be it, but it came as no surprise. --Masem (t) 15:05, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose. There are huge numbers of people killed by vehicles every day; the fact that this particular vehicle was more automated than previous ones makes it a piece of trivia. I would suggest DYK instead, but the article looks like it fails WP:BLP1E. Modest Genius ^talk 16:16, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose Road deaths are a common occurrence, and it was inevitable that someone would eventually be killed by an autonomous car. Also, the proposed blurb stating that the pedestrian was 'uninvolved' is inaccurate. The town's police chief has said that an initial investigation indicates that the crash was unavoidable, caused by abruptly stepping into the street. Mamyles (talk) 16:54, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

[Posted] RD: David Cooper (immunologist)

Article: David Cooper (immunologist) (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Kirby

News.com.au
Credits:

• 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: Australian immunologist who diagnosed the first case of HIV in Australia. Article is a little short but is well sourced. I may try to expand it later if I get time Dumelow (talk) 14:17, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

• Weak support just beyond stub, but sufficient. The Rambling Man (talk) 18:43, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Article is short, but no major problem to prevent RD posting. –Ammarpad (talk)
• Support - Ready for RD.BabbaQ (talk) 20:37, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Weak support Article is well sourced, but merely passes stub level. --TDKR Chicago 101 (talk) 21:10, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose. As with other stubs nominated for RD, I believe there should be some coverage of what the subject accomplished in his/her professional life, and this article describes Cooper as an "Australian HIV/AIDS researcher" first. Aside from noting that he diagnosed "the first case of HIV in Australia", there is no description of what he researched within the field of HIV/AIDS (e.g. discoveries, confirmations of other findings, other results). For example, this could include Cooper's research on pre-treatment prophylaxis, development of therapeutic regiments, etc. I'm not saying that information in the article (generally professional appointments) aren't important, but for me the article has inadequate depth to merit RD posting. Spencer^T♦C 21:23, 20 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support It is adequate for RD. Pawnkingthree (talk) 01:38, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
• Posted. Vanamonde (talk) 04:42, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

[Posted] Russian presidential election, 2018

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: Russian presidential election, 2018 (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ Vladimir Putin is reelected as President of Russia. (Post)
Alternative blurb: ​ Vladimir Putin is elected as President of Russia for a fourth term.
Alternative blurb II: ​ Vladimir Putin is elected to fourth term as President of Russia.
News source(s): BBC, Guardian, Reuters, dpa ((in English), Zeit (in German)
Credits:

• Nominated by Sherenk1 (talk · give credit)
• Updated by YantarCoast (talk · give credit) and SpanishSnake (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: Added now to assess article quality so as to make it ready to post as soon as election results are announced. Blurb can be specified at that time. Sherenk1 (talk) 11:38, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Comment. I think it would be OK to write a blurb now as no one thinks anyone other than Putin will win. 331dot (talk) 18:06, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• I’ve added an altblurb. —LukeSurl ^{t c} 18:33, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Rather than try a WP:IAR oppose based on the fishy nature of the vote, disallowing of Alexei Navalny's candidacy, etc., perhaps we can add something to the blurb about it? [4] – Muboshgu (talk) 18:52, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• In the past we have refrained from any editorializing when posting even the most flagrantly bogus "election results." -Ad Orientem (talk) 18:54, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Indeed; we do not make judgements about the validity, fairness, or legitimacy of the election, that's for the reader to decide. 331dot (talk) 18:56, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose Not saying this to be pointy, but ITNR thinks the election of a head of state is notable, but that is based on the notion that an election is a choice by a populous. There is a threshold of corruption where the preceding cease to be an election in the conventional sense of the word, and what happened in Russia today certainly exceeds that threshold.GCG (talk) 20:04, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• No, it's most certainly not based on any such assumption. That's plainly incorrect. We report the facts, and it's up to article writers and third-party sources to provide the context. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:07, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• This is ITNR and marking as such. Banedon (talk) 19:40, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose until the results are declared "officially", plus since when has anyone on God's own Earth referred to Putin as "Vladimir V. Putin"? The Rambling Man (talk) 19:45, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
  • I just took the middle initial out. – Muboshgu (talk) 19:58, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
    • Bravo! No wonder I voted for you to become an admin! The Rambling Man (talk) 20:02, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose in addition to needing the "official" results, I want to see something in the article about the alleged voter fraud. – Muboshgu (talk) 20:06, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• This is notable because he's the head-of-state of a nuclear power, not because of it being a fair election. If this were Uzbekistan, I'd be inclined to IAR oppose it, but once the results are official and the article is updated it has to be included. power~enwiki (π, ν) 20:14, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
  • I've added the "fourth term" to the altblurb, just for the record. Brandmeister^talk 20:19, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per IAR. It's hard for me to believe that this was in any sense a fair election.--WaltCip (talk) 20:33, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support fair or not, an election is an election and a head of state is a head of state. If anything, the ITN would read "Vladimir Putin is still President of Russia, as everyone expected". Juxlos (talk) 20:36, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support it's ITNR, article is in good shape. 2A02:A451:8B2D:1:D447:384A:ABF0:BBE9 (talk) 20:50, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Comment There is a section Reactions missing, usually we have some domestic and international reactions to the election when we post election articles. --Tone 20:56, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support per Juxlos. I think those opposing this because the election wasn't fair clearly have a point. This is a result of a presidential election in a sovereign country, which is listed as a recurring item and, like it or not, it has to be posted once the official results come in and the article is sufficiently updated. The discussion on modifying the blurb to include the rumours on electoral fraud is relevant and should be carried out separately from any vote count.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 20:58, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Comment if official results are expected in the next 3-4 hours, I'd like to wait for them. If they won't be available for several days, this is probably ready to go. The lead section needs copy-editing and expansion, the rest is fine. power~enwiki (π, ν) 21:02, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
  • RT (a reliable source for the official election results) says 80% of votes are in, and Putin has 76% of the vote. [5]. power~enwiki (π, ν) 22:06, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support – Details aside, this is global news. Suggest Alt2 as a more logical word order. Sca (talk) 21:03, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Note: I reworded the Alts, removed Alt1 - "elected to a fourth term" is not global English. Black Kite (talk) 21:07, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Based on decades of newspaper editing, I must strongly disagree with this unilateral deletion of another's proposal. Replaced blurb as Alt2 once again.

• Fine, put it back. I can assure you that "elected to fourth term" would be up at WP:ERRORS seconds after it was posted, though. Black Kite (talk) 21:39, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

Go fly a kite. Sca (talk) 15:20, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support - this is ITN/R, so ethical qualms about the legitimacy of the election are irrelevant for notability grounds. Maybe we have a combined blurb with Xi Jinping - in "democratic" despot news, both Putin and Xi are (shockingly) re-elected. Stormy clouds (talk) 21:16, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
  • Second this. The first option seems the best if combinated with Xi. Also btw, there was no corruption, 80% of complaints were 100% fake, and a couple thousand Ukrainians couldn't vote because of the police. wumbolo ^^^ 21:24, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
    • @Wumbolo: LOL, got a source for that claim? – Muboshgu (talk) 21:46, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
      • @Muboshgu: "State TV channel Rossiya 24 reported earlier there were complaints of violations but many were 'fake'." (Al Jazeera) wumbolo ^^^ 22:02, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

Irrelevant personal comments.

OMG are you serious??? Russian state-owned media says there was no fraud, so you accept that? That's like believing there was no Russian collusion in the U.S. election because Trump tweeted "NO COLLUSION". – Muboshgu (talk) 22:04, 18 March 2018 (UTC) "OMG" are you really an admin? Remain calm here, please. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:16, 18 March 2018 (UTC) Yes I'm an admin. And you've been de-sysop'd. So STFU. – Muboshgu (talk) 22:20, 18 March 2018 (UTC) Not for much longer! The Rambling Man (talk) 22:21, 18 March 2018 (UTC) I'd have to take notes on your behavior to really see how one goes about losing adminship. – Muboshgu (talk) 22:24, 18 March 2018 (UTC) You're way ahead of where I ever was at your stage. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:33, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• • • • • (edit conflict) @Power~enwiki: RT claimed this. Do you think it is reliable, since you already said it publishes reliable election results? wumbolo ^^^ 22:29, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
          • RT would be reliable for a statement that the Russian government claims there was no fraud, and little more. This discussion would be better held at Talk:Russian presidential election, 2018. power~enwiki (π, ν) 22:30, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Comment We have posted w/o any editorial comment some of the most corrupt and patently fake elections ever staged. We are likely going to do the same for the reelection of the President of China whose manner of election would probably make Stalin smile. There is no question that this whole thing has been rigged from the word go. And yes that needs to be in the article before I will support it. But not in any blurb on ITN. -Ad Orientem (talk) 22:03, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
  • I agree with presenting a short blurb without the fraud, and that the fraud needs to be mentioned in the article. I started a talk page thread there about it. I don't know exactly how to write the fraud section that the article needs to be complete. – Muboshgu (talk) 22:09, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support – Significant news about the reelection of a major world figure in a major country. I would change alt-blurb II to say "his" fourth term, though. Master of Time (talk) 22:11, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
  • @Master of Time: It's missing info about alleged voter fraud though. – Muboshgu (talk) 22:12, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
    • I mean, I never actually considered the Russian elections to be free and fair, but that's not a reason to oppose the mention of it in the ITN section, in my opinion. Master of Time (talk) 22:14, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
      • @Master of Time: I'm not saying the article shouldn't be posted. I agreed with Ad Orientem above in that we should post it, but we should post a complete article, which means not posting it until the allegations of fraud are included. – Muboshgu (talk) 22:19, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Comment what Ad Orientem said. All of you whinging about "corruption" should look closer to home, and accept that Wikipedia is not here to WP:RIGHTGREATWRONGS, merely to report what has actually happened. Where did it all go so wrong for so many of you? Incidentally, refusing to post this until some kind of "fraud" section is added to the article is bullshit, and pure systemic bias, arguably worse. We post per RS, so as and when we have consensus to post based on the results, that's what we do, we don't wait for admins who don't like the result to declare their own posting criteria, that's complete and utter bullshit. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:23, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
  • We post updated articles, that means articles should be relatively complete. Without fraud allegations, this article is missing significant context. – Muboshgu (talk) 22:26, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
    • The allegations seem to be primarily coming from western press at this point, not internally to Russia (contrast to the last US election where it was definitely internal). At this point, external allegation are not needed. If there does come internal allegations raised, that can be added, but it is not necessary for an ITNR posting, and like TRM, I have a great concern a number of editors are seeing the requirement of having them as righting great wrongs. We are not in that business. --Masem (t) 22:28, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
      • @Masem: Golos is internal, and they're reporting alleged violations.[6] – Muboshgu (talk) 22:31, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
        • Once WP:RS are declaring results, this should be posted, we don't need to wait for some "admin" version of the "truth", perhaps these "admins" should step aside and allow others to make judgements here, the kind of judgements we expect from our admins, not those which are personal and against the principles of Wikipedia. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:34, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
        • (ec) Even with that, because WP handles news of allegations carefully, I would only expect initial mention that there might be allegations. It would be irresponsible of us to try to document a full allegations section until Russia's election organization can actually comment on it. Initial statements would fine, but they are not necessary to consider this article complete for ITN posting. --Masem (t) 22:36, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

I'd like to remind everybody that, apart from the technical ability to post things on the front page (and the obligation to assess and act according to consensus when doing so), admins don't have any special powers here. People unhappy with the content of the article would be advised to add referenced content, or discuss the flaws of the article on the talk page. power~enwiki (π, ν) 22:37, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Posted with minimal blurb. Worldwide RS are reporting it, we can't editorialise. Black Kite (talk) 22:40, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

  Probably time to change the image too... The Rambling Man (talk) 22:44, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

  I vote the one with putin on a horse with his shirt off. Only in death does duty end (talk) 22:54, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Seconded. Stormy clouds (talk) 23:49, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• I've added the infobox image from Putin's article to CMP, just need to wait for KrinkleBot to weave her magic. Black Kite (talk) 23:17, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

  Image switched. Black Kite (talk) 23:37, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose. De facto uncontested elections, nobody is surprised, why is this news? --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 11:22, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

@Piotrus: As to why it is news, you will need to take that up with the news media; here at ITN we do not editorialize or make judgements about the validity, fairness, or legitimacy of elections. That's for readers to decide for themselves. This event is what passes for an election in Russia. That's all we are interested in. 331dot (talk) 11:25, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• Pull until the article sufficiently covers the allegations of fraud. We don't editorialize in ITN blurbs, but we also shouldn't post articles that are missing important information. Lepricavark (talk) 14:12, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
  • Right now, there's claims of ballot stuffing and the like, and that's in the article as well as the election committee's response that there was no major incidents they had observed yet, but there's no formal claims or allegations that we as WP can rightfully justify a complete section on and stay within NPOV. There will likely be more in the next several weeks, just as there was with the US election, but for ITN, the article properly covered the key event. --Masem (t) 14:18, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Keep feel free to embellish the Reactions section which is already quite descriptive. The Rambling Man (talk) 14:14, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• Indeed. Four whole sentences. It's a wonder you don't split them off into a separate article and then nominate it for FA. Lepricavark (talk) 14:18, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• I think you need to (a) calm down and (b) retract that, or else I'll have to get you a saucer of milk. The Rambling Man (talk) 14:20, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• I thought you saved your vague, empty threats for admins. Lepricavark (talk) 14:24, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• No, disruptive and bad-mouthing editors in general. The Rambling Man (talk) 14:25, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• I think you meant 'people who disagree with me', but have it your way. Lepricavark (talk) 14:28, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• You're not making sense I'm afraid. There's a huge difference between disagreeing with someone and just making stuff up about someone. The Rambling Man (talk) 14:32, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• As I said, have it your way. Lepricavark (talk) 14:40, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• Post-posting comment – How about we add the phrase "yet again" to the current blurb? Very journalesey. Ha. Sca (talk) 15:20, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• I think this discussion has probably run its useful course and can be safely closed. Any further objections can be made at ERRORS. -Ad Orientem (talk) 15:24, 19 March 2018 (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.

RD: Li Ao

Article: Li Ao (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): [7]
Credits:

• Nominated by Oceangai (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: Article well written and sourced Oceangai (talk) 14:33, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose for now. There are referencing gaps and several CN tags.--Pawnkingthree (talk) 17:18, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose. Contrary to what the nominator says, this is neither well written nor well sourced at the moment. Vanamonde (talk) 04:22, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

March 17

Portal:Current events/2018 March 17

March 17, 2018 (2018-03-17) (Saturday) Disasters and accidents 2018 Philippine Piper PA-23 Apache crash A Piper PA-23 passenger aircraft bound for Laoag International Airport in Ilocos Norte, Philippines, crashes upon take off from Plaridel Airport in Bulacan, killing all five people onboard as well as five on the ground. (Reuters) (Rappler) International relations Russia–United Kingdom relations, Reactions to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal In response to the UK's decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats following the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, the Russian Federation expels 23 British diplomats, closes the British Council in Russia and closes the Consulate-General of the United Kingdom in Saint Petersburg. (BBC) Law and crime Judicial system of Iran Former Vice President of Iran Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close ally to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is arrested after criticizing Iran's judiciary. (AP via Al-Arabiya) Crime in the United States A man is arrested in Austin, Texas, for threatening, via email, to bomb the SXSW festival. (NPR) Facebook and Cambridge Analytica data breach Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey launches an investigation into alleged harvesting of Facebook profiles by Cambridge Analytica, a firm employed by Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign. (BBC) (Reuters via The New York Times) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States launches an investigation into potential defects in the airbag control systems of some Kia and Hyundai models. (NPR) Politics and elections South Australian state election, 2018, Batman by-election, 2018, Cottesloe state by-election, 2018 Australian voters in South Australia, the Melbourne division of Batman, and the Perth electoral district of Cottesloe go to the polls in three separate elections. (Switzer Daily) The SA Liberals win a majority of seats in South Australia's lower house, ending 16 years of Labor Party government in the state. (The Guardian) Ged Kearney retains the Batman Division for the Australian Labor Party, despite earlier predictions that the Australian Greens would win. (SBS News)

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RD: Sushil Siddharth

Article: Sushil Siddharth (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Hindustan and Navbharat Times
Credits:

• Updated and nominated by Skr15081997 (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.

 Skr15081997 (talk) 15:02, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

[Closed] Ameenah Gurib

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: Ameenah Gurib (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ President of Mauritius Ameenah Gurib resigns amid financial misconduct allegations. (Post)
Alternative blurb: ​ President of Mauritius Ameenah Gurib resigns amid credit card scandal.
News source(s): Al Jazeera Bloomberg BBC Times of India NYT 1 NYT 2
Credits:

• Nominated by 39.48.73.97 (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Pritish.Seeboo (talk · give credit)

Article updated

 39.48.73.97 (talk) 08:15, 20 March 2018 (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.

[Posted] RD: Mike MacDonald

Article: Mike MacDonald (comedian) (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): CBC
Credits:

• Nominated by TDKR Chicago 101 (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: Article well sourced --TDKR Chicago 101 (talk) 18:02, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support Decent article, good to be posted. –Ammarpad (talk) 18:55, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support good to go. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:49, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support. Solid article, sources plentiful and proper. A few red links, but all seem properly sourced. Challenger l (talk) 21:27, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Posted Stephen 23:44, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

Xi Jinping reappointed president without term limits

Article: Xi Jinping (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ Xi Jinping (pictured) is re-elected as the President of the People's Republic of China with no term limits by the National People’s Congress. (Post)
Alternative blurb: ​ Xi Jinping (pictured) is re-elected as the President of the People's Republic of China.
News source(s): AFP, Reuters, Al Jazeera
Credits:

• Nominated by Starship.paint (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.

Nominator's comments: Should qualify under WP:ITN/R as an indirect election for head of state. starship.paint ~ KO 03:30, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

Previous, related nomination on the removal of term limits on March 11. Current nomination is on the reelection of President on March 17, and has a different target article

Name: Chinese presidential term limits removed Date: March 11 Alternative blurb: ​The National People's Congress removes term limits for the President of the People's Republic of China (incumbent Xi Jinping pictured) Alternative blurb II: ​The National People's Congress removes term limits for the President of the People's Republic of China, with Xi Jinping as the incumbent president. Alternative blurb III: ​At the 2018 National People's Congress, the Chinese legislature removes term limits for the President of the People's Republic of China (incumbent Xi Jinping pictured) Sources: BBC,CNN, Reuters Nominator's comments: Significant change in way of governing in one of the most significant countries now. More from The New York Times on why this is a big deal. Feel free to add more blurbs and suggest alternative target articles as the current one is not detailed starship.paint ~ KO 09:27, 11 March 2018 (UTC) Conditional support Widely covered and highly notable, might very well not have more Chinese presidential succession for a while. Article needs significant extensions though. Also blurb feels a bit long. Juxlos (talk) 11:02, 11 March 2018 (UTC) Change to Support focusing on the presidency instead of the meeting per below. Juxlos (talk) 07:41, 12 March 2018 (UTC) Oppose on quality - article tells us nothing more than the blurb and is almost as long. The reason your struggling with the blurb is we can't say what RS are saying per WP:crystalball. The part we can say doesn't feel all that newsworthy. GCG (talk) 11:32, 11 March 2018 (UTC) Oppose. The PRC is free to use its legal processes to change its laws about how long the President serves whenever it wishes. This will have little effect. 331dot (talk) 12:16, 11 March 2018 (UTC) I would add that this legislature is essentially a rubber stamp body anyway. If Xi didn't want it, they wouldn't do it. 331dot (talk) 12:20, 11 March 2018 (UTC) With the exception of Mao Zedong, the term limit seems to be obeyed in general. While the body may not exactly be a proper democratic one this still implies a major event in Chinese politics. If Trump even formally proposes doing this it will be all over the news in a heartbeat. Juxlos (talk) 12:54, 11 March 2018 (UTC) FYI the US President has no formal role in crafting US Constitutional amendments. He can't push one through Congress (2/3 vote needed) or through the states (3/4 of the states). He can propose whatever he wants but it's unlikely it would happen. I believe he has joked about doing something similar to this Chinese action. 331dot (talk) 19:14, 11 March 2018 (UTC) Notability wise, support. I'm seeing this development in multiple news sources. This was also in the news a few weeks ago when it was effectively passed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, but in terms of the encyclopedia, the official change to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China is what we want to mark. When evaluating this, we can't use the same criteria as that we would evaluating a development in a Western democracy. In China power happens through closed-door meetings and not by elections, and this is one of the most significant occasions. I've suggested a shorter alt-blurb. Article will need some work. --LukeSurl t c 14:24, 11 March 2018 (UTC) Oppose on article quality. It's a stub and will require significant expansion before we can seriously consider posting to the main page. -Ad Orientem (talk) 14:42, 11 March 2018 (UTC) Support on notability as above; I was thinking about nominating this when the news first broke but knew that the response would be 'wait until it actually happens'. The article should be expanded. Davey2116 (talk) 17:06, 11 March 2018 (UTC) President of the People's Republic of China might be a good target, as the news is really about this post rather than the meeting. --LukeSurl t c 19:17, 11 March 2018 (UTC) Agree. Stormy clouds (talk) 19:56, 11 March 2018 (UTC) Support this saw coverage before the congress even happened (e.g. [8]). I'm for targeting President of the People's Republic of China as that's the position that's actually affected. Banedon (talk) 01:18, 12 March 2018 (UTC) @GreatCaesarsGhost, LukeSurl, Ad Orientem, Davey2116, and Stormy clouds: - switched the target article. starship.paint ~ KO 08:30, 12 March 2018 (UTC) There was an uncited section, now fixed. Juxlos (talk) 10:20, 12 March 2018 (UTC) Sorry, still opposed. The new target has only a brief mention and offers no more information than what is in the blurb. -Ad Orientem (talk) 13:12, 12 March 2018 (UTC) Support in principle, oppose on update. A historically significant change to one of the world's most powerful offices. However unless I'm missing something President of the People's Republic of China has just two sentences on the change, that say nothing more about it than the blurb does. I think we need a full paragraph of cited update somewhere before posting. Modest Genius talk 11:38, 12 March 2018 (UTC) The difficulty of using President of the People's Republic of China as the target is that it's not really the place for an extensive commentary on recent events, especially when these events now mean there's an absence of a particular aspect of the position. --LukeSurl t c 12:19, 12 March 2018 (UTC) Fair enough, but that's currently the bold link in the blurb. If there's a better location for an update, that's fine. We do need one somewhere. Modest Genius talk 13:03, 12 March 2018 (UTC) Support in principle. If allowing presidency for life in the most populous country and second-largest economy in the world, which directly impacts 1.4 billion people and has large potential to affect international relations, does not merit a blurb, then I'm really wondering what the political news should be concerned with to get included.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 12:22, 12 March 2018 (UTC) Comment I think there is a lot of support in principle because this is a huge power grab for Xi. However, he is only the third leader of China since the President role became synonymous with the supreme leader, and he is just now entering his second term. The narrative that he is becoming Mao-like or ruling for life is highly speculative. GCG (talk) 13:37, 12 March 2018 (UTC) Nominal or not, it’s still the head of state position, the same way we care about the Queen of the United Kingdom. Juxlos (talk) 15:34, 12 March 2018 (UTC) Reluctant oppose as it's a significant story that is getting coverage, but neither proposed target has been sufficiently updated - the 2018 Congress article is still a stub and there has been a mere two line update to the new target that tells us little more than the blurb.--Pawnkingthree (talk) 18:33, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

• @Pawnkingthree, Juxlos, GreatCaesarsGhost, Kiril Simeonovski, Modest Genius, LukeSurl, Ad Orientem, Banedon, 331dot, Davey2116, and Stormy clouds: - involved in the previous nomination on March 11, which was a change to the constitution, but 6 days later we have a re-election. Several opposes due to state of target article but the target article is now different. starship.paint ~ KO 03:30, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• @Pawnkingthree, Juxlos, GreatCaesarsGhost, Kiril Simeonovski, Modest Genius, LukeSurl, Ad Orientem, Banedon, Davey2116, and Stormy clouds: - in case the ping didn't go through as per below. starship.paint ~ KO 13:56, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Comment. I didn't get a ping even though I see you tried. Anyway, I don't think the blurb needs to mention term limits or lack thereof, which is a separate issue from who the President is(even if the legislature is just rubber stamping the choice of President). 331dot (talk) 07:26, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Is this really an indirect election to make this ITNR? The election was squaring from those already sitting in the national congress in contrast to, eg, the US's electoral college. Normally Election ITNRs point to an election article, (and the winner if that article is in good shape), but clearly there's nothing close to that here. I am not saying that there is not something to put to ITN here between the combination fo the term limits and this recent "rubber stamping" by the congress, just that I don't think we should consider this ITNR. --Masem (t) 13:44, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

I don't know their system; is the Congress even given more than one candidate to in theory choose from?(even if Xi winning is predetermined) Even if Xi is the only option, could they in theory not choose him? It would still nominally be an election for head of state (again, even if the result is predetermined) 331dot (talk) 13:50, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• 331dot - each of the 2,000+ delegates gets a yes/no vote. Xi got all 'Yes'. His Vice President got 1 'No'. starship.paint ~ KO 13:56, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Weak Oppose Several gaps in referencing though the article is not in horrible shape by any means. Once remedied Weak Support on merits. I do think this meets our ITNR criteria although the election is obviously a sham by any normal standards observed in the democratic world. Also I favor the alt blurb. -Ad Orientem (talk) 14:15, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Conditional Strong Support - as per above, reference gaps here and there. Once fixed, principle is that this is the head of state of the most populous country in the world. Juxlos (talk) 18:25, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose - Since China has removed the term limits, this is not a direct election, thus it is not ITNR.--WaltCip (talk) 19:03, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support per Juxlos and Ad Orientem. Jusdafax (talk) 19:40, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Obvious oppose ITNR here applies to the election as target article, we don't seem to have one, so this is invalid. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:39, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support in principle. I've already supported the introduction of the rule without it being invoked, so this formal application is additional justification for my previous vote.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 21:10, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• 2018 National People's Congress, the 'election' article, is a stub. Stephen 03:41, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support after the cn-tags are addressed. I think setting Xi as the target-article is fine. Davey2116 (talk) 06:01, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support in principle, but oppose on update. 2018 National People's Congress is barely above a stub and has literally one sentence on Xi's re-election. Xi's own article has one sentence on the removal of term limits and one sentence on the re-election. We have the same problem as before: the update gives no more information than the blurb. If/when there's a substantial update somewhere, with multiple paragraphs of referenced prose, then this can go up, but not before. Modest Genius ^talk 14:03, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per Modest Genius - the target article is a stub.--Pawnkingthree (talk) 17:31, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support in principle, but 2018 National People's Congress isn't a reasonable target article right now, and 13th National People's Congress is even worse. Could Xi Jinping be the target article? The alt-blurb is significantly better than the initial, longer suggestion. power~enwiki (π, ν) 17:36, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

Ireland win Six Nations

Article: 2018 Six Nations Championship (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ In rugby union, Ireland win a Grand Slam in the Six Nations Championship. (captain Rory Best pictured) (Post)
News source(s): RTÉ BBC
Credits:

• Nominated by Stormy clouds (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.

Nominator's comments: Article needs some referencing, but is in an alright state. Item is ITN/R, and derives additional notability as it is only Ireland's third Grand Slam (and happens to fall on St. Patrick's Day). Stormy clouds (talk) 16:59, 17 March 2018 (UTC)

Is just winning the Grand Slam on ITNR? They won the Six Nations a week ago.--Johnsemlak (talk) 03:23, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

This nom is for the Six Nations as a whole. We wait until the tournament is concluded. Pawnkingthree (talk) 11:58, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose until improved. Compare 2016 [9] where the item was nominated in a state similar to the current one but was not posted until there was prose on the actual games themselves. (For some reason, this seems not to have been posted - or even nominated - at all in 2017.) There are also a number of uncited statements. Black Kite (talk) 12:17, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Needs update. Now is the correct time to nominate this, but at present there are only three sentences of prose in the article about the results of the entire tournament. The rest is all build-up, tables and team sheets. This needs a few referenced paragraphs describing the progress of the tournament. 2016_Six_Nations_Championship#Story_of_the_tournament is an excellent example, though it doesn't need to be quite that detailed to be posted. Modest Genius ^talk 14:07, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

March 16

Portal:Current events/2018 March 16

March 16, 2018 (2018-03-16) (Friday) International relations 2017–18 North Korea crisis 2018 inter-Korean summit, North Korea–South Korea relations South Korea states that they want high-level talks with North Korea before the summit. (Reuters) South Korea–United States relations South Korea and the United States announce that the Foal Eagle and Key Resolve military drills will be scaled down and shortened. (The Malay Mail) Crime in the United Kingdom, Russia–United Kingdom relations The death of Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov, who lived in exile in the United Kingdom, is confirmed by a coroner's examination to be a murder. The killing happened eight days after the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. (BBC) Law and crime South African Arms Deal South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority Director Shaun Abrahams says former President Jacob Zuma will be prosecuted for corruption, relating to a R30 billion arms deal in the late 1990s. Zuma disputes all the allegations against him. (The Guardian) The Holocaust in Latvia Police arrest a man at the Freedom Monument displaying a poster of soldiers killing Jews as a protest against an annual march in Riga, Latvia, honoring two Latvian SS divisions during World War II. (JTA) (The Times of Israel) Aviation in the United States The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States restricts "doors off" aircraft flights following a helicopter crash that killed 5 people. (CNN) Catholic Church sexual abuse cases Anthony Sablan Apuron, the former Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agaña, Guam is found guilty on charges of the sexual abuse of minors by a tribunal. He is suspended from the exercise of his authority over the archdiocese. (Zenit) Another lawsuit is filed against the Catholic Church in Guam, bringing the total lawsuits alleging historical sexual abuse to 157. Louis Brouillard, who is now 96, was on Guam from 1948 to 1981, and is accused of abusing boys in 100 of the lawsuits the church is facing. (RNZ) Politics and elections Presidency of Donald Trump U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fires former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe because of a report from the Office of Professional Responsibility accusing McCabe of making an unauthorized news media disclosure and lacking candor on multiple occasions. (CBS News) Science and technology Discoveries of exoplanets European astronomers discover eight new exoplanets classified as Hot Jupiters as part of the WASP project. (The Talking Democrat) Sports 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament For the first time in the history of the Division I men's tournament, a #16 seed defeats a #1 seed, as UMBC shocks top overall seed Virginia 74–54. (AP via ESPN)

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[Closed] 2018 UMBC vs. Virginia men's basketball game

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: 2018 UMBC vs. Virginia men's basketball game (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ The UMBC Retrievers became the first #16 seed in NCAA Tournament history to defeat a #1 seed with their 74-54 win over the Virginia Cavaliers. (Post)
News source(s): [10]
Credits:

• Nominated by UMBC vs Virginia (talk · give credit)

Nominator's comments: Because its a article about a notable upset and no other college who was a 16th seed ever defeated a top seeded team in NCAA history. UMBC vs Virginia (talk) 03:17, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• Strong oppose One underdog victory over a top seed in a non-final elimination game is not ITN, and even the game itself shouldn't have an article. --Masem (t) 03:21, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose We should post the tournament's conclusion, possibly with a mention of this game. It's the championship game that we're waiting for. – Muboshgu (talk) 03:28, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose power~enwiki (π, ν) 03:32, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

Portal:Current events/2018 March 16 is the appropriate page for this type of news story, and it is already included there. power~enwiki (π, ν) 03:34, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose - It's enough of an uphill battle just getting the championship result posted. It's also meaningless. No one except die-hard fans of UMBC will remember this as a particularly notable sporting achievement, when as stated above, the focus will be on who wins the entire tournament.-WaltCip (talk) 11:07, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose. We don't usually post specific games in larger tournaments, only the result of the tournament. 331dot (talk) 11:13, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Just wonder, seems the account is only created to make this nomination. –Ammarpad (talk) 11:43, 19 March 2018 (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.

[Posted] RD: Adrian Lamo

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

• Nominated by TDKR Chicago 101 (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: Article well sourced --TDKR Chicago 101 (talk) 22:19, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support Nice article. No issues. -Ad Orientem (talk) 22:56, 16 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Indeed nice article. Ready for posting.BabbaQ (talk) 23:11, 16 March 2018 (UTC)
• Added support. Ready to go. –Ammarpad (talk) 00:19, 17 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support - per above supports. Jusdafax (talk) 03:59, 17 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support good to go, do we need to wait any longer? Anyone out there? The Rambling Man (talk) 08:45, 17 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support everything is well sourced. Joseph2302 (talk) 09:09, 17 March 2018 (UTC)
• Posted. Black Kite (talk) 11:29, 17 March 2018 (UTC)

[Posted] RD: Louise Slaughter

Article: Louise Slaughter (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): USA Today
Credits:

• Nominated by It's Wiki Time (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.

 It's Wiki Time (talk) 16:02, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

• She's one of my personal favorites, and I may devote some time to getting the article up to speed, but my main point here is that the article is not yet up to speed. – Muboshgu (talk) 16:11, 16 March 2018 (UTC)
  • Support and ready Did the first comment make me too WP:INVOLVED to post this? It's ready now. Great job to everyone for improving this BLP. – Muboshgu (talk) 05:00, 17 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose unreferenced material, tables aren't in chronological order, etc etc, lots of work to do here. The Rambling Man (talk) 17:00, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

What's wrong with the tables? They don't look as nice as the ones at Susan Collins, but reverse-chronological is pretty normal. power~enwiki (π, ν) 18:16, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Whether it's "pretty normal" or not, it's not acceptable. Show me an encyclopedia that lists events in reverse order. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:33, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

I've had that same argument on election pages in tables that list polling, and have often found myself in the minority in hating reverse chronology. – Muboshgu (talk) 19:37, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Yes, it's just unacceptable, so until that's fixed, and all the unreferenced issues, this is a definitive no. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:38, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

I could be wrong about this, but isn't there some coding wizardry you can add to a sortable table so it defaults to showing a certain way round? Black Kite (talk) 19:40, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

There sure is, but the default should be chronological. That needs re-work. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:42, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Fixed it - now in chronological order. One of the very few things that Visual Editor is useful for. Black Kite (talk) 19:51, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Reverse chronology is the standard on many of these pages. Is that being a no-no codified anywhere in MOS? If so, would be nice to fix up some of the tables like Opinion polling in the Canadian federal election, 2015, Opinion polling on the Donald Trump administration, Opinion polling for the next United Kingdom general election, Opinion polling for the Russian presidential election, 2018. – Muboshgu (talk) 19:56, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Biographies#Order_of_events would be the place to include it for biographies. I don't think there's an MOS sub-page relevant for the "Opinion polling" pages, which have problems beyond their ordering. power~enwiki (π, ν) 19:58, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Again, how many encyclopedias are publishing reverse-order information? None is the answer. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:14, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

If it's so obvious, it should be easy to find consensus to state that in the site policies. The section of MOS:BIO currently says Within a single section, events should almost always be in chronological order. Exceptions to this rule may be apply to lists of works, such as publications or other media productions, where the most recent may be listed first, as well as for distinctions such as orders, decorations, and medals. power~enwiki (π, ν) 20:24, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Again, how many encyclopedias are publishing reverse-order information? None is the answer. I've already challenged this absurd MOS exception. Time we all started acting like we're building a real encyclopedia, not a tabloid. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:29, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose Too many gaps in referencing. The whole thing with the tables is not a deal breaker with me, but yea, they look weird. -Ad Orientem (talk) 19:45, 16 March 2018 (UTC)
• The article is down to one {{citation needed}}, which I've started a discussion about on the talk page. The article probably needs two more copy-editing passes before being "good". power~enwiki (π, ν) 20:06, 16 March 2018 (UTC)
  • Support I've resolved the last CN tag, and am happy with the article quality now. power~enwiki (π, ν) 02:18, 17 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support not seeing any more issues with this. MAINEiac4434 (talk) 23:13, 16 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support - ready for posting. Good work.BabbaQ (talk) 02:21, 17 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support. Article has been improved greatly. –Ammarpad (talk) 04:55, 17 March 2018 (UTC)
• Posted. Black Kite (talk) 11:29, 17 March 2018 (UTC)

March 15

Portal:Current events/2018 March 15

March 15, 2018 (2018-03-15) (Thursday) Business and economy Economy of the United States The largest U.S. broadcaster, iHeartMedia, owner of 850 radio stations, files for chapter 11 bankruptcy after accumulating US$20 billion in debt. (CNN) Southeastern Grocers announces a plan to file for bankruptcy and close 94 of its locations. (CNN) Disasters and accidents Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapse An under-construction pedestrian bridge over the eight-lane Tamiami Trail at Florida International University in Miami collapses killing at least six people and flattening eight cars. Nine people are rescued from the rubble and taken to nearby Kendall Regional Medical Center. Two require immediate surgery; the others injured sustain non-life-threatening wounds. (The Washington Post) Accidents and incidents involving helicopters A U.S. Air Force HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter crashes near Al-Qa'im in Iraq's western Al Anbar Governorate, killing all seven people on board. (ABC News) (CNN) Approximately 3,400kg of gold ingots break free from a Nimbus Airlines Antonov An-12 cargo plane and fall onto the runway at Yakutsk Airport. (The Aviation Herald) International relations 2017–18 North Korea crisis North Korea–Sweden relations, 2018 North Korea–United States summit North Korea foreign minister Ri Yong-ho visits Sweden for talks. (NK News) (CNN) Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act The Trump administration imposes financial sanctions on 19 Russian nationals, including 12 of those indicted in the Special Counsel investigation. (Business Insider) Russia–United Kingdom relations, Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov says Russia will "definitely" expel British diplomats. (Sputnik News) Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh The government of Myanmar agrees to repatriate 374 Rohingya refugees from a list of 8,000 submitted by the government of Bangladesh. Myanmar's authorities blamed their Bangladeshi counterparts for the slow process, citing "incomplete" information for many of the refugees on the list. (The Guardian) Iran–Saudi Arabia relations Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says that Saudi Arabia will develop nuclear weapons if Iran does. (Reuters) Politics and elections Politics of Slovakia Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico resigns amid controversy over the murder of Ján Kuciak. (The Guardian) (BBC) Sports Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Norwegian musher Joar Leifseth Ulsom wins the 2018 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. (KTUU News)

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[Posted] Blurb: Marielle Franco

Article: Marielle Franco (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ The Member of the Rio de Janeiro City Council Marielle Franco and the driver Anderson Pedro Gomes are assassinated in a drive-by shooting in Rio de Janeiro's city center. (Post)
Alternative blurb: ​ Brazilian politician and outspoken police critic Marielle Franco is killed along with her driver in a drive-by shooting in Rio de Janeiro.
News source(s): BBC, CNN, Vice News, MintPress News and virtually all major news outlets.
Credits:

• Nominated by RedUser (talk · give credit)

Nominator's comments: The assassination happened on 15 March, UTC time. RedUser (talk) 02:32, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support Highly relevant news. 189.40.83.173 (talk) 06:21, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support alt blurb per the fact it's dominating Brazilian news and led to tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets. Banedon (talk) 06:58, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Strongly relevant. She was a human right defender and city council. Today, after her murder, theres a massive people spreading fake news and lies about her at social networks. This is a important channel to keep the truth alive.
• Support - led to huge protests. Article is ready for posting.BabbaQ (talk) 15:34, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose only on quality Just looking through the BBC, there are good reason why authorities believe this was a targeted assassination, but the article on her does not go into those. I think that needs to be added to understand this being ITN a bit better. I fully agree the item is ITN-worthy, just not article quality. --Masem (t) 15:46, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

The article was recently expanded to include that information. Also, some other news: Wall Street Journal, St. Louis American, ABC News, New York Times, Blavity and Financial Times. RedUser (talk) 22:29, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

Perfect, all good now for me. Support. --Masem (t) 00:35, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support Mateussf (talk) 00:31, 19 March 2018 (UTC) Highly relevant indeed.

• Support Relevant persona in the current political scenario - has drawn attention by the circumstances of her death: humans right activist and city councillor target of assasination after denouncing transgressions during military security forces intervention in Rio de Janeiro. Has been target of a smear campaign in order to supress public outcry. Freedom of press and in defense of liberty demands this article to feature on Wikipedia frontpage.187.61.197.239 (talk) 00:39, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support I can't add more information but i couldn't endorse more.2804:14C:5786:855C:1118:8A44:A873:3025 (talk) 00:48, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support A human rights activist gunned down at a young age and has tracked global attention. With article in good shape. Marking ready. --TDKR Chicago 101 (talk) 01:01, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support - article is ready, story is clearly worthy. Stormy clouds (talk) 01:03, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Strongly relevant, especially in the situation of a military intervention in Rio de Janeiro and current political events on Brazil. Waltercruz (talk) 01:23, 19 March 2018 (UTC)
• Posted Stephen 02:02, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

[Posted] RD: Carlton Gary

Article: Carlton Gary (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
News source(s): Chicago Tribune
Credits:

• 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: American serial killer executed by lethal injection. Not the most pleasant of topics perhaps but the article is in pretty good shape - Dumelow (talk) 23:02, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

• Weak support there are two permanently dead refs in there which needs to be addressed before this is posted, otherwise it's in good order. The Rambling Man (talk) 08:54, 17 March 2018 (UTC)

I have replaced the dead links- Dumelow (talk) 10:37, 17 March 2018 (UTC)

• support - ready for posting.BabbaQ (talk) 11:02, 17 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Article looks fine. –Ammarpad (talk) 11:26, 17 March 2018 (UTC)
• Posted. Black Kite (talk) 11:29, 17 March 2018 (UTC)

Slovakian Prime Minister resigns

Articles: Robert Fico (talk · history · tag) and Peter Pellegrini (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico announces his resignation over the murder of a journalist and designates Peter Pellegrini to form a new government. (Post)
News source(s): New York Times, BBC, The Guardian, SCMP, Aktuality (local source)
Credits:

• Nominated by Juxlos (talk · give credit)
• Updated by BaconBoss Gabo (talk · give credit) and Fuebaey (talk · give credit)

Nominator's comments: Interestingly, a day after his Slovenian counterpart. Peter Pellegrini is now PM-designate, but his article is a bit on the short side. Fico's article is long and well-referenced, though. Juxlos (talk) 22:29, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose for now. Fico's article has not been adequately updated to discuss the circumstances of the fall of his government. This is even more important than normal given the rather sensational blurb. Pellegrini's article is only a half step over a stub and will require significant expansion before it can be linked on the main page. -Ad Orientem (talk) 22:46, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support on principle, oppose on quality ITNR transition of a world leader, but as noted above, we really need more about why Fico's resigning. --Masem (t) 00:00, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

• Masem Ad Orientem it seems like someone got around to updating the article, with a subsection on resignation. Juxlos (talk) 00:40, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Fico's article looks better. The other one is still in need of drastic improvement though. -Ad Orientem (talk) 00:47, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support on the merits due to the reason for the resignation (though this is not ITNR as this is head of government not head of state). 331dot (talk) 17:37, 16 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support per Masem. Banedon (talk) 21:01, 16 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose looks like a big publicity issue, perhaps we can publish the new leader per ITNR, but this is titivating and nothing more. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:08, 16 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support on circumstances of resignation, but wait till new government is formed. This is Paul (talk) 23:24, 16 March 2018 (UTC)
• Wait until Government is formed, then run a modified hook like Peter Pellegrini becomes Prime Minister of Slovakia after Robert Fico resigns the post. Joseph2302 (talk) 09:13, 17 March 2018 (UTC)

[Closed] RD: Tom Benson

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: Tom Benson (talk · history · tag)
Recent deaths nomination (Post)
Credits:

• Nominated by Lepricavark (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: Influential sports owner and businessman dies at the age of 90. Lepricavark (talk) 21:48, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose too much unreferenced material. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:50, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Conditional Support -needs come cleaning and more references. Should be posted after adding new references Awestruck1 (talk) 22:38,15 March 2018
• Oppose The 'Saints relocation controversy" section is way too long and is rightly tagged for WP:UNDUE. That needs to be resolved.--Pawnkingthree (talk) 13:06, 16 March 2018 (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.

[Closed] Miami bridge collapse

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: Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapse (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ A new pedestrian bridge in Miami, Florida collapses days after being installed, killing at least six people. (Post)
News source(s): Miami Herald, BBC, ABC Australia, New York Times
Credits:

• Nominated by SounderBruce (talk · give credit)

Nominator's comments: Article needs expansion, but the news story is receiving international coverage. Highly unusual, given that it's a new bridge and using a modern method of construction. SounderBruce 20:13, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose Just a small bridge. No long-term impact.Zigzig20s (talk) 20:16, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

"...killing at least six people." That's a long-term impact.--Pawnkingthree (talk) 20:19, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

• A new bridge, using a relatively new construction method, will likely have a long-term impact. SounderBruce 20:20, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

• If it is a new construction method, glitches or problems are to be expected. It doesn't mean this accident will be the death of this method. I don't think we even know if the accident was related to the construction method. 331dot (talk) 20:25, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose trivial accident, if this had occurred anywhere else on planet Earth it would be universally greeted with "meh", so ... "meh". The Rambling Man (talk) 20:30, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose certainly a tragedy, and brand new bridges are not expected to fail, but the death toll is too low for ITN. Lepricavark (talk) 20:35, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Weak support – making international news; new construction method lends to greater notability than an old decaying bridge collapsing. ~ Cyclonebiskit (chat) 20:36, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose - unquestionably sad, but I don't feel that a sufficient number of people have died for this to merit posting. If it happened elsewhere, it would likely not even have an article - we must avoid bias, even if it means letting nominations like this fall to the wayside. Stormy clouds (talk) 20:43, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose at this time. Tragic, but not generally significant enough based on what we know now. 331dot (talk) 20:45, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose although undoubtedly a tragic event, it is ultimately a minor accident at best, the bridge was also not fully completed according to the article provided. SamaranEmerald (talk) 20:47, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose. –Actually strong oppose, if it means anything. Relatively minor incident at unfinished bridge. If it were not in the US, it may not even get article talk less of going to main page. –Ammarpad (talk) 21:44, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Pile on Oppose At the risk of sounding callous; things break and people die. We just can't post every fatal accident that garners some short term, even if sensational, news coverage. Although there is no written rule, in my experience accidents with low death tolls usually don't make it onto ITN. Our motto is not "if it bleeds it leads." It has to bleed a lot. Prayers for those affected... Kyrie eleison. -Ad Orientem (talk) 22:00, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Number of fatalities isn’t currently large, but nature of the incident and fact that it was a new structure sways it for me.yorkshiresky (talk) 22:51, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per all above opposers, arbitrary at best, bridges especially new ones tend to have problems within days after they open, take the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge for example, it had problems almost immediately after it opened, and as a result it collapsed several months later. Kirliator (talk) 23:01, 15 March 2018 (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.

March 14

Portal:Current events/2018 March 14

March 14, 2018 (2018-03-14) (Wednesday) Arts and culture British physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking dies aged 76 at his home in Cambridge. (The Guardian) (The New York Times) (BBC) Business and economy Economy of the United Kingdom Toys "R" Us announce that they will close down all of their stores in the United Kingdom after rescue talks fail, resulting in the loss of about 3,000 jobs. (The Guardian) Economy of the United States Shortly after the announcement of the closure of Toys "R" Us stores in the UK, the company announced that they will close down all 800 stores in the United States, resulting in the loss of about 33,000 jobs. (The Washington Post) Ford issues a recall of 1.4 million vehicles, including some models of the Ford Fusion and the Lincoln MKZ, citing an issue where the steering wheel could come loose. (CNN) Panama Papers Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca announces that it is shutting down due to the economic and reputational damage inflicted by its role in the global tax evasion scandal. (The Guardian) Disasters and accidents Two U.S. Navy aviators – a pilot and a weapons officer – are killed after they eject from their FA-18 fighter jet, which crashes into the sea off Key West, Florida. (Navy Times) (CNN) International relations Foreign relations of the Philippines Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announces the withdrawal of the Philippines from the International Criminal Court (ICC) over "outrageous attacks" by United Nations officials. (Reuters) Australia–South Africa relations, South African farm attacks, Racism in South Africa Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says white South African farmers could receive fast-track visas on "humanitarian grounds" amid calls to transfer land ownership from white to black farmers, and fears over the number of racially-motivated farm killings. (BBC) Russia–United Kingdom relations, Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal The United Kingdom expels 23 Russian diplomats and cuts off all top-level ties with Russia as punishment for a reported attack with the Novichok military-grade nerve agent, an attack which Prime Minister Theresa May described as an "unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom". (The Guardian) (NPR) (Reuters) Law and crime 2018 United States gun violence protests Students throughout the United States participate in a walkout protest against gun violence. (ABC News) Crime in Brazil, Politics of Brazil Brazilian politician and outspoken police critic Marielle Franco is killed along with her driver in a drive-by shooting in Rio de Janeiro. (BBC) Telford child sex abuse ring After an 18-month Sunday Mirror investigation, Theresa May has called for an inquiry "as quickly as possible" on reported Asian grooming gangs in Telford whereby up to 1,000 girls were lured from their families to be drugged, beaten, raped and even murdered. (The Mirror) Politics and elections Politics of Germany Angela Merkel is elected and sworn in for a new term as Chancellor of Germany. Olaf Scholz and Heiko Maas assume the positions of Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs respectively. (The Guardian) Politics of Slovenia Miro Cerar announces his resignation as Prime Minister of Slovenia, due to the Supreme Court of Slovenia's annulment of the referendum that approved building a railway between Koper and Divača, a project which he calls "strategic". (Associated Press) Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district special election, 2018 Democrat Conor Lamb declares victory in the special election of Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district. The final vote could still be determined by a recount if at least three voters in each precinct petition for one. (The New York Times) (Fox News) Presidency of Donald Trump U.S. President Donald Trump appoints conservative commentator Larry Kudlow as National Economic Council director, replacing outgoing Gary Cohn. (BBC) Internet censorship Facebook blocks Britain First, a far-right group that has been deregistered as a political party in the United Kingdom, because leaders Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen have repeatedly violated its community standards. (The New York Times) (BBC) (NBC News)

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[Closed] Toys R Us

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: Toys “R” Us (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ Toys “R” Us says they are closing in the US and UK. (Post)
Credits:

• Nominated by 172.56.7.104 (talk · give credit)

Nominator's comments: Big news. 172.56.7.104 (talk) 00:49, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

• Strong Oppose: No sources given. Also, this is just a company about to be liquidated. This is not CompanyPedia. 2601:2C0:4700:4A9A:E1AA:FC3B:E64E:EACB (talk) 00:57, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Weak Oppose It is big news here in the States. But companies go broke all the time and we are not talking a mega bankruptcy here. -Ad Orientem (talk) 01:34, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose - Just a side effect really of the biggening of the online shopping industry especially by mega-retailers like Amazon. More businesses will be sure to follow suit. WaltCip (talk) 01:39, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose I personally find this to be sad news, but it certainly does not rise to ITN level. Lepricavark (talk) 02:31, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose I'd consider a support if/when they actually closed. A few years ago HMV claimed it was closing, and never did. Aiken D 07:05, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose just another company whose business model didn't move with the times. Already fish and chip paper. The Rambling Man (talk) 09:11, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose routine business action. As I understand it(at least in the US) they are not totally going out of business yet, just closing a bunch of stores. 331dot (talk) 09:50, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose This does not interest the majority of people, even within the US. Natureium (talk) 13:58, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Strong Oppose No international significance, not the kind of thing we usually post on ITN and no reason why this is exceptionally different. AusLondonder (talk) 14:15, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

@AusLondonder: I agree that this does not merit posting, but "international significance" has never been required for any ITN posting; if it were, very little would be posted. 331dot (talk) 14:19, 15 March 2018 (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.

[Closed] Slovenian Prime Minister resigns

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: Miro Cerar (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar resigns after the supreme court of Slovenia annuls the results of a government referendum. (Post)
News source(s): AP
Credits:

• Nominated by Banedon (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Juxlos (talk · give credit)

Article updated

Nominator's comments: From the source, Slovenia has also had "a wave of strikes and protests by public sector workers", including a strike by teachers that shut down schools on Wednesday. Banedon (talk) 23:44, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support Article looks to be in decent shape though I might suggest waiting until we have a successor announced as we usually post the outgoing and incoming at the same time. -Ad Orientem (talk) 23:57, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Wait per Masem below. -Ad Orientem (talk) 01:36, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

• Wait articles are fine but we should post it when his successor is sworn in – Nixinova ⟨ T | E ⟩ 00:14, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Conditional wait not entirely sure. If it’ll take a few months for his successor to be decided then post but if it’s within a week or so then might as well wait. Juxlos (talk) 00:20, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

• also he’s still formally prime minister if I’m reading this correctly

• Wait Per Reuters, he will hold the post until the new gov't forms. --Masem (t) 00:28, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per Masem. The Rambling Man (talk) 07:54, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Conditional Oppose Sad to say, but the last time I heard about Slovenia was with regards to Melania. This news item may be too myopic?Zigzig20s (talk) 07:58, 15 March 2018 (UTC)
• Wait for the election (which is ITNR) to post something about this. There doesn't seem to be a big scandal here, he resigned after the Supreme Court annulled the results of a referendum he had championed and ordered a new vote. 331dot (talk) 14:07, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

I agree. Inatan (talk) 18:39, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

You think whether or not there is a big scandal is relevant to whether or not this should be posted on ITN? Banedon (talk) 21:00, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

• It is better to wait until the election here. He resigned a couple of months before the regular election would take place, and the resignation is being interpreted as a strategical move in view of tensions in the coalition and some other cases, such as the referendum being overturned. Cerar will remain acting PM until the election so there is no major change expected. --Tone 20:27, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

• Man and I was hoping we can have “Slovakian prime minister resigns” and “Slovenian prime minister resigns” next to each other on ITN. Juxlos (talk) 23:54, 15 March 2018 (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.

[Posted] UK Expels 23 Russian Diplomats

Article: Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ The United Kingdom formally accuses Russia of the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal by a nerve agent and expels 23 diplomats. (Post)
Alternative blurb: ​ In response to the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal by a nerve agent, the United Kingdom expels 23 Russian diplomats.
News source(s): NYT and virtually all major news outlets.
Credits:

• Nominated by Ad Orientem (talk · give credit)

Nominator's comments: The original blurb just fell off ITN as the situation is rapidly escalating into a serious international incident/crisis. Russia is threatening unspecified retaliation. I think recent developments justify reposting. If this drags out we might want to consider ongoing. The article is in good shape. Ad Orientem (talk) 14:28, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

• Wait I'm tempted to say this may be better for ongoing, as each element of the tensions rising here is not going to be ITN itself (we can't post every incremental update), but it is a major breakdown in relationships between the UK and Russia. --Masem (t) 14:31, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Okay, now we have something here. Support.--WaltCip (talk) 14:45, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

My intial reaction after seeing BBC's "to expel" headline was also 'wait,' but evidently they've been given official notice – they just have a week before they have to say "До свидания." – Sca (talk) 16:51, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support A major escalation. I think the expelling of diplomats is blurb-worthy and I would prefer this to merely adding it on Ongoing.--Pawnkingthree (talk) 15:01, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Ongoing the death blurb just expired off, pop this down into ongoing (now we have a free slot) and let it die off naturally. --173.38.117.77 (talk) 15:33, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support next logical stage but a real degradation in relationships between the two countries. Good job the rest of Europe sits between the UK and Russia...... The Rambling Man (talk) 16:04, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Also, good thing we're in a formal union with those countries so they can back us up. Oh, wait..... Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 17:35, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support – A big step all right (and May also revoked an invitation to Lavrov). – Sca (talk) 16:42, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support I fin it unusual that this wasnt mentioned already, even before the expulsion of the diplomats. Dahn (talk) 17:01, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

It was. However it just got bumped off the ITN bar with the posting of Stephen Hawking's death. That blurb only addressed the attempted murder, not the most recent and rather dramatic developments. -Ad Orientem (talk) 17:10, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support International news with a major case of excrement hitting fan that has not been seen since the Cold War. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 17:35, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Post to ongoing - You don't need a crystal ball to know that this whole thing is going to be in the news for at least a couple of weeks. - Floydian ^τ _¢ 18:38, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Wait Russian Ambassador Alexander Vladimirovich Yakovenko is not expelled yet. If he is, then this would mean something huge. For now, I’d hold off. Juxlos (talk) 18:41, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support. It seems to still be developing, and currently receiving a large amount of media attention. Natureium (talk) 19:06, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose until the diplomats actually leave (i.e one week from now). This is what we've been doing by precedent. Banedon (talk) 20:33, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

What precedent is that? I don't recall the last time we discussed posting the expulsion of diplomats. 331dot (talk) 20:40, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

No, but we had lots of nominations not posted because it "hasn't happened yet", e.g. your Kim-Trump meeting nomination. Banedon (talk) 20:47, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Well, this has happened. The named diplomats have to leave the country. I'm not sure what happens to them if they don't but I'm guessing it involves arrest. So you actually support this but oppose it for consistency? 331dot (talk) 20:50, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Yes, this is for consistency. It's not that the diplomats don't leave the country, but rather that the UK can change its mind. Again, this is using previous arguments for not posting XYZ per WP:Crystal and all that. Banedon (talk) 20:52, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply. 331dot (talk) 20:55, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support. Major escalation in this dispute. 331dot (talk) 20:42, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Major international kerfuffle involving the use of a nerve agent in Europe with long term consequences. – Muboshgu (talk) 20:57, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Is "formally" necessary in the blurb? zzz (talk) 21:38, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Comment – Still favor posting, but would add this note of caution: Looks like the Russians are getting ready to play (surprise!) tit-for-tat. If they do, that could be added. Sca (talk) 21:44, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Routine. You periodically expel spies to disrupt their network-building efforts. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:47, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Expelling diplomats is not common. The mass expulsion of more than 20 is w/o recent precedent. You would have to go back to the dark days of the cold war to find something like this. -Ad Orientem (talk) 22:48, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

• Note: I would have posted this, but I'm not seeing language in the article to match the blurb. Perhaps something along the lines of "After Russia refuses to cooperate with the investigation of the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, the UK expels 23 Russian diplomats as undeclared intelligence officers." This matches the language of news sources, c.f. [11]. Accusing Russia of Murder does not appear in reliable sources as such. This seems to have the support as an article worth the main page, but the blurb needs to be nailed down better. --Jayron32 23:28, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

“Their response has demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events,” May told MPs. She said: “There is no alternative conclusion other than the Russian state was responsible for the attempted murder of Mr Skripal and his daughter.” [12] -Ad Orientem (talk) 23:37, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

If you can make that language more explicit in the article, I will post this. --Jayron32 23:38, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

 Done -Ad Orientem (talk) 23:42, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Added alt blurb as a back-up. Brandmeister^talk 23:47, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Posted The altblurb. I am more comfortable with that language. In specific, the changes to the article do not reflect the sources still. I'd rather the Wikipedia article directly quote May than paraphrase. For material this sensitive, it's important we speak in the voice of our sources, and not in Wikipedia's voice. "Formally accuse" is not language that appears in the sources. --Jayron32 23:56, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Fair enough. -Ad Orientem (talk) 00:00, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

I too like the altblurb, but wonder if the phrase "by a nerve agent" will be readily understood. Would "by a nerve-acting poison" be better, perhaps? Sca (talk) 00:07, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

Alternatively, would "with a nerve agent" be better? Sca (talk) 00:09, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

• Comment. I don't know if we want to amend the blurb or not but Russia has announced it is expelling 23 UK diplomats (and some other actions) in retaliation. 331dot (talk) 09:45, 17 March 2018 (UTC)

[Posted] RD: Jim Bowen

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

• Updated and nominated by Ritchie333 (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Lugnuts (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.

 Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 13:10, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Parking this here for now. I suspect people will oppose, because the article is not in a good shape. However, we got Ken Dodd improved to be posted, so I think we might be able to do it again. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 13:10, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support Subject to improvements, etc. And a speedboat for anyone who brings it up to scratch. But only if you live in Tamworth. Lugnuts ^{Fire Walk with Me} 13:35, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support subject to improvement S a g a C i t y (talk) 14:34, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Pending those last couple of citations being added. Miyagawa (talk) 14:54, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support referencing has now been improved. Joseph2302 (talk) 15:27, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support Great job by Ritchie in bringing the article up to scratch. Now sufficiently referenced.--Pawnkingthree (talk) 15:43, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Posted -Ad Orientem (talk) 15:49, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Super, smashing, great Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 15:50, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

[Posted blurb] Stephen Hawking

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: Stephen Hawking (talk · history · tag)
Blurb: ​ British physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking dies at the age of 76. (Post)
News source(s): The Guardian
Credits:

• Nominated by SounderBruce (talk · give credit)

Nominator's comments: Article is in good quality, but does need a bit of spotchecking. SounderBruce 03:47, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

• Support blurb Absolute no-brainer. EternalNomad (talk) 03:52, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support blurb One of the most famous people, let alone scientists, in the world. And a tragic loss for mankind. MAINEiac4434 (talk) 03:53, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support blurb No need to argue this; absolutely yes – Nixinova ⟨ T | E ⟩ 03:55, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support blurb with tears. Davey2116 (talk) 03:55, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support blurb No doubt. --TDKR Chicago 101 (talk) 03:56, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support blurb Not even a question. What a loss. GrossesWasser (talk) 03:57, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support blurb per MAINEiac4434 and Davey2116. -A lad insane (Channel 2) 03:58, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Strong support blurb One of the most influential and iconic scientists of this era. I couldn't believe the news when I just saw it on Facebook. Every morning (there's a halo...) 04:02, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Posted Blurb This is definitely a no-brainer for a blurb (in addition to the !votes above), the article is strong shape. --Masem (t) 04:04, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Post-posting support Just piling on. Passes the Bowie/Mandela/Prince standard. – Muboshgu (talk) 04:07, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Comment I'd also support adding a photograph of Hawking. MAINEiac4434 (talk) 04:15, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
  • Agree. The infobox image (File:Stephen Hawking.StarChild.jpg) is appropriate and nicely framed at thumbnail size. SounderBruce 04:23, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
    • There is some necessary cascading protection for main page images that I am not 100% sure how to do, but this is clearly a move to make. --Masem (t) 04:26, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
      • Agreed on an image needed. RIP starship.paint ~ KO 05:45, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Post-posting support without a doubt. Lepricavark (talk) 04:52, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Comment I think the image should be posted too. Our admins watching this should help. –Ammarpad (talk) 06:07, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Post-posting very strong support: very strong support, yes, I also feel the image should be posted as well. --Titodutta (talk) 06:11, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Post-posting very strong support. Of course. Double sharp (talk) 07:35, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support blurb - A true icon of our era. Kurtis ^(talk) 07:40, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Beyond the event horizon support - What more can one say? Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 08:15, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• PPSS unequivocally blurb-worthy. RIP. The Rambling Man (talk) 08:58, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Much like WP:RFA, it's not often that the entirety of ITN can come to an unequivocal 100% agreement on something, but I think here there is a clear unanimous consensus. We've got our blurb and our image; we can probably just close the discussion at this point and leave it at that.--WaltCip (talk) 10:51, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Comment "In rare cases, the death of major transformative world leaders in their field may merit a blurb.". This was one of those "rare cases". Good post. --76.122.98.135 (talk) 10:52, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

• This should be noted as an example for the guidelines. Juxlos (talk) 11:46, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

• Post Post Support - As per everyone else. It’s almost impossible to find a media that doesn’t show this as a headline or at least first page news. Juxlos (talk) 11:46, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
• Comment: Post-posting support. But it seems this was 17 minutes from nomination to posting. Is this a record for ITN? And for ITN article quality assessment? And for articles where the nominator writes 'Article is in good quality, but does need a bit of spotchecking.', where nobody else commented on article quality except the poster, and where the infobox was not (and still is not) even flagged as updated? Was such haste necessary or advisable? Or does it set a worrying precedent? I understand, perhaps mistakenly, that it was concerns about haste like this after the death of a revered figure that lead the Catholic Church to invent the post of Devil's Advocate, so might ITN benefit from something similar? (Please don't bother answering any of these questions here, as I'm only asking them to provoke thinking on the matter, and this is probably the wrong place to discuss them further, and anyway I'm not really interested in discussing them myself as this comment is hopefully just a one-off breach of my decision to try to stay away from ITN). Tlhslobus (talk) 11:47, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

The article is a former FA; even thought it was delisted in 2014, I know people have kept a close eye on it so I wouldn't have believed it any worse than B-class at any time - I suspect other people knew / felt the same and hence insta-supported. PS: I await Donald Trump's reaction to Hawking's death with interest. Just sayin'. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 11:49, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

It's a shame though that an article about such an important person is not a FA or at least a GA.... Regards SoWhy 12:04, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

The Donald has just tweeted that he is bigly saddened to learn that Wikipedia has posted the death of a character who once appeared in The Simpsons, but unsurprized as he always knew Wikipedia was Fake News. Tlhslobus (talk) 11:59, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Figures.... Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 12:01, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Almost. That's a parody account. Although it says something that in this day and age one can easily believe that the US President could have said something like this. Regards SoWhy 12:10, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

The fastest posting to ITN was Hilary Putnam's RD, back in March 2016. That took only 11 minutes. In that particular case, the article was featured, and the new RD criteria were in place, so it did not take long for a consensus to develop.--WaltCip (talk) 12:00, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

• Post Posting Support The very definition of a blurb-worthy death. Front pages everywhere, transformative.--Pawnkingthree (talk) 12:24, 14 March 2018 (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.

References

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