Wikipedia:In the news/Candidates/March 2008

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Archived discussion for March 2008 from In the news section on the Main Page/Candidates.

Aloha Airlines
Aloha Airlines of Hawaii, one of the country's oldest airlines, abruptly ends passenger services due to high fuel prices, bankruptcy and financial woes, as well as competition. Does not have to include all of that, but I think it's notable, the shut down was announced overnight. -- SmthManly  / ManlyTalk  / ManlyContribs  21:17, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose It seems it only has flights inside America. There isn't anything international about this, and I don't even know how important it is in the US. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 21:40, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Your point of international merit is a good one, I agree, but Aloha's shut down has been a big news item in the financial and aviation world, both internationally and domestically in the US, due to it being the first airline downfall directly linked to the cost of fuel. It is also one of the oldest continuously running airlines, and it's abrupt shut down can be akin to that of Jetsgo, which did receive much international attention. --  SmthManly  / ManlyTalk  / ManlyContribs  22:15, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. The fact that the aviation business is facing problems is common knowledge afaik. Several airlines are in trouble. Alitalia, for instance. But if it actually leads to the shutdown of a company, one of the oldest in the US at that, it is a very notable development in an ongoing story. I think this is the first major airline to end services since Trans World Airlines and SABENA, both in 2001. If this is put up, we should probably add a link to Aviation history. A  ecis Brievenbus 22:27, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Does being one of the oldest airlines make this more notable? If this was the first 'major' airline since 2001 to collapse, and the first due to fuel, that would make it more notable. Still, this does appear to be a more regional airline/story then usually allowed on itn. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 00:17, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Is this really the first major airline to collapse since 2001? What about Jetsgo for example (as mentioned above)? I'm sure there have been more airlines to collapse, it surely depends on how you define a major airline. And has this really been the first airline to collapse because of rising fuel prices? Seems unlikely to me Nil Einne (talk) 05:50, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose not being on the west coast I haven't heard of this except from wikipedia. Question the notability of the airline since it only had about 30 planes. Its not really a 'major' airline according to my definitions (I list Airtran, Frontier, Hawaiian and JetBlue as major players, but not ATA or midwest. no specific rule but just sort of a number of #flights/#passengers/#planes/#destinations feeling) I suspect the airline never really recovered its image from the 80's plane tearing incident. If its a major story on the west coast I'll drop my opposition but I think this airline would have gone BACK into bankruptcy and twice in 4 years would have killed it even without this years extra high fuel prices. --Lemmey (talk) 01:55, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Islam world's largest religion
Islam passes Roman Catholicism for the title of world's largest religion.
 * I saw an article on foxnews.com (Vatican: Islam Surpasses Roman Catholicism as World's Largest Religion). It seems like if there is a new top religion, it would be important in the overall scope of history. DandyDan2007 (talk) 10:36, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The headline is not exact in that it compares a general "religion" with a particular confession within another "religion": you can compare Islam with Christianism, or Shia/Sunni/whatever Islam with Catholicism/Luteranism/whaever Christianism, and so on. Thus, the current comparison is not really sound. In fact, taken as a single "religion", Christianity has way more than 2 billion "believers" (to what level is their business), while the highest count for the sum of all Islam confessions is near 1.8 billion. In a single sentence: while the information stated might very well be true, I oppose the headline as unsound. Habbit (talk) 11:02, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I support this item. We don't have to equate Islam with Roman Catholicism in the way others have done. Merely the fact that Islam is officially bigger than the Roman Catholic church is worthy of this prominent exposure. More sources than Foxnews should back this up though. __meco (talk) 13:38, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I have to agree with Habbit on this one. There is too much uncertainty: Which definition of religion is used? Is Roman Catholicism a religion in itself, or a branch within a religion (Christianity)? And where do the figures comes from? Are the sources reliable? As far as the latter is concerned, this blurb appears to be based on an interpretation by a Vatican official based on notoriously unreliable data provided by governments of Muslim countries. I don't think that's sufficient for ITN. But even if the data were reliable, they date back to 2006, meaning that Islam would have overtaken Roman Catholicism back in 2006, way too long ago for ITN. A  ecis Brievenbus 13:54, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Such information will always be based on census data, and it is hardly "old news" for that reason. When major news agencies present this with no apparent need to comment on the "notoriously unreliable data provided by governments of Muslim countries", I hardly think we should enforce a higher standard of reference on this isolated issue. After all, these sources (add Reuters) are the ones we normally consider reliable sources. __meco (talk) 14:09, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The Reuters story has the same problem as the Fox story. First of all, it's based on an interpretation of data. Even if those data have not been established to be unreliable, they haven't been established to be reliable either. We don't know how these data have been gathered. Who is counted as a Muslim and who is counted as a Catholic? This needs to be taken into consideration when presenting this as a statement of fact. Secondly, the Reuters story, similar to the Fox story, says "Islam has overtaken Roman Catholicism as the biggest single religious denomination in the world." This is a conceptual error. Roman Catholicism is a religious denomination within Christianity, like Sunni, Shia, Wahhabi, Alavites, etc. are religious denominations within Islam. Islam is a religion, like Christianity. Based on the data, Roman Catholicism is probably still the largest religious denomination in the world, larger than Sunni, Protestantism, etcetera. As a religion, Islam is still second behind Christianity, so it hasn't overtaken anything. A  ecis Brievenbus 22:40, 31 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Oppose - While it may have been reported in a news source, the statement explicitly differentiates Catholicism from other forms of Christianity, while, apparently at the same time, refusing to differentiate between the various forms of Islam. On that basis, it seems to me to be very much a rather contrived statement. John Carter (talk) 14:22, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment Isnt catholicism just a branch of one religion, isnt christianity still the biggest --Hadseys Chat Contribs 18:42, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose I am world's largest religion. Whoops.  Looks like the 's' and 'l' keys got stuck.  Anyways, I agree with the above oppose(s).  What makes it notable?  What makes it current?  What makes it an event?  Even if it were true, which is highly debateable for the reason cited by others, above (and from the fact that it comes from faux news) what makes it all that different from the headline "Jupiter solar system's largest planet"?  It's not news.  It's quite possibly not even true. Kevin Baastalk 19:18, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose Maybe if Islam passed Christianity or if Sunnism passed Catholicism. Not when Islam passes Catholicism. -  CWY2190    ( talk  •  contributions )  19:38, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose The source is the vatican, so it's very untrustworthy. Narayanese (talk) 20:32, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Prepare the inquisition. --Lemmey (talk) 20:53, 31 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Oppose. Would be notworthy if they passed mormonism. Mormons breed like rabbits and Muslims keep blowing themselves up = never going to happen.--Lemmey (talk) 20:53, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * That's just incredibly inappropriate (and untrue.) Grand  master  ka  21:21, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * You're right. My comment was wrong and I would like to apologize to the Mormons. --Lemmey (talk) 22:44, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Excuse me? You insulted both Catholics and Muslims too. Therequiembellishere (talk) 22:53, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * How exactly did I insult Catholics?--Lemmey (talk) 23:02, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * You didn't insult Catholics, Requiem was wrong on that, but you did insult Muslims, and you have dodged that twice. This is not a soapbox, you should know that. A  ecis Brievenbus 23:22, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * All the world is a soapbox.. um stage. I suppose the insult your referring the inquisition comment? A monty python inspired idiot comment to statement that Vatican sources can't be trusted. Simialry 'fox news can't be trusted' would net 'send in the vast right wing conspiracy'. If my comment causes a second reformation I'll recant but as its a 2000 year old religion I think it will survive me. Part of the strength of Christianity is that its followers and leaders aren't so overzealous that they can take a joke. Why its a religion that can even survive cartoons.--Lemmey (talk) 01:43, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Again, you insulted Muslims. Therequiembellishere (talk) 07:21, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Prepare the fatwah.--Lemmey (talk) 13:15, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * No more silliness after midday on April 1st, pls. --74.14.21.164 (talk) 18:33, 1 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Support, if changed to 'Muslims outbreed Roman Catholics'. No wonder their leaders are trying to do away with condoms... Richard001 (talk) 05:48, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Seriously, learn how to not cross lines, people. Be a little more respectful. Therequiembellishere (talk) 07:21, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Take it easy. It's April 1st after all. --74.14.21.164 (talk) 18:33, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * You do realise that time zones aren't all the same? I'm from the Eastern Seaboard. Therequiembellishere (talk) 18:55, 1 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Comment I think what is important here is the fact that this news story is prompted by the Vatican itself. The Vatican traditionally has an ambition for world supremacy. Islam likewise. The Vatican sees itself in direct comtetition with Islam. Apples and oranges aside, this appears to be how the Vatican views the landscape, and as such, this event constitutes a tremendous psychological milestone from both the Muslim and the Roman Catholic point-of-view. This is how I read this story, and from that reading this certainly appears big enough for an In The News feature. We could simply present it from the angle it has already been presented: ''The Vatican concedes Islam now bigger than Roman Catholicism. __meco (talk) 06:53, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Islam is a religion. Roman Catholicism is a branch of a religion. Though it is a very big branch, it's not Christianity. If Islam overtakes Christianity, then put it up. Therequiembellishere (talk) 07:24, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Pritzker Prize



 * Jean Nouvel of France wins the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
 * For your consideration. An editor is valiantly working on the bio and both articles are updated factually. -Susanlesch (talk) 00:25, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * No strong feelings for or against it, but from what I can see, this is no more notable than any of the other major prizes listed in our article of architecture prizes. Random  89  07:19, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * IHT calls the Pritzker Prize "architecture's top honor", Xinhua calls it the "profession's highest honor"; Le Monde compares it to the Nobel Prize; the Washington Post calls it "the most prestigious international award for excellence in architecture". It looks like it is the top architecture news item of the year, so support. Pruneautalk 09:54, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Weak oppose The article is not nearly up to ITN standard yet. For starters, it's not clear to me from the article why he won the prize. Was it for one design? His life time work? (N.B. Please don't respond here, it needs to be in the article.) Also, his article itself is fairly weak mostly full of lists (many of the buildings he's designed we don't have articles for) and a bunch of pictures and it's quite difficult to get a real idea of what he's achieved. Also I would like more information that the prize is really the top prize in architecture, as accepted by most of the architectural world (in other words it isn't for example perhaps seen to be centred on the Western world only) provided in the appropriate article Nil Einne (talk) 10:25, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Agree the article could be better. But I hope for biographies in the arts and sciences in general that there is no need to wait for an editor who has such specialized knowledge. (Did we ask why No Country for Old Men won four Academy Awards?) Pruneau, thank you, for explaining this is the top prize in architecture. -Susanlesch (talk) 17:12, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support since it was said above that this prize is the biggest in architecture. The article could be better but is passable IMO. --Tone 20:29, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support per Pruneau. Plus I note there is a nice gallery of his works in commons, linked from the article. Narayanese (talk) 20:30, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Adding, seems that it has enough support. --Tone 20:33, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Weak Support if article had vast improvement or if only cause its better than any of the other candidates. Haven't had any architecture news in a long while?--Lemmey (talk) 20:57, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The Architect article is much better than the award article I was looking at, but isn't the image rather phallic (A giant vibration of light rising quickly to the heavens :)--Lemmey (talk) 02:29, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Hello, Lemmey. Would you or someone else like to propose another photo, from the article or from commons:Category:Buildings_by_Jean_Nouvel? M. Nouvel has designed something like 200 projects so far (and from what little I have read they are all different and all risky). -Susanlesch (talk) 03:05, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Nice picture of a bright building right next to the headline about Earth Hour. Happy April Fools' Day, ITNsters! --199.71.174.100 (talk) 04:25, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Too true. I surely don't mind swapping for either the Antarctica or Sydney photo (mentioned earlier today at main page errors by the way but maybe no consensus because the discussion was in two places at once, no idea) or a Nouvel building in the daytime. -Susanlesch (talk) 04:38, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I don't see any problem with the current image. As 199.71.174.100 said, it nicely suits the April fool's day. :-D --BorgQueen (talk) 04:42, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, you are right. Thank you for saving me from late night worrying! -Susanlesch (talk) 18:14, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Zimbabwean presidential election

 * Zimbabwe's opposition MDC, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, claims victory over Robert Mugabe in the presidential election.
 * Support. This might be an historic moment for this country. --Bender235 (talk) 17:31, 30 March 2008 (UTC)
 * This story certainly goes on ITN. But, let's wait for some more development, either Mugabe accepting defeat or votes being counted. --Tone 17:39, 30 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Note:People claim a lot of things, wait till something happens. Also the Zimbabwean parliamentary election, 2008 was held the same day. --Lemmey (talk) 18:06, 30 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Suggested change: Robert Mugabe is defeated in the Zimbabwean presidential election by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Brevity is the soul of good newscasting. Cumulus Clouds (talk) 07:33, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support if thats the wording, the article needs more definitive (and well supported) statements that thats what happened. Any International statements of support for the MDC / calls for mugabe to concede also need to be referenced. --Lemmey (talk) 21:00, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support News about SZimbabwe's election was one of the top stories last week, it seemed. I saw something on it every 20 minutes or so. We should wait until we can confirm the winner, though. there is supposed to be alot of rigging in this election. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 21:42, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support an item on this topic. The lack of announcement of the results is becoming the news item. Espresso Addict (talk) 23:24, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Wait until something happens. The current proposed wordings are not really NPOV, and we should wait until the situation is slightly clearer, and there are definitive things to report.--Pharos (talk) 23:35, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

Earth Hour
Image:Earth-Hour-Logo.jpg Cities around the world go dark as part of Earth Hour, an international event that asks households and businesses to turn off their lights and non-essential electrical appliances for one hour on the evening of 29 March at 8 pm local time until 9 pm to promote electricity conservation and thus lower carbon emissions.
 * Support as sponsor. --Lemmey (talk) 16:30, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support It is of significance and widespread. The article could be approved, however. --Ãlways Ãhëad (talk) 17:06, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
 * This is mentioned in On this day... section at the moment. For an ITN post, I would prefer a post-festum wording, like World electricity consumption falls for 10% suring the Earth hour. Just an idea. --Tone 17:21, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment the logo is definitely out, it's not available under a free license according to its license Nil Einne (talk) 18:10, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Omit "lower carbon emissions." Otherwise, support. I, for one, will turn on all of my lights on 29 March and keep them on.--WaltCip (talk) 19:09, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. The more the merrier. They should also either dim the streetlights or turn off a portion of them as well as all security lights (I'm editing with my lights turned off and will turn off my computer at 8 pm EDT). ~ A H  1 (TCU) 23:36, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

✅ Proud and glad to be the admin that did this. OhanaUnitedTalk page 01:00, 30 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment "go dark"? The article doesn't say that. It does give statistics for last year of 2-10%, which I would describe as "dim a little", not "go dark". Art LaPella (talk) 01:10, 30 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Another Comment: "Cities around the world"..."international event". Sounds redundant. Spencer  T♦C 02:14, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Fitna

 * Dutch politician Geert Wilders (PVV) releases his controversial anti-Islam film Fitna. Baldrick90 (talk) 23:06, 27 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Wait for reactions...if those reactions are notable, post. Spencer  T♦C 23:39, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose I agree with Spencer. This was already discussed and it was decided that we wait until there are major international reactions.--Ãlways Ãhëad (talk) 01:50, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Weak support I think LiveLeak removing Fitna from their servers is a 'notable reaction'. LiveLeak is known for hosting virtually everything, and it is remarkable that they have received threats so severe that they've taken it offline. Andreas Willow (talk) 21:31, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose unless it gets widespread media attention or a large scale reaction. Including it otherwise would be a bit using Wikipedia as a soapbox in my view -Halo (talk) 16:15, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Anibal Acevedo Vila

 * Aníbal Acevedo Vilá (pictured), governor of Puerto Rico, the highest elected office of the U.S. territory, and 12 others are charged by the United States for corruption and conspiracy. Or perhaps we should wait for the verdict? ~ UBeR (talk) 20:35, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Or pehaps it shouldn't go up at all :) I don't think has enough international (or national) appeal to make it on ITN. Random  89  21:11, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I think such charges against the head of state of a semi-autonomous nation are important, and certainly appealing to many in both the national and international community. ~ UBeR (talk) 21:19, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Fair reason. But let's wait for the verdict. --Tone 21:23, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * That seems fair as well. I certainly hope so at least, if we're beginning to add Internet movies to the ITN. ~ UBeR (talk) 21:42, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Transrapid

 * Germany scraps plans to build the Transrapid (pictured) high-speed monorail link between the Bavarian capital Munich and its airport because of a massive overrun in costs. --Camptown (talk) 11:10, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * It's not building it and it's all about plans, I don't think this is notable enough. Too bad, though, maglev trains are great... --Tone 15:06, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * What makes this different from other meglev trains? btw, it's only between Munich and Munich's airport, not all accross Germant. I have to oppose. Spencer  T♦C 23:41, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Phonautograph discovery

 * Researchers discover the earliest known recording of the human voice, predating Edison's Phonograph by 20 years. Yorkshiresky (talk) 10:00, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Interesting but probably needs more of an update. Also I don't think the headline is accurate. They didn't discovered the earliest known recording, it was already known but it was simply intended to be a visual medium and so no one was able to listen to the audio until now. They developed a method to recover the audio from the recording. Perhaps:
 * Researchers succeed in recovering/playing back audio sound from the earliest known recording of the human voice, predating Edison's Phonograph by 20 years
 * Nil Einne (talk) 14:23, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I disagree. Nobody knew that these actual sounds existed until today.  A discovery need not be just a physical object.
 * The paragraph is describing what they did pretty fine now, I support inclusion. --Tone 15:06, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Also support. Hammer Raccoon (talk) 15:25, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I strongly disagree, people knew that the recording existed since that was the whole point of the photoautograph, to record audio in a visual form. They may or may not have known it was possible to convert the visual recording to audio, the article does not speak of this so it is not possible for us to know. It is easily possible that people had suspected for a long time it would be possible to convert the visual recording into audio. Indeed (complete OR here I know but as I already mentioned, none of our sources discuss this so I hope this will help explain why I feel the wording is misleading) I would say that is likely since it seems to me anyone who understands audio would probably guess that if you are recording audio visually and you have sufficient fidiletiy, you could probably convert the recorded audio into sound (and there were already methods to convert visual audio recordings into sound, which has been used to recover audio from highly damaged phonograms which from what I can tell, were used as the basis for this conversion). Of course, it's likely no one could be sure how good the recovery would be until they actually trued, but this does not support the notion that the audio recording was 'discovered' anymore then the ability to recover audio from extremely damaged phonograms implies the audio there is discovered. Therefore the suggested ITN wording is inaccurate and I would
 * STRONGLY OPPOSE
 * the ITN item with the first proposed wording. I am welcome to new proposed wordings but will not support a misleading ITN item. For that matter, as I mentioned earlier, the article update is still a bit on the light side, perhaps we need to wait until this is actually publicly played back sometime today in the US and were there will probably be more coverage and hopefully even a sample we can either upload to the Commons (indeed it may be argued it's public domain since the goal is to accurately reproduce the audio which from what I've read usually implies there is unsufficient creativity for copyright in the US) or at least link to. Note also that the current only source about this in the article (another problem of the article when it comes to ITN) only uses 'discovery' or 'discovered' in reference to the discovery of the physical recording which evidentally took some tracking down since they needed a high quality recording. However while discovery may be fine in that context, it doesn't change the fact it would be misleading in this context.
 * Nil Einne (talk) 03:58, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Actually I see there is indeed a link to the recording, in that case weak support with acceptable wording although I would still like to see more work on the article Nil Einne (talk) 04:17, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Also, I noticed this " it was not widely understood until after the development of the phonograph that the waveform recorded by the phonautograph was a record of the sound wave that needed only a playback mechanism to reproduce the sound." in the article which supports my theory above that people have guessed for a long time you could recover sound from the recording, and it would even be recognisable if the recording had sufficient fidelity. Nil Einne (talk) 04:21, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
 * After more consideration, I've decided that:
 * Researchers discover a method of playing back the earliest known recording of the human voice]], predating Edison's Phonograph by 20 years.
 * would be acceptable if people are desperate to throw discovered in there somewhere, even though I don't personally like that wording Nil Einne (talk) 04:35, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I would suggest rewording, to put emphasis on both notable events, but as you point out the discovery of the method may be more important than the audio played. - Mtmelendez (Talk) 11:51, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

March 26
Fighting kills dozens as Iraqi forces strike the Mahdi Army.-- TheFE ARgod (Ч) 19:33, 26 March 2008 (UTC) How about: I'm still not sure my wording is very good, but I gave it a try. Random 89  20:16, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Dozens are killed as Iraqi and Coalition forces attack the Mahdi Army in Basra and other cities.
 * I'm not sure how notable this certain battle is in comparison to the rest of the war. Is there something special about this battle that makes it different? Spencer  T♦C 21:51, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * To cut a long story short, this appears to reignite a situation that had been stabilising and calming for the past few months. This is very important. Support. A  ecis Brievenbus 05:46, 27 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Support A long-lasting ceasefire has been broken, and the Mahdi army is powerful. Plus the article is good (but no triple redirect pls). Narayanese (talk) 21:36, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Lack of  support (not quite opposed but not really feeling it) the bombing attacks over the last few weeks against civilians were much more notable by way of casualties. Mahdi army's C&C is currently (and always has been) fractured and not fighting as a cohesive force, casualty counts (both US and IraqiGov) are not above normal daily levels (US avg of 1 death a day is near all time lows), translation: no significant change in situation. Only difference is theres no primaries/debates in US till Apr 22, Democratic candidate infighting and Elliot Spitzer reporting is played out. Give it the weekend and see what happens. --Lemmey (talk) 03:06, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Wilkins Ice Shelf
Support. This will make a good story. However, the title may be a bit misleading, as not the entire shelf collapsed, and the image seems to be copyrighted. ~ A H  1 (TCU) 22:54, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica collapses, possibly the result of global warming. --199.71.174.100 (talk) 22:07, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Definitely. This is very important. How about "disintegrates"? A  ecis Brievenbus 05:43, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * [removed bullet points from above comments] weak support for now, and super strong support if the full shelf does break away. Random  89  06:22, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Good story. Needs some work on the wording though. For one thing, just one part broke. For the other, mentioning global warming usually needs a reference - there are refs in the article but there wouldn't be on ITN. And then it sounds too speculative. We can just say that it broke and that it was big. --Tone 09:48, 27 March 2008 (UTC)


 * A 160-sq.mile chunk breaks off from the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica. --199.71.174.100 (talk) 18:55, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Certainly better. May be better to say piece instead of chunk and consider using metric units (or both, how would that look?). --Tone 19:06, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Both are good ideas. Is there a template for unit conversions? I don't know where to look. --199.71.174.100 (talk) 19:58, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * convert is a conversion template. Btw, I think I'll Support. Spencer  T♦C 23:44, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Hi. I added some info to this and related articles. I think this article may need slight expansion as this article is only a stub. May also be a good idea to tag it as current. Thanks. ~ A H  1 (TCU) 01:11, 28 March 2008 (UTC)


 * A 160 sqmi piece breaks off from the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica. (Thank you, Spencer, for the conversion template.) --199.71.174.100 (talk) 04:36, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
 * No problem. I think "piece", though, is a bit vague. Spencer  T♦C 10:54, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
 * How about "slab"? --199.71.174.100 (talk) 13:06, 28 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Exactly how is this "news"? How is anyone directly affected by it?--WaltCip (talk) 12:31, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
 * This is news, alright. AP, VOA, XinHua, CNN, Reuters.... Some maps of Antarctica may need to be re-drawn. That's significant. --199.71.174.100 (talk) 13:06, 28 March 2008 (UTC)


 * ✅ --Ryan Delaney talk 19:05, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

2008 invasion of Anjouan
African Union and Comoros forces invade the rebel held island of Anjouan.

Surely invasions are pretty notable. Particularly as it involves a multinational force in the form of the AU. Its the headline story on the BBC world news website. If necessary change wording to whatever you think is appropriate. Willy turner (talk) 07:13, 25 March 2008 (UTC) It is also the main story on France24.com, and is one of the 'top stories' on the cnn.com main page. Plus its an amphibious assault, which is especially rare. Willy turner (talk) 07:19, 25 March 2008 (UTC)


 * my support-- TheFE ARgod (Ч) 08:33, 25 March 2008 (UTC)


 * About 4 weeks ago I heard about the planning for this. I agree that this should go up. Spencer  T♦C 10:49, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
 * what's the reason for delaying the publishing??? -- TheFE ARgod (Ч) 14:22, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
 * There's wasn't an article about it. Spencer  T♦C 10:59, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Adding. --Tone 14:57, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Veldhuis and Pellegrini
We've already got swimmer Alain Bernard's world record on ITN. I propose updating the blurb with today's world records of Marleen Veldhuis (50m) and Federica Pellegrini (400m). A ecis Brievenbus 23:00, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * If they were included, then so should be Eamon Sullivan's world record in 50m freestyle, or Stephanie Rice in 400m IM, it just never ends. I think that 100m is the most significant, just like in athletics the "fastest person in the world" is judged by the 100m. Jimmykins (talk) 01:38, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
 * While I admit I am nearly clueless when it comes to swimming, I think we should limit it to the single most important event, and assuming it is the 100m, then I oppose. Random  89  02:20, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The most important events of the tournament are the 50m and 100m. In those four events, two world records were broken, so I think the blurb should definitely be updated with Marleen Veldhuis. A  ecis Brievenbus 03:14, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Since it would be "bundled" with the other swimming entry, than I change my vote to a weak support. It does no harm to stick it up there. Random  89  03:35, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
 * What about a post like "European swimming c'ship ends with 4? world records broken"? Provided that the records are listed in the main article. In this way, we include all the records and the post isn't too long. --Tone 08:12, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
 * It looks like 5 world records were broken: 50m freestyle men and women, 100m freestyle men, 400m freestyle men and 4x100 m freestyle relay women. All of these are listed in World records in swimming. The article European LC Championships 2008 isn't too good, though. Pruneautalk 10:16, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Death toll milestone in Iraq
Significant milestone.--Edcolins (talk) 20:41, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * U.S. military casualties in the Iraq War reach 4,000.
 * Only to the US. Has anyone kept count of Iraqi casualties?  Kevin McE (talk) 21:11, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Some have: Iraqi deaths in the Iraq War. But I think the milestone is internationally significant. It comes (just) after and despite "the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the war on 20 March [which] was marked by a speech by George Bush declaring that the surge strategy had been a success and that America was headed for victory" (from Wikipedia). It also comes during (and may have a significant impact on) the internationally significant US presidential election. --Edcolins (talk) 21:53, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * "Despite the Presidents speech people die." If only Obama had given a speech, that would have shielded soldiers from that buried ied. 'Audacity of hope up-armor'. Milestones only go one way and are only significant to people who do not know any of the casualties. And by 'know' I mean know, not name, and even then I'm willing to bet not a single WPedian who reads this can name Cindy Sheehans son without looking it up. People who know the dead find greater significance in the deaths of their loved ones rather than collective numbers. Oh how the left wishes that the 4 soldiers had died individually so that the 4000th could be given a tribute speech, oh oh perhaps the 4001st can be a Latino supporter of Obama or even Ron Paul. That would make a great featured article.--Lemmey (talk) 03:35, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Image:USCasualtiesC130DoverAFB.jpg if used needs to be confirmed as Iraq dead as opposed to War dead. Image page and lawsuit source give no indication of coffin packing geography.--Lemmey (talk) 04:09, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Bhutan General Election

 * The Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party wins Bhutan's first democratic general election, making Lyonpo Jigme Thinley the new Prime Minister elect. --Rawr (talk) 20:23, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support as per election norms, but I have issues with the wording. In a parliamentary democracy, the PM is not directly elected and there is no such thing as a PM elect, unless it is different in Bhutan. Random  89  21:29, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party wins Bhutan's first democratic general election. I think this is enough, there is no mention of PM being directly elected in the article. I will update the shortened version. --Tone 21:36, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support: This finalizes the transition from Bhutan's monarchy to a democracy. Spencer  T♦C 23:56, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Olympic flame and protest

 * The Olympic Flame of the 2008 Summer Olympics is lit in Olympia, despite disruption by three protesters from Reporters Without Borders, among whom was Robert Ménard.Hektor (talk) 18:48, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Which article do you suggest for the main updated one? Anyway, I think we should post olympics when the games actually begin, this was just a ceremony. --Tone 19:25, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Well there was a major disruption orchestrated by Robert Ménard, a well-known French activist and journalist, so it was not "just a ceremony". Hektor (talk) 21:43, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Ok, we have the main article now. However, regarding the protest, Robert Ménard article says they attempted a disruption but were arrested before. Nothing is mentioned in the main article either. So if the post is to be only about lighting the flame, I give a weak support but in case of a planned protest, I oppose. --Tone 21:59, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Well I don't understand this. I was watching the ceremony on BBC and I clearly saw a guy with a flag or a poster being arrested by a Greek policeman on screen and meanwhile the Chinese guy who was delivering the speech started to speak louder and louder to cover the screams. So what do you mean by "before" ? Hektor (talk) 22:23, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I am just saying that there are no articles updated enough regarding the protests. I haven't watched the event so I can't really comment on proportions of the protest. --Tone 08:12, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree, if our article doesn't say it, then it didn't happen as far as ITN is concerned. If the article is inadequate then perhaps it's not yet ready for ITN or perhaps the protests weren't that major (if there are no reliable sources which discuss the protest in depth then that is probably the case) Nil Einne (talk) 09:59, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Well this made the headline of the European version of the CNN web site when it happened. Of course two days after the fact it has disappeared. If you look for it there are articles and pictures everywhere ; here is a sample :Times on Line The Star Dallas Morning News AFP Libération El Periodico ITAR-TASS Hektor (talk) 10:56, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Pakistan Prime Minister

 * Yousaf Raza Gillani is elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. --Mankar Camorantalk 13:50, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * We had an item about Pakistani elections when they took place, I don't think we need to put this up again. --Tone 19:25, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Kansas Governor Vetos Coal-Fired Energy
*Kansas Governor Vetos Construction of Coal-Fired Fossil Fuel Power Plants Citing Global Warming and Pollution http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2008/2008-03-21-01.asp now referenced in Kansas100TWdoug (talk) 12:09, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Let's see: not particularly notable or important, no article of its own, only brief mentions in another (much, much larger) article, the story has no international interest, not even placed on the current events portal... so, no. -- 71.234.92.249 (talk) 12:18, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

OK. Would another editor like to move this to the appropriate section? This headline is early, and our underlying WP articles are weak. This just came out: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/us/22kansas.html
 * Kansas Governor Vetos Construction of Coal-Fired Fossil Fuel Power Plants Citing Environmental Effects of Coal, including Global Warming and Pollution.100TWdoug (talk) 13:03, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I really don't think it's that notable news, as it's pretty minor. Spencer  T♦C 19:07, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Spencer, Why do you have no User Talk Page? To a new user (2 months) like me, it appears you are Admin, and I am in trouble.100TWdoug (talk) 20:39, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I do. Here: User talk:Spencer. No, I'm not an admin. Why would you be in trouble? Anyway, I don't think there is an article for the item describing it in some depth, which is a criteria for ITN. Spencer  T♦C 23:27, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Indeed admin talk pages tend to be the longest because of all the 'comments' they get from the various users they have interaction with on admin duties. If someone doesn't have a talk page, it most likely indicates they stayed under the radar in which case they are definitely not an admin (this doesn't apply to Spencer obviously since he does have a talk page). BTW, you should not be afraid because you disagree with an admin. You should only be concerned (not necessarily afraid) if you have violated policies especially consiously. And it doesn't matter who notices your behaviour, admin or not. Nil Einne (talk) 07:45, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

WITHDRAWN - No prophecy in an encyclopedia, my mistake, and the story appears to have died.100TWdoug (talk) 14:30, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Taiwan presidential election

 * Ma Ying-jeou (pictured) of Kuomintang is elected President of Republic of China (Taiwan), replacing Chen Shui-bian. Two referenda on joining the United Nations failed due to low turnout.
 * put this up when results are known. F (talk) 10:15, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Agree. Spencer  T♦C 21:29, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support Obviously. I also would caution against trying to link whatever outcome of this election to what's going on in Tibet as some media outlets are doing. Just the facts please, ma'am. Madcoverboy (talk) 22:42, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. --BorgQueen (talk) 01:09, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support Would be helpful if it mentions Ma Ying-jeou as Pro-Chinese since he does not seek independence and wants relations with PRC.--Ãlways Ãhëad (talk) 02:45, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

Counting start 8am UTC, final results expected by 1pm UTC Official result site. F (talk) 06:29, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Ma leads 58-42 with 99% counted. F (talk) 10:39, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * All polling stations reported: Ma-Siew 58.45% Hsieh-Su 41.55%. Both candidates gave victory/concession speeches.  Please update main page ASAP. Kelvinc (talk) 11:49, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support - Great story, should most defintely be placed on the main page immediately. Hello32020 (talk) 13:30, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Added. --Tone 13:44, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Can we update the (pictured) to the TW president-elect? (IMHO elected presidents are more notable than selected PMs of 9 month old party colitions)--Lemmey (talk) 14:48, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The Belgian story is much the bigger one, but I dunno what the rules are for selecting the ITN picture. Badgerpatrol (talk) 15:38, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I also came here to suggest changing the image to the president-elect. It seems odd to have to look down several news items to find the article related to the picture. Royal broil  18:23, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

For changing the picture, it needs to be uploaded here and protected first. If you upload it, I can protect it and update the ITN. --Tone 18:35, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Done: Image:Ma Ying-jeou.jpg. Pruneautalk 18:43, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Can we get the picture of Ma up? I think it's almost always better to have a pic with the top entry when possible. Random  89  18:53, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Write a note on Tone's talk page. Spencer  T♦C 21:45, 22 March 2008 (UTC)


 * I wonder if the UN-related referendum is big enough a news story for ITN. Not even the people of Taiwan cared enough to vote.  Why should ITN care to mention this on the Main Page? --199.71.174.100 (talk) 00:51, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Because it was a major referendum that has been watched closely be foreign governments. Therequiembellishere (talk) 03:31, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Could "referenda" be changed to "referendums" please? It is the more correct plural. 202.157.8.64 (talk) 10:25, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
 * If there had only been the referendums, and not the presidential election on the same day, I doubt we would have mentioned them on ITN. We didn't mention Georgia's NATO referendum. I don't think the Taiwanese referendums were particularly notable, so I oppose their inclusion. Pruneautalk 16:51, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The UN is much more serious than NATO, as UN membership is in essence proving of statehood. But seeing as it is based on low turnout, I don't find it notable. Maybe if these referenda passed... Spencer  T♦C 19:09, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
 * A former part of the Soviet Union voting to become a NATO member is *huge* news (even if non-binding). I would ditch the Taiwanese referenda. Badgerpatrol (talk) 23:20, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Road coloring problem

 * The road coloring problem in graph theory is solved 37 years after being postulated.
 * This was suggested at Portal talk:Current events. I'm not at all sure that it qualifies, only because the solution/proof was found in September 2007 and was reported at least by 8 February. However, it seem to have hit the mainstream news sources in the last day or two. I haven't added it to Portal:Current events because I'm not sure what date to add it to. I suspect it isn't possible to explain the problem adequately in the space available on ITN, so I haven't tried; but alternative headline suggestions are welcome.- gadfium 01:25, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The headline makes sense but as you say, it is indeed a bit old news... But this kind of ITN items would make the section more diverse. --Tone 13:23, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * This would be ideal if we had considered it a while ago. If it were not so long after the fact I would've supported, but I'm neutral on this still, as most people have probably not heard of this. Random  89  18:54, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Is this problem actually a big deal? Given that there are only two inter-wiki links the article Road coloring problem and that a very small number of pages link to it, it seems to me that this conjecture wasn't particularly well-known. It's not like someone found a solution to the Riemann hypothesis or Goldbach's conjecture. Pruneautalk 21:13, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree with Pruneau. If, say, it was a Millennium Prize Problems, I think it could go up. Spencer  T♦C 19:11, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

French nukes

 * President Nicolas Sarkozy announces that France will reduce its total nuclear weapons arsenal by a third.
 * President Nicolas Sarkozy announces that France will reduce its nuclear weapons arsenal by a third.
 * Support as nominator Interesting unilateral action by a hawkish conservative leader. Madcoverboy (talk) 17:57, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Other articles of note: Force de frappe and France and weapons of mass destruction. France also has the 3rd largest nuclear force in the world. Madcoverboy (talk) 18:01, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Which is the article that's been updated? Badgerpatrol (talk) 18:16, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I merged the articles on French nuclear weapons and WMD, but I can't decide whether to include the Force de frappe or France and weapons of mass destruction for the nom. Both have been updated for the current event.Madcoverboy (talk) 20:25, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I see they have now, yes. ;-) This smacks of being as much a budgetary requirement as a geopolitical statement. If a major military power like France were to renounce WMD altogether...it would undoubtedly be ITN worthy. As it is...I'm not so sure. Neutral to no support for now. Badgerpatrol (talk) 01:04, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose. They cut their stockpile.  They didn't eliminate it. --CWY2190TC 01:05, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose per CWY. Spencer  T♦C 19:12, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Swimming world record

 * French swimmer Alain Bernard sets a new world record for the men's 100 metres freestyle in 47.60 seconds. Pruneautalk 20:19, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Pieter van den Hoogenband was the previous holder of the record (47.84s in September 2000). According to World record progression 100 metres freestyle, the last time that the 100m record remained unbroken for such a long time was in 1936-1944. Pruneautalk 20:24, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support major swimming event. Are the articles updated? Spencer  T♦C 21:28, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, they are. And by the way, support as nominator. Pruneautalk 09:07, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

Added. --Tone 13:26, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
 * French swimmer Alain Bernard sets new world records for the men's 100 metres freestyle in 47.50 seconds and for the men's 50 metres freestyle in 21.50 seconds.
 * Update: he's done it again. I'm not sure about the wording and the wikilinking. Pruneautalk 18:56, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Sounds good. French to French, perhaps? Spencer  T♦C 19:13, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

How what this newsworthy? I haven't seen/heard this anywhere... but here. (Don't tell me the crap about this is not a news ticker, either.) -- Howard  the   Duck  08:33, 24 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Why is this more noteworthy than other world records beaten in swimming in the last few days?  118.208.114.91 (talk) 11:41, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

March 19
New premier of Moldova, nominated by the president Vladimir Voronin, after the resigning of Tarlev. For the first time in a ex-Soviet republic, a female prime-minister is nominated. Miss Grecianin, generally accepted even by some part of the the oposition parties, is expected to be a proffesional administrator, less involved into the political daily quarrels of the Europe's poorer country.

Fahmida Mirza

 * Fahmida Mirza is elected the first female Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan. --199.71.174.100 (talk) 06:11, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Kosovo

 * In a concerted decision, Bulgaria, Croatia and Hungary jointly recognize Kosovo's independence from Serbia. --Camptown (talk) 13:32, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Important news as these are neighbors to Serbia, and that the decision was taken jointly by three governments.
 * We didn't repot any previous recognitions, I don't think this is so important to deserve a special mention. --Tone 20:03, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

Yves Leterme

 * The news from Belgium is now the top headline on ITN. Let's replace the picture of the building of the collapsed bank with a picture of the new boss in Belgium, Yves Leterme (right). --199.71.174.100 (talk) 21:46, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Why is this up there without discussion? ---CWY2190TC 01:31, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I think there is general consensus that resonably final election results and other changes of government are automatically ITN worthy if the article is up to scratch. While not quite falling into either category, the successful formation of a government after a stalemate for 9 months falls into the same area so I don't think there was any need to discussion and the admin who added this made the right choice (well I haven't looked into the article). If you genuinely don't agree with the inclusion of this item then you are welcome to discuss it here or in the talk page, but I see little point for a lengthy discussion here otherwise Nil Einne (talk) 07:59, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I also support the inclusion of the blurb. Here is an image with a close-up on Leterme: Image:Yves Leterme campagne foto cropped.jpg. [[Image:Yves Leterme campagne foto cropped.jpg|right|100px]]. Pruneautalk 08:17, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I've updated the template to use the photograph suggested by Pruneau above. - Mark 10:11, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
 * A permanent coalition government agreement is reached in Belgium, ending a nine-month stalemate, as Yves Leterme is sworn in as Prime Minister.
 * A link to Leterme I Government would be good. Pruneautalk 18:23, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Arthur C. Clarke

 * Renowned futurist and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke dies at the age of 90, at his home in Sri Lanka. 80.189.134.251 (talk) 22:39, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Futurist and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke dies at the age of 90 at his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
 * Futurist and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke dies at the age of 90 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
 * As it currently stands there has been no major updates to the article beyond verb tense changes and one sentence being added to mention his death. Plus this falls into the fun grey area surrounding deaths on ITN. Evil Monkey - Hello 22:55, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. Forgive me for being perhaps too presumptuous, but it seems we had a consensus that the deaths criteria are too strict. Therefore, I suggest we proceed as if the deaths criteria has changed and OK the inclusion of the 2001 author. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:11, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support as well. And if it's against the death criteria then the death criteria must be changed. GhePeU (talk) 00:37, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. I agree that this doesn't meet the old criteria, but it should still be on ITN.- gadfium 00:39, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose If you add something like this in, you might aswell add Anthony Minghella's death. Bith of them have made impacts worldwide.--Ãlways Ãhëad (talk) 01:13, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. Previous criteria were too strict, and given Clarke's role in the information age, this story is very relevant as well. Lovelac 7 01:25, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support Clark had a singular impact on science fiction as a literary genre and an incomparable penetrative insights into the relationships between society and its technology. Orders of magnitude greater impact and notablity than Minghella. Madcoverboy (talk) 01:47, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support Macop1 (talk) 02:55, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support as he is far more well known than Minghella, and was an integral part of his field, with still-lasting influence. Random  89  03:06, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * No. Deaths by old age do not go on the Main Page, only deaths which are unexpected or otherwise notable. RyanGerbil10 (Kick 'em in the Dishpan!) 03:09, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * NO Why the hell is this up here. I repeat, no Sir Edmund Hillary (first to scale Everest etc etc etc), no pretty much anyone else who dies naturally.  This guy is no more notable than Hillary, and should not be up there. PageantUpdater  talk • contribs  03:13, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Hillary's absence from the ITN newsfeed was controversial at the time, and a number of editors, myself included, think that his death should have been reported. Clarke's death is equally notable, and I support its inclusion, in spite of past precedent. Lovelac 7 03:25, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support correct orthography. If he's going to be on the Main Page, can we at least spell his name correctly? It's Clarke, with an "E". Koraki (talk) 03:16, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I posted (and the spelling was corrected) and it was removed. I'm not going to get into an edit war, so I'll add another support, noting too that there was large support for Hillary, but we are still left with the same old guidelines... --Stephen 03:37, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Stupid rules. I liked that entry. Then it suddenly disappeared. :-( • Anakin (talk) 03:39, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Whether you liked the entry is irrelevant. It did not comply with the rules for ITN.  PageantUpdater  talk • contribs  03:51, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I count 9 supports and 2 opposes. I don't see why PageantUpdater has the final word on this given the overwhelming consensus from several editors with long-standing activity and familiarity with the ITN rules to promote this news item. Pageant, please see WP:IAR: "If a rule prevents you from improving or maintaining Wikipedia, ignore it." Put it back up. Madcoverboy (talk) 03:57, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I was merely stating my (low) opinion of Anakin's comment, and I fail to see how I have the "final say" as I am not an admin. PageantUpdater  talk • contribs  04:19, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Adding an ITN entry for an article lacking a substantial update doesn't improve or maintain Wikipedia. —David Levy 19:23, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * There seem to be conflicting reports whether or not he died in a hospital or at home, so let's eschew the detail and just say he died in Colombo. Madcoverboy (talk) 04:01, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. While I didn't vote in the Sir Edmund Hillary discussion, I don't see how a policy prohibiting the inclusion of natural deaths makes sense, and I would have voted to include that death as well. However, I realize this may not be the place to discuss the policy anyway. There seems to be a consensus here, so where is the item? Or have we been overruled by an admin? Newsboy85 (talk) 05:13, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Admins don't get more of a say. There are a few admins supporting here (not myself however). Madcoverboy (talk) 05:20, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * So where is it? It seems to me that consensus was reached more than two hours ago. Newsboy85 (talk) 06:15, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Admins shouldn't get into WP:WHEELs. However, given the consensus here, I'd say that it's defensible to put it back up. Sorry to call them out explicitly (even though their revision histories are right there!) some regular ITN/C admins include BorgQueen, PFHLai, Aecis, Stephen, and Tone. Madcoverboy (talk) 06:37, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment It doesn't matter whether there is consensus to include him, the article on him still needs to be sufficiently updated for ITN Nil Einne (talk) 09:26, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

Oppose. He died of old age. If this goes up now, we should expect 20% of ITN items from now on to be obit pieces- certainly Minghella, a multi-Oscar winning director who actually did die suddenly and unexpectedly, should be up there if Clarke is. ITN is not a graveyard. Badgerpatrol (talk) 09:45, 19 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Support! He did so much for science fiction, predicted satellites, etc. DarkestMoonlight (talk) 12:12, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

Strong oppose, that's what recent deaths is for. I fear a precedent will be created to include all dead guys with articles on Wikipedia, with arguments such as "he is equally famous to ______ and should be up there". Unless it's a death with political or social ramnifications (such as the Bhutto and the Iraq bishop assassinations), I'm against including them. - Mtmelendez (Talk) 13:32, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I think it's a hard to think of anyone who has had a similar literary, cultural, and technological impact in any one of those fields much less all of them. But I imagine that ITN purists would have probably opposed Dickens, Cary Grant, and Einstein too. Shame. Madcoverboy (talk) 14:39, 19 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Oppose There might be a consensus that ITN:Deaths should change: there is no consensus that is has changed, or even precisely how it should change. The distinction between expected and unexpected deaths is, I would venture, relevant, as a worthwhile line can be drawn between news (that which has happened which will have a future effect) and reportage(letting people know what has happened and is of general interest, but not consequence).  The death of Anthony Minghella will affect some of the films that could expect to have been produced in the next few years: the death of ACC will not prevent him from writing further novels.  Kevin McE (talk) 15:44, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The line between natural and unexpected deaths seems just as arbitrary to me as the line between Arthur C. Clarke and Anthony Minghella. It's just that the former is easier to enforce. That doesn't mean it's better. I will agree Minghella doesn't need to be in ITN. Does this mean there will need to be more discussion on deaths? Yes. Will it make ITN better? If it means the inclusion of people like Sir Edmund Hillary and Arthur C. Clarke, yes. Newsboy85 (talk) 16:21, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

Support. As above, if there needs to be more discussion and exceptions to a general "reasoning" for the death of an "important" person not being ITN-able simply because they didn't die unexpectedly, so be it. If the criteria as they currently stand were taken back a few thousand years to mean that the death of Plato was "non-newsworthy" there's something not quite right, IMHO. In terms of big-picture newsworthiness, the death of ACC is considerably more important/newsworthy on a global level than David Paterson being promoted just because his boss resigned. Having tracked the popularity of news stories on the BBC various times today, this has been in the top 2-3 in /every/ part of the world and #1 in many/most of their zones; being #1 over the whole BBC news site for 9 hours. aside: From the way it seems to me, there is possibly a "formatting" issue on the English Wikipedia's front page underlying this. Compare with the German Wikipedia where ACC's death is still "front-page news" because they have a separate small section for recent "important" deaths, regardless of how people have died. This would appear to me to be a better long-term compromise and free-up the ITN section for "non-deaths". Regards, David. Harami2000 (talk) 18:49, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * It seems to me that this discussion is simply being ignored at this point. What, exactly, is the point of doing this if none of the admins are willing to add the item, no matter how much suppoort is expressed? Newsboy85 (talk) 19:12, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * What's the point of counting "support" votes from people who are ignoring the purpose of ITN? I'm not even referring to the controversial death criteria; I'm referring to the requirement that existing articles be substantially updated to reflect the reported event.  (This one hasn't been.)  —David Levy 19:23, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * "Substantially updated" is not a requirement, just "updated". What more is there to add when someone dies other than date, age, cause and location? --Stephen 20:24, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Reaction, impact, ramifications. Badgerpatrol (talk) 20:29, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * And just to be clear if there are none that usually implies the article is not ITN worthy under the current criteria Nil Einne (talk) 18:07, 23 March 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm leaning towards Oppose. Was he in a high rank at time of death? No. Was he a key figure in their field of expertise, and died unexpectedly or tragically? I don't think death of old age counts here. Does the death has a major international impact that affects current events? No. Spencer  T♦C 20:58, 19 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Support. He was a key figure in his field of expertise; it is arguable, now that Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov are dead, that he was the most important living writer of science fiction. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 22:24, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * But it was not that he "...died unexpectedly or tragically." -criteria 5b for ITN entries. That's why I disagree.  Spencer  T♦C 01:06, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Another imbecile guideline, followed to the harm of the encyclopedia. If the Washington Post put it on their front page so can we. WP:IAR. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 18:05, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Um except the WP is a newspaper, we are an encylopaedia. I'm sure this was probably the top story on wikinews for a while but as it stands, none if this is changing the fact that wikipedia is no a newspaper, and ITN despite the poor choice of name is not about the news Nil Einne (talk) 18:05, 23 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Support inclusion. Is there somewhere people can voice their concerns about the current ITN policy on excluding natural deaths? It gets rolled out regularly to prevent inclusion of newsworthy deaths, but never seems to be debated. Meanwhile ITN feels oddly static compared with the other main-page boxes. Espresso Addict (talk) 02:32, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose until the dispute about deaths by natural causes is settled --Ryan Delaney talk 03:06, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support inclusion. Obvious improvement to Wikipedia trumps uncritical foillowing of policy - see WP:IAR. Gandalf61 (talk) 14:06, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

Anthony Minghella
Academy Award winning film director Anthony Minghella dies at the age of 54. Yorkshiresky (talk) 13:46, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. Macop1 (talk) 14:16, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Fails criterion 5. Yes, Minghella was a good director but he was not a "key figure" in his field. Mike R (talk) 14:26, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment - sorry but that's rubbish. He won an Academy Award, BAFTA and awards from the Directors Guild of America, as well as numerous other nominations. His peers seemed to think that he was "key figure" even if some critics didn't. If he's not a key figure in his field then it's difficult to see how any other director would fit the criteria. Yorkshiresky (talk) 14:36, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Spielberg, Scorcese, Coppola, Woody Allen....Clearly not in that league even remotely. I am ambiguous about this one. I would probably say no though, I think. Badgerpatrol (talk) 14:56, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose More appropriate for Recent Deaths. Madcoverboy (talk) 18:00, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose Who's Anthony Minghella? Never heard of him. Spencer  T♦C 21:55, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose. It's sad, but I had never heard of him until today. Unless someone can convince me otherwise, I oppose. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:59, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I must admit I've never heard of him either. Lovelac 7 01:35, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

Strong oppose, for the reasons outlined in the Arthur Clarke candidate. - Mtmelendez (Talk) 13:33, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose Who's he/ Never heard of him. Ever. remember to sign w/4 tildes!
 * DarkestMoonlight (talk) 13:04, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

Tibet
Could the one-liner about Tibet be updated? There are relevant new developments (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7302021.stm) including the Dalai Lama's threat of resigning. 91.64.31.30 (talk) 10:05, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support It should be updated to reflect the international reactions and new casualty figures.--Ãlways Ãhëad 21:07, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Any suggestions for what kind of revised wording we need? I'm not familiar with the issue. --Ryan Delaney talk 21:21, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The BBC article has more info. The Dalai Lama's reaction seems worth quoting, as well as the increased number of casualties and international criticism. 91.64.31.30 (talk) 21:52, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Could "on both sides" be added to the end of the article? --Joowwww (talk) 17:57, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

March 17
The wreckages of HMAS Sydney and the HSK Kormoran are located 100 nautical miles off the Western Australian coast 66 years after they destroyed each other in a battle that killed more than 700 sailors. ..... Todd #661 09:50, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support Viva43 (talk) 10:40, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support, although I think it should be changed from "wreckages" to "wrecks". - Mark 11:49, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support An important find in naval warfare history. It's a refreshing story from all the elections and deaths on ITN recently. - Mtmelendez (Talk) 12:10, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support This is the kind of news item that makes ITN great - even though it doesn't receive widespread media coverage it easily meets all the criteria and WP already has excellent articles on it. Madcoverboy (talk) 14:28, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Pile-on support, encyclopedic, relevant, notable, newsworthy, so ITN-worthy in every aspect of it. A  ecis Brievenbus 14:30, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. This is really important development. Utc-100 (talk) 14:31, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support Get it up there. Random  89  16:14, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * ✅ --Ryan Delaney talk 18:46, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment: Mutual destruction sounds like that the ships argeed to it, to me. Does it seem so to anyone else? Spencer  T♦C 21:57, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Bear Stearns
In danger of collapse from the subprime mortgage crisis, Bear Stearns, the venerable Wall Street brokerage and investment bank, agrees to be purchased by purchased by JPMorgan Chase for $2 a share.
 * If you follow Wall Street, this is mind-blowing: A company that had been profitable since the 1920s losing 96% of its market value over a couple of days. The US Federal Reserve has gone against precedent and taken an active role in the bailout because it fears a domino effect if Bear Stearns falls. This is scary. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:15, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * "venerable" sounds POV. Spencer  T♦C 01:05, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. I had no idea things got this bad in one day. Is the Federal Reserve involvement unusual? -Susanlesch (talk) 02:14, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Almost unheard of, but the Fed's intervention came on Friday, before the JPMorgan buyout. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 02:31, 17 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Failing in the subprime mortgage crisis, Bear Stearns receives Federal Reserve System assistance and is sold to JPMorgan Chase.
 * The Put_option should be explained in the context of Thursday March 13, 2008 to Monday March 17, 2008. 100TWdoug (talk) 02:31, 17 March 2008 (UTC) Also, Bear Stearns: $1 billion from China Investment Corp. and Soverign wealth funds. 100TWdoug (talk) 04:21, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Generalizing from New York Times tonight to focus on the Fed. -Susanlesch (talk) 04:10, 17 March 2008 (UTC)


 * U.S. Federal Reserve System becomes a lender to large investment banks, backs JPMorgan Chase in its purchase of failed Bear Stearns {pictured), and lowers direct lending rate.
 * So much to say, so little room. How about: "The U.S. Federal Reserve takes unprecedented action to stem panic on Wall Street, including helping JPMorgan Chase buy out collapsing rival Bear Stearns." -- Mwalcoff (talk) 05:12, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I like this because it emphasizes how unusual the events are. Language that is too loaded with technical terms is indistinguishable to outsiders from business as usual. --Ryan Delaney talk 13:40, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Strong support I don't favor any particular wording. Needless to say, when 5th largest investment bank in America has its value depreciate 99% over a few weeks because of a run on the bank, the Fed takes unprecedented action to stop the fallout by removing any roadblocks for a rival to take it over - it's newsworthy encyclopedic information. Amazing turn events and likely a sign of things worse to come in both the American and world economy. There are some good articles on the related topics: subprime mortgage crisis, bank run, bail out (finance). Madcoverboy (talk) 14:25, 17 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Support. This has been the leading headline in the global financial world for the past week. Utc-100 (talk) 14:33, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Of course. Potentially seismic. Badgerpatrol (talk) 15:02, 17 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Support any and all wordings. The fact that this isn't up yet is pretty silly.  Schumer came out today and said the economy is as bad as before the Great Depression and repeatedly called Bush the next Herbert Hoover.  The Fed insured the purchase, which is basically as significant as the nationalization of Northern Rock, which was up a few weeks ago.  Any way you slice the pie this is the worst economic indicator since 9/11 or Black Monday in 1987.  --   Grant  .  Alpaugh  16:23, 17 March 2008 (UTC)


 * ✅ --Ryan Delaney talk 18:47, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Fitna
About four months ago, Dutch politician Geert Wilders announced that he was working on an anti-Islam film. This film, Fitna, will be released in the coming weeks. The film has already led to boycotts of Dutch products throughout the Arab world. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference has discussed the film at its recent summit in Dakar. In terms of response and effects, this is similar to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. If and when the film is released, I suggest putting it up on ITN. A ecis Brievenbus 20:33, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
 * If the reactions to the film are remarkable enough to merit widespread news reports, then those responses might be worthy of inclusion. Promoting a deliberately provocative film upon its release is not the business of ITN.  Kevin McE (talk) 21:40, 16 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Oppose: There are other films that could qualify in terms of its effects worldwide and this case is not unique. I also agree with Kevin, if there are widespread reactions than, and only then, it should be included.


 * Yeah. Depends what the reactions are. Spencer  T♦C 01:06, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose Unless countries start filing formal grievances, withdrawing ambassadors, engaging in large-scale protests or boycotts, or explicitly encouraging/condoning violence, then it's just a lot of hot air. Seems like a tempest in a teapot with both some conservatives and "Islamophobes" and the more radical elements of Islamic movements and governments baiting each other to do something stupid. Madcoverboy (talk) 14:17, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Why is this on the front page? 128.227.189.166 (talk) 21:49, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

2008 Atlanta tornado outbreak
During the 2008 Atlanta tornado outbreak, thirteen total toronadoes are confirmed in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. In the storm, an EF3 kills two in Alabama.
 * With the deaths and wide destruction, I believe this is notable.  crassic ![ talk ] 00:50, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support either way but maybe the wording can say the city of Atlanta. From what little I know that is unheard of inside the heat of a city. -Susanlesch (talk) 02:31, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment Yeah, I wasn't 100% certain on how the wording should read. My English has fallen off over the weekend. Ha.  crassic ![ talk ] 03:00, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose for the reason that is is nowhere near as bad as the Super Tuesday tornado outbreak (58 dead vs 2 dead), and second, there have been three outbreaks with more tornadoes this year. ---CWY2190TC 03:18, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

So one support and one oppose is consensus now? ---CWY2190TC 11:26, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I don't really think it was that notable. The media coverage was blown way out of proportion. Spencer  T♦C 11:32, 17 March 2008 (UTC)


 * BIG NOTE After I originally posted this, the total moved up? It's up to 25 confirmed now.  crassic ![ talk ] 11:37, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose 25 tornadoes, not deaths. Freak weather accident incident that would have been not been noted or considered had it not struck the headquarters of a major news network. Madcoverboy (talk) 14:12, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Correct. 25 tornadoes in a day is not a big deal.  We could have another day like that tomorrow and will have another 5-10 days this year with 25 or more tornadoes. ---CWY2190TC 15:54, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Márquez bout

 * Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao wins the WBC and The Ring superfeatherweight championship as he defeated Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez at Las Vegas, United States.
 * How about some boxing news for a change? -- Howard  the   Duck  09:50, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
 * If we put up the super-featherweight title, does that mean we will be putting up the new champions of the other sixteen weight classes? On that reason I oppose. CWY2190TC 17:30, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
 * If they were female, for a change of pace from men dominating the news. But good idea Howard the Duck. -Susanlesch (talk) 17:55, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose Boxing is such a difficult sport to have on ITN, because there are as CWY says far too many different classes, added to the fact there are three other major organizations that award titles, which means we're looking at about 70 different titles for the men alone. It's too much of a slippery slope to have just this one out of the blue. Thethinredline (talk) 23:49, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Replies: I don't think anyone really cares about the heavyweight division nowadays; the current talk of the town in boxing is Mayweather (did we put that?) and Pacquiao. As a proof that, the Yahoo homepage featured this on its main page. -- Howard  the   Duck  02:21, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Yahoo featured the iditarod on its page and it still hasn't gone up. I've seen nobody here mention the match, and I don't think the The Plain Dealer has even mentioned it. If we support just because its a different sport, than why didn't the Iditarod go up? Spencer  T♦C 11:34, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * But was it on ESPN? Aside from the ongoing NCAA conference tourneys it was the main story yesterday. And this is certainly a lot more international than the Iditarod. And who cares about The Plain Dealer when far more important papers such as El Universal, USA Today {}, Las Vegas Review-Journal , L'Équipe , and, *gasp* Anchorage Daily News, home of the Iditarod, all mentioned it. And oh, The Plain Dealer did mention it anyway. -- Howard   the   Duck  12:29, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * This match was significant because the universally recognized championship was at stake, which is rarely contested and last changed hands in the 130 lb. division 21 years ago. east<big style="color:#090">. 718 at 17:43, March 17, 2008
 * So this was like the Soccer World Cup final 21 years in the making. 122.2.80.21 (talk) 04:25, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Hu Jintao's re-election as President of the People's Republic of China

 * Of course this role as Paramount leader is one of the most powerful and influential positions in world politics, so the importance of the event is not disputed. Concerns over the length of the news article 11th_National_People%27s_Congress led to objections to placing it on the main page. As a newcomer I don't mean to overturn convention at In the news, but I'd like to suggest that added visibility on the main page will likely cause the article to be improved, and Hu Jintao serves as a boldface link for the news event itself. --Ryan Delaney talk 02:31, 16 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Oppose until either 11th National People's Congress or Hu Jintao has been properly expanded to provide a reasonable amount of information regarding Hu Jintao's re-election (at which point I will support the item's inclusion). The main page is for readers, not editors.  When a reader clicks on one of these links, he/she expects to find a substantial amount of additional information on the subject mentioned in the blurb.  This is a worthy topic, but the listing is premature.  —David Levy 02:41, 16 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes this should go up as Hu Jintao as the bold link - same goes for the other political leaders e.g. Dmitri Medvedev a fortnight back which didn't need a separate news article. Hermant patel (talk) 02:42, 16 March 2008 (UTC)


 * A separate article certainly isn't required, but the Hu Jintao article contains precisely two sentences about Hu Jintao's re-election (conveying nothing other than the fact that he was re-elected). —David Levy 02:45, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Albanian explosion disaster

 * An estimated 160 people are left dead or injured due to explosions at an army depot near the Albanian capital Tirana.--h i s  s p a c e   r e s e a r c h 16:37, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Wait for more certain info. The death toll is not clear and 160 may be far too high. After the article is expanded and more certain, I support. --Tone 16:47, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Conditional support, provided the article is expanded. This is definitely a massive blast. A  ecis Brievenbus 16:49, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree that it would be wise to wait for more info to come through, but it's definitely significant enough to be on the Main Page if the casualties turn out to be high.--h i s  s p a c e   r e s e a r c h 16:56, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Article needs expansion first. Spencer  T♦C 17:39, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment - BBC reports the death toll at 4 and injuries at 200. --Joowwww (talk) 18:00, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Recalling thirteen people died in Georgia, USA earlier this year in a sugar refinery explosion (sorry I don't recall that they were on the main page). -Susanlesch (talk) 18:22, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Had an article been written on it, then I would certainly have supported it going on ITN (assuming the article itself met the standards) as a majorish disaster. So far as I know, there isn't an article on the sugar refinery explosion - you could start one. Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 18:55, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * All we have is a brief paragraph at Imperial Sugar. Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 18:57, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * No, I am not available to write that. Sorry. -Susanlesch (talk) 19:31, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Maybe someone could write an article on the New York crane disaster? See here. Carcharoth (talk) 00:23, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Not sure NYC crane falling is worthy of its own article, I mean Albania explosion is borderline IMO. --Joowwww (talk) 00:53, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
 * But I bet you the NY crane disaster article ends up longer and better. Systematic bias and all that. Carcharoth (talk) 01:18, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Tibet Protests

 * The protests in Tibet have turned violent with deaths and a hunger strike occuring. They are said to be the largest protests in 20 years. --Joowwww (talk) 19:48, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * These protests are definitely notable enough for ITN, I think they should definitely be mentioned, but is there an updated Wikipedia article about these protests? A  ecis Brievenbus 19:45, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Yep, I was just about to suggest this myself: 2008 Tibetan protests. Hammer Raccoon (talk) 19:49, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * What should be made clear, both in the article and in the ITN blurb, is that these protests are not confined to Tibet/China. Protests have taken place in Nepal and India as well. A  ecis Brievenbus 19:52, 14 March 2008 (UTC)


 * "Two people are left dead after rioting in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, amidst clashes between pro-Tibet protesters and police across South and East Asia." Needs work: something better than "pro-Tibet protesters" would be good, and perhaps a suitable link to the general anti-government movement could be found. Hammer Raccoon (talk) 20:09, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support in some form or another. Don't necessarily like this particular wording though. Random  89  10:11, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. --BorgQueen (talk) 10:21, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. Hammer Raccoon's text looks fine. Also here is alternate wording, no way does it cover everything though. -Susanlesch (talk) 12:50, 15 March 2008 (UTC)


 * China confirms the deaths of 10 people and 100 are arrested in Lhasa, the Tibetian capital, during violent demonstrations by Buddhist monks and civilians who are protesting China's rule of Tibet and the hosting of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Which is too long, maybe: China confirms the deaths of 10 people and 100 are arrested in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, during protests by Buddhist monks and civilians.
 * How about: "At least ten people are killed in protests by civilians and Buddhist monks in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet." The number of people arrested is too much detail for ITN imo, while "at least" takes the various claims of the number of casualties into consideration. A  ecis Brievenbus 13:02, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * This is fine - someone should put this up now. Hammer Raccoon (talk) 13:28, 15 March 2008 (UTC)


 * "At least 10 people are killed during protests in Tibet against the Chinese government." The one above makes it sound like they were killed by the monks. --Joowwww (talk) 13:29, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support This one avoids the confusion, though it's not very informative. It needs to be up on the Main Page, the event has already important international repercussions. It's possible to modify the wording thereafter anyway. Cenarium (talk) 14:30, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support general idea- I thought there were also protests outside of Tibet, though. Like in Nepal 1, 2, Australia, India, Gansu Province of China.   Spencer  T♦C 15:00, 15 March 2008 (UTC)


 * It's on the main page now, . Cenarium (talk) 15:12, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Wording isn't perfect though, I'm still trying to think of something. How about: "During protests by civilians and Buddhist monks in Lhasa, Tibet, at least ten people are killed." Spencer  T♦C 17:43, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Maybe "At least 10 people are killed during Tibetan protests against the Chinese government." sounds better ? Cenarium (talk) 19:22, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Now they say 80 were killed, see Talk:Main Page. And also link Tibet Autonomous Region instead of Tibet. Also link Government of the People's Republic of China through government. Spencer  T♦C 17:42, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Among reports of many times this, AP said earlier today that China itself confirmed sixteen deaths. -Susanlesch (talk) 01:18, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Heathrow Terminal Five

 * Terminal Five at Heathrow Airport, the largest covered building in the United Kingdom is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. Yorkshiresky (talk) 18:25, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support Major addition to arguably the largest airport in the world. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 18:48, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose It's just an airport, and in the grand scheme of things, is barely news. --Joowwww (talk) 19:44, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Hesitant. First of all, I agree with Joowwww that this is not all that newsworthy from an ITN point of view. Secondly, this new terminal is nothing compared to the terminal that was opened at Beijing airport recently. That terminal alone is bigger than all of Heathrow. On a sidenote, Heathrow is not "arguably the largest airport in the world". Its very big, one of the biggest in the world, but not the biggest. A  ecis Brievenbus 19:49, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, I said arguably because it handles more international traffic then any other airport. It is the largest airport in Europe, as well. It is an international hub. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 21:35, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Its a terminal...at an airport.  Thats it. ---CWY2190TC 21:27, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Neutral The article is in good shape and I'd say its sufficiently important and notable given the importance of Heathrow in international travel. Then again, we'd be opening ourselves to the criticism everytime we didn't promote another terminal openening (e.g., Beijing or JFK). However, I do remember some new train station in the UK getting promoted before, but I guess we've all become stingy with the promotions now. Madcoverboy (talk) 01:10, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Comment, my nomination was as much for it's architectural notability as it's importance as a transport hub, in that it's scale surpasses any other covered building in the UK. If it was just another terminal than I wouldn't have bothered. Yorkshiresky (talk) 11:08, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Iditarod
The article needs to be updated, but I think it could work. Spencer T♦C 23:43, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Lance Mackey wins the 2008 Iditarod in Alaska, finishing in Nome with a time of 9 days, 11 hours, 46 minutes, 48 seconds.
 * Oppose Too much of a niche sport i think. Just because this might be the world championship/most prestigious race doesn't mean it should automatically deserve to be on ITN. Secondly i think its a travesty that we credit only the human when its the dogs that did all the work. Thethinredline (talk) 00:06, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support I agree it is a niche sport, but it is well-publicized and has international participation. The Iditarod article is likewise in very good shape—I think it's a great item to feature. In any case, humans in the Iditarod do more work than the "athletes" in NASCAR, F1, GT, and the like which are featured often enough.Madcoverboy (talk) 00:24, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * It would be sensationalist, at best, to write a headline along the lines of: "The Alaskan malamute dogs of Lance Mackey win the 2008 Iditarod."--WaltCip (talk) 17:36, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support The Iditarod is a popular event, and of interest. It should go up. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 00:38, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Off-topic slightly, but I think you underestimate the amount of stress an F1 driver's body goes under during a race, not to mention things like fluid loss. Anywho, I'm completely ignorant about dog sledding, so neutral. Hammer Raccoon (talk) 14:15, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. A storied sporting event.  Coverboy, there has never been a NASCAR story on ITN that I can remember.  The only F1 story I remember what the McLarren scandal. ---CWY2190TC 01:52, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose Closely followed only in Alaska, as far as I know. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 03:08, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * It is failry popular in Northern Canada and British Columbia, I think. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 04:09, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Actually I'm pretty sure we had the F1 champions both 2007 and 2006 (there was no way we were going to miss Schumacher retiring anyway), probably before that as well, and well we should have. This one, I dunno, I remain neutral Nil Einne (talk) 12:42, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose Surely this is not one of the ~6 most important headlines in the world right now. I know this event is well-known, but I doubt it is well-followed by the world and the Iditarod article says only about 50 mushers participate in the event.  If this were something like the Olympics or World Cup I would support inclusion, but this race seems too "regional" with not enough notability. Dwr12 (talk) 07:56, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose. I have to agree with the above. Yes, the event is notable and popular. Notable and popular enough for a Wikipedia article, but not notable and popular enough for ITN, imo. Nil Einne is right about F1, btw. We've covered the world champions of 2006 (with a reference to Schumi's retirement) and 2007 (with a reference to Stepneygate). A  ecis Brievenbus 13:28, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment "Wide-spread coverage" is not a criteria for inclusion or exclusion. The current template includes news items almost a week old, items that never made it to any front page but are of definite encyclopedic interest (space and science stories), and still other items that appeared nowhere on the front page of your favorite newspaper (national elections in Malta). What then, exactly is "ITN notability and popularity"? While it's an imperfect science what we do here, don't make any appeals to non-existent criteria to justify a decision—judge the nomination on its merits and the ITN criteria, not in relation to previous precedent or informal rules.Madcoverboy (talk) 18:43, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose, also see the proposed guideline WP:ITNSPORTS Random  89  16:15, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment: 83 teams finished the race, after 96 started . There were teams from Finland, Germany, United States, Canada, Norway, Italy,Belgium, andSwitzerland.
 * Also, according to  "Mackey also would make history with a second Iditarod win. Last year he became the first musher to record back-to-back wins in the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race and the Iditarod. Mackey also won his fourth consecutive Yukon Quest last month and is trying to repeat last year's double win."  Spencer  T♦C 16:50, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I don't see this on either of the 3 news networks I watch. -- Howard  the   Duck  17:07, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * ITN isn't a news network. Hammer Raccoon (talk) 19:41, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Duh. -- Howard  the   Duck  03:27, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho

 * The body of Mar Paulos Faraj Rahho (pictured), the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul who was kidnapped in Iraq last month, is found in a shallow grave close to the city. --Camptown (talk) 22:59, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. The subject was in a high ranking office of power at the time of death and appears to have died tragically. His disappearance has been widely publicized, and the conflict in Iraq is about as notable as it gets. All in all, a significant development in a notable conflict. A  ecis Brievenbus 23:48, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 00:38, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Could you please explain why? A  ecis Brievenbus 00:42, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, for one, the article sucks. It would need alot more expanding to go up. Second, I could be wrong about this since religion is not my thing, but it does not look like he was in charge of his church. I'm pretty sure hundreds of people go missing every month in Iraq, but I see no reason to put this up, considering the only reason anyone knows about it was that he was an archbishop. I don't think it is important enough to anyone outside of the catholics, and even then... meh. Of course, I'm not a catholic, so I don't know. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 00:49, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I expanded the article and added a photo as well. He is in charge of up to 20,000 worshippers, so I think he was pretty notable. Chaldean (talk) 04:31, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support - See my comments above. Chaldean (talk) 04:31, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support as his death was unexpected, widely covered, and he was in a position of power at the time. Also, a link to the ongoing situation in Iraq is a good thing. Random  89  06:15, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose, with respect, subject was a local leader and not one to single out here. -Susanlesch (talk) 15:43, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Why is this up? There is not a consensus to put this up. Mark, your opinions don't change that. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 18:47, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Even though I support he inclusion, I agree with you. 3-2 )or even 4-2 if you count the adding admin is hardly grounds for adding it to the template. Random  89  19:07, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree, there clearly wasn't consensus for this. The Archbishop was an important figure for the Chaldean community, but many people are killed in Iraq and I'm not sure that is quite notable enough for the main page.  More importantly, there was no sense here that it had been agreed that this story was notable enough, and it should not have been posted without that consensus. NoIdeaNick (talk) 19:08, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I put a blurb on Mark's talk page asking him to remove it and post his comments.
 * I apologise for not posting a comment here upon me adding it; I usually do. Half of the only oppose on it at the time was based on the quality of the article, which appeared to have subsequently been expanded and improved. The other half of the only oppose was based on an impression about the importance of the office of the man, which I felt was answered by Chaldean. The article hence satisfied the death criteria, and so I added it. Subsequent supports (below) have confirmed that this article satisfies the criteria. There's no point having a news section on the main page if by the time each blurb reaches it, the story is many days old due to waiting for a full consensus here. In this case, the arguments of the supporters were more persuasive to me than the argument of the single opposer. - Mark 01:23, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks for responding. While in this case I agree with you, and since apparently several of the objections were negated by articel updates, this was fine, but ideally a bit more consensus is better (get it right, not get it fast). Either way, I suppose some of us would like to see a note of that posted here. But being a bit hasty is sometimes better than not attracting an admin at all, so thanks. Random  89  05:51, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support as nominator. --Camptown (talk) 20:33, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. I struck my oppose because the archbishop's death was tragic and per Random89. But I don't think much of admins bopping in to make updates. Second time in a couple weeks where that action was out of sync with whatever consensus at the time was plain as day on this page. -Susanlesch (talk) 21:00, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oh dear, support was there at the time (must time for a wikibreak -- when I voted oppose I sure didn't see it). -Susanlesch (talk) 00:18, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

$1000 gold

 * The price of gold reaches 1000 US Dollars an ounce for the first time.
 * Neutral Another notable commodity psychological threshold. Madcoverboy (talk) 18:40, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Neutral. It only hit it because the USD is going down the tube.  Not really that notable. ---CWY2190TC 18:51, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Rather than being based on the USD, is this the highest price in Euros for the first time? Spencer  T♦C 20:21, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm not certain if it is, but it very well could be. However, this would not be a significant threshold as it would not be a round number like 1000 USD. Also, most gold trade internationally is conducted in USD. Weak Support. Random  89  20:49, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose Gotta draw the line somewhere. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 21:04, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Weak oppose. Nice number and catchy headline in the U.S. but Bloomberg news says, "Gold's all-time inflation adjusted record is $2,284 on Jan. 21, 1980". -Susanlesch (talk) 22:35, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose Prices of things fluctuate all the time, so this doesn't seem particularly groundbreaking. Perhaps if this is the highest price gold has ever been at when adjusted for inflation, i will consider supporting this. Thethinredline (talk) 22:49, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose The real price is high, but not at record levels if I understand. The price of 1000 is only in US currency. Dwr12 (talk) 07:59, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Neutral I supported the oil barrel and Euro/US story. Not so sure about this one. It doesn't really seem that significant to me. Nil Einne (talk) 12:44, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose - Gold always increases in value.--WaltCip (talk) 13:16, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Early elections in Serbia

 * Serbian President Boris Tadic (picutured) disbands parliament and calls an early general election for May 11. --Camptown (talk) 11:39, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The election is widely seen as Serbia's most important since the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. --Camptown (talk) 11:39, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * See In the news section on the Main Page/Candidates/February 2008 for a similar proposal which was rejected from Malaysia. I'll oppose for the same reasons. Spencer  T♦C 20:20, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 00:38, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose. We already had a listing when the PM resigned. The call of an election follows naturally. We'll have another entry for the results. Do we really want three entries about the same (relatively obscure to most of the world) topic in a period of 2 months? Let's wait for the results of the election. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 03:11, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Iranian legislative election, 2008
Can someone help expanding this article...the election's in two days, and I hope we can have an ITN-worthy article so we can have a point about this. See. Spencer T♦C 00:05, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support when the time comes, reports are people voted today. -Susanlesch (talk) 15:45, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Digital data
Corrections welcome. Surprised me that storage did not keep up. (source) -Susanlesch (talk) 20:17, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The total amount of digital information is estimated at 281 billion gigabytes, exceeding available data storage for the first time.
 * Who has estimated this? Where was it published? And is there an updated Wikipedia article with this information? A  ecis Brievenbus 20:20, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * IDC, a subsidiary of IDG, made the estimate. Updated the data and data storage articles. Good questions, thanks. I don't know if this item is worth pursuing. -Susanlesch (talk)
 * Oppose It is an interesting finding, but it's not clear what impact this has as either a news item or an encyclopedic item. I can't think of who this impacts beyond futurists ensconced in ivory towers pondering the technological singularity. What article would be used? Finally, it seems that the finding would invite all sorts of criticism regarding methodology or potential advertising as well. Madcoverboy (talk) 21:13, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Withdrawn. Withdrawing this suggestion, because I don't yet understand how digital data can exist without storage? -Susanlesch (talk) 23:04, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Boy I read this wrong, and to boot, there are some new sources. IDC's "universe" is "information that is either created, captured, or replicated in digital form". To answer my question, TV, radio, surveillance and other video and telephone call data is sometimes not saved. I think they do mean the sum of all data but will have to read their white paper to find out because I am confused by and skimming the press. (So not good for the main page and sorry for the noise.) -Susanlesch (talk) 04:34, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Age of the universe
Big reduction in uncertainty. Narayanese (talk) 20:00, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * New data puts the age of the universe at 13.7±0.1 billion years.
 * Neutral I think it might be a tough sell to other editors given the preponderance of space-related items recently—however, it is of definite encyclopedic interest. I don't find it entirely appropriate from a newsworthy perspective, since it is the result of one study using one model only confirming the the age with increased certainty—although I'm not sure that a divergent finding (eg, the universe is 5 or 50 billion, something unexpected like that) wouldn't be immune from the criticism that it is "just one study." Madcoverboy (talk) 21:18, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. The age of the universe has always been one of the fundamental questions. And I have never cared for the "but we already have N space/US/sport/etc items". If it is a good item on its own then we should put it up. Thue | talk 21:59, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * As a matter of clarification, I agree with Thue: the existence of other items of a similar topic on the template should never factor into a decision. I was just anticipating a common complaint about "balance" - whatever that is. Madcoverboy (talk) 22:11, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. Beyond the above arguments, it is a good article that many readers/editors may not stumble across, so it is worthwhile to be featured. (Not that I'm trying to set a precedent with that) Random  89  06:03, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Expand to

--Stephen 08:31, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Data from NASA's WMAP satellite puts the age of the universe at 13.73 ± 0.12 billion years old.
 * Support. 4th space-related news in a week, this is getting popular :-) But this is fundamental research, so it is noteworthy. Just try to find some news from other topics for balance. --Tone 11:20, 13 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, that's a better written version. Narayanese (talk) 22:30, 13 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Support. -Susanlesch (talk) 22:41, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I probably wouldn't use the word "put", how about "estimate"? Spencer  T♦C 23:43, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I don't know why the 2006 image (added above) agrees with this estimate. In any case, reworded to say "estimates" and simplified below. -Susanlesch (talk) 21:15, 14 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Data from a NASA probe estimates the age of the universe at approximately 13.7 billion years old.


 * Oppose. I don't see this at Portal:Current events or any source, both of which would seem to be necessary for inclusion on the main page. -Susanlesch (talk) 21:26, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
 * See Portal:Current events/Science and technology. Narayanese (talk) 04:43, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Striking that last oppose, and reinstating support. Now I see what you were saying, the plus or minus of certainty dropped by 80,000,000 years. -Susanlesch (talk) 05:33, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Lazare Ponticelli
This man doesn't meet any of our criteria for deaths, but I'm bringing it up anyway: "Lazare Ponticelli, the last French veteran of World War I, dies, aged 110." A ecis Brievenbus 18:20, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Strong support Certianly the last French veteran of the Great War is newsworthy. I don't know if we agreed on the last national veterans, or the final overall, but nevertheless, I support. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 18:29, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose, with respect, unless ITN generally posts the deaths of oldest persons in other areas of achievement. -Susanlesch (talk) 19:44, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * What is significant about Ponticelli is not that he was the oldest, but that he was the last surviving French WW1 soldier. A  ecis Brievenbus 20:16, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose It's not clear to me that he is notable for anything beyond living a long time. As a result, I think it's just a novelty news item. The proposed article is short and I think we've rejected better candidates before. Madcoverboy (talk) 21:24, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Was he the last surviving veteran or just the last surviving French veteran? Support on the former, oppose on the latter. Random  89  06:05, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The last surviving (who is still surviving AFAIK) American WWI vet had a photo op with Bush last week, so he's the last French vet, but not the last vet. Either way, oppose, respectfully.  --   Grant  .  Alpaugh  08:03, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The are 20 remaining surviving veterans of World War I. --Stephen 08:20, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Eliot Spitzer
This has been discussed on Template talk:In the news, but I want to bring it here for wider discussion. Iff Eliot Spitzer, governor of the state of New York were to resign, should we post it on ITN or not? I think we should, given that this is an important position in an important state, is widely considered to have some effect on the presidential campaign, and has been widely publicized. Having said that, obviously Spitzer's personal life should obviously be respected. A ecis Brievenbus 12:37, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I don't think so... it's not that international. It will still be business as usual for New York if he were to resign, it's not as if the whole state were to crumble. -- Howard  the   Duck  13:56, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * That can be said for every resignation. The United States survived Nixon's resignation, but I'm sure we would have mentioned it on ITN if Wikipedia had existed back then. (Note: I'm obviously not comparing Spitzer's possible resignation to Nixon's resignation). A  ecis Brievenbus 14:00, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. I think it should go up, but mostly in the context of there being a blind, black governor (both notable) after Spitzer.  Also, no mention of the Presidential election should be made.  Also, the governor of New York in general oversees one of the largest cities and one of the main financial centers in the world, but Spitzer specifically made news prosecuting (some would say persecuting) several notable business leaders.  The governor of New York ≠ the governor or Maine.  --   Grant  .  Alpaugh  14:04, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Actually in parliamentary governments, technically no one will be in charge if a government falls (that's why they'd always call an election immediately); in presidential-type of governments, there's always a spare tire (the "vice/lieutenant-president/governor/mayor") to replace the person that resigned. A good comparison would've been Gray Davis' recall election some years ago, it had significant international coverage maybe due to the reason that issue was a political rather than a "personal" one. -- Howard  the   Duck  14:10, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose - The governor in question is not a Republican; thus, no ITN notability.--WaltCip (talk) 14:12, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * First, you're comment is so POV I don't know what to say, and second, let's remember that if New York was a country it would have a larger population, economy, and government than all but a handful of countries in Europe. New York is part of the Tri-State Area that would be larger than the Benelux region.  --   Grant  .  Alpaugh  14:20, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I do think a government falling in Belgium would be more widely reported than a governor resigning in New York or any state in the U.S., no matter what the political party (Dunno about Luxembourg though). If he was assassinated I would've reconsidered. -- Howard   the   Duck  14:23, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Something like:
 * Eliot Spitzer resigns from office as Governor of New York amid charges of involvement in a prostitution ring, and is replaced by David Paterson, the state's first African-American governor, and the first blind governor in the United States.

The wording could probably improve, but I think that should be the skeleton of it. --  Grant  .  Alpaugh  14:10, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support Looks good to me on all counts—notable case, prominent and notable office, prominent and notable person, wide coverage, good articles, notable successor. I'm always hesitant to use an "impact" metric, but his resignation likely affects more people in gross and in impact than many national elections covered here. Certainly if the PM or Premier of a country with similar GDP, population, or size were to resign it would be covered. Madcoverboy (talk) 15:02, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Plus it would help clear off all this election/space bias some editors bemoan—yay churn! :) Madcoverboy (talk) 15:16, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. I think this is worthy of being on here, however my only issue is that we did not put the resignation of the Serbian PM up a few days ago. Wow, I missed that one... Random 89  15:19, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Support. I understand the concerns that this isn't an international story, since it involves the governor of a subnational entity. However, it is the leading story at the international version of http://news.bbc.co.uk/ and even one of the top stories on the UK version. It is the top story at http://www.elmundo.es/ and http://www.elpais.com/ which are major Spanish papers. The Globe and Mail in Canada has it as the top story. In France, Le Monde has it as the top story. It is the second story at Der Spiegel. The particular facts of this case, combined with the fact that New York State contains New York City, which is a major global financial center and one of the world's largest and most important cities, help make a strong case for inclusion. NoIdeaNick (talk) 18:06, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support per NoIdeaNick. -Susanlesch (talk) 18:26, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 18:29, 12 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Posted. A  ecis Brievenbus 18:34, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * That entry is way too long. You need to cut it down. The replacement part doesn't matter, that is only of interest and not actual important international news. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 18:39, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Shorten. I agree with Plasma Twa 2: I can see the argument for putting Spitzer's resignation up (though I fear this will create a precedent), but the blurb is way too long. All the international newspapers listed by NoIdeaNick focus on Spitzer and barely mention Paterson. Pruneautalk 19:24, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Shorten. Not sure if accusation is the right word but here is a try at a shorter version. -Susanlesch (talk) 19:46, 12 March 2008 (UTC). Amended to say reports rather than accusations or charges. -Susanlesch (talk) 22:11, 12 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Eliot Spitzer resigns as Governor of New York amid reports that he was a client of a prostitution ring.
 * Sounds good. I'm not sure if we should switch "reports" with "allegations." I don't think so, though. Spencer  T♦C 22:42, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Admiral William Fallon
The commander of United States forces in the Middle East, Admiral William J. Fallon, resigns his command following criticism of American policy regarding Iran. siarach (talk) 19:58, 11 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Support because it has nothing to do with space or elections :). -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:50, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose From my reading of it, his resignation was not demanded by the Bush administration nor was it offered in protest so his resignation amounts to the proverbial changing of deck chairs on the Titanic that is the Iraqi fiasco. Even though this officer's command was prominent, changes of command happen all the time and I don't think ITN should be in the business of reporting every change in the composition of the JCOS. Plus we wouldn't want to ruffle the feathers of all the American/Euro bias crowd who would want the Maltese military covered too. (Sorry to pick on Malta, I actually got to learn a lot about the country with the two recent nominations actually) Madcoverboy (talk) 01:11, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 02:21, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose not really notable, and per Madcoverboy. Spencer  T♦C 22:43, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

STS-123
STS-123, carrying the first Japanese element and Canada's Dextre, is launched on an assembly mission to the International Space Station. Hektor (talk) 06:19, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I know I said earlier that the amount of space items doesn't amtter, but this one I don't know. This is different from the rigns and the ISS, since this is another ISS item. Is there a way we could somehow combine the three? I think this shoudl be on the main page, but with the other item up there I'm not sure how many people want there to be 3 space items, with 2 being very similar. Mild Support --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 06:23, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Full support - this is a very important mission from an international point of view, as it is the first time that all partner nations have a permanent presence aboard the station, with the first part of the Japanese lab launching. Colds7ream (talk) 07:54, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I know its not usually done, but we could bump the ESA ISS story and then add this at the top. Just an idea... Random  89  08:07, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * What about adding this item when it connects to ISS and drop Jules Verne then? --Tone 08:34, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * No matter - its there already! :-) Colds7ream (talk) 08:46, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I put it up, after trying unsuccessfully to succinctly combine the two, but revert me if you think it's too much. Then again, people tend not to complain about multiple election results... We can only post what is suggested here.  Maybe there are some other ITNs that can be proposed to mix things up? --Stephen 08:49, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I think we're giving undue weight to spa a ce-related articles in ITN right now. I support, but I think something needs to go down, perhaps the Jules Verne. Spencer  T♦C 11:08, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support Bump the Jules Verne off and replace it with this. Madcoverboy (talk) 11:19, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support - works for me, considering Jules Verne is going to be hanging around 'till April before it docks... Colds7ream (talk) 11:29, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support as per the two above- and it's spelled "space" not "spaace"

-&#91;&#91;dark.&#93;&#93;&#91;&#91;arias.&#93;&#93; (talk) 14:01, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I was typing too fast. Spencer  T♦C 20:26, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

New Grand Master of the Knights of Malta elected
Matthew Festing is elected 79th Grand Master of the Knights of Malta. --Hemlock Martinis (talk) 19:14, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure. It's not that notable, but it is the election of the leader of a sovereign entity so an argument could be made based on our precedent for ITN... Random  89  19:25, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Merge with existing entry on Maltese elections. Madcoverboy (talk) 20:20, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Hey, this is totally a different entity! Check the article. I support the inclusion. --Tone 20:22, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I think we'd confuse readers with explaining how there's two leaders of Malta, until they read both articles. I don't think two points regarding Malta would be good, especially if the ITN looked liked this: Space, Space, Space, Malta, Malta, other... It just seems crowded with a lot of the "same" information. Spencer  T♦C 22:23, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The Knights of Malta are separate from the Maltese government. There aren't "two leaders of Malta". --Hemlock Martinis (talk) 22:35, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I know, but to others, it might seem so. Spencer  T♦C 22:44, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Oppose. The SMOM is not a country and is really no different than any other large religious order. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:49, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Actually it is. I'm not necessarily arguing for including it, but choosing the leader of the Knights of Malta is more akin to choosing a new Pope than say, a new leader of the baptist church. Random  89  04:15, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The SMOM is a Catholic body, so it's under the pope. It's more like a new head of the Jesuits or Dominicans. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 04:43, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Maltese general election, 2008
The incumbent Nationalist party, under Lawrence Gonzi wins a narrow victory with 1,580 votes in the elections, thus gaining its third consecutive term. The main opposition party, the Malta Labour Party has confirmed the results.


 * Also refer to note on March 8th, and to article Maltese general election, 2008. ~ Reuv (talk) 07:01, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi's Nationalist Party narrowly wins the general elections. Pruneautalk 15:27, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I think that's too many links in a row. Something along the lines of "The Nationalist Party of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi narrowly wins the general election in Malta." would read a bit better imo. A  ecis Brievenbus 15:30, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * How about: "The incumbent Nationalist Party led by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi narrowly wins the  general elections in Malta." Reuv (talk) 18:39, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The fact that it's the party of the Prime Minister indicates that it's incumbent, so using that term seems a bit redundant. A  ecis Brievenbus 18:43, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * There is a concern on Talk:Main Page that using narrowly is too, allow me to say peacocky. I agree...it is pretty vague. Can we include the exact statistics? Spencer  T♦C 01:13, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * That image is marked as being GFDL, but is uploaded by a redlinked user and looks to be an official photograph of office. That suggests to me that it is a copyvio, and that the uploader does not have the rights to relicense the image. - Mark 01:48, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Spanish general election, 2008
This development should be mentioned on the main page: the governing PSOE led by current Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has declared victory on March 9, and the opposition People's Party has conceded defeat. I have already added it to Spanish general election, 2008.
 * There is a image about the results: image:9-M provincial.png
 * Support. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 03:55, 10 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Support inclusion of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's reelection. ~ UBeR (talk) 04:17, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support with different picture. I suggest a picture of the prime minister for two reasons. First, pictures of people grab people's attention better, since human beings have a natural attraction to faces. Moreover, the electoral map of Spain's provinces may confuse many people, since the conservative PP is colored red blue and the liberal PSOE is colored blue red. I realize that's the way they do it in Spain, and like many other things (metric system), America goes counter to the rest of the world, but to avoid ambiguity either way, I suggest we keep the map of the main page. <span style="font-family:times new roman, times; color:#000064;">Lovelac <span style="font-family:times new roman, times; color:#AA0000;">7 04:40, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Whats different? Republican Party (conservative) is red, Democratic Party (liberal) is blue in the US. ---CWY2190TC 04:57, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oops. I got mixed up in my above comment, which only goes to prove my point that the red/blue distinction is two confusion to use on the main page. <span style="font-family:times new roman, times; color:#000064;">Lovelac <span style="font-family:times new roman, times; color:#AA0000;">7 05:24, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, most places red is the color of liberalism (like with communism) and blue is the color of conservativism. --  Grant  .  Alpaugh  06:32, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support the inclusion of this important election in Spanish and European current events. aliceinlampyland (talk) 07:27, 10 March 2008 (UTC).

Speedy support. The inclusion of this item shouldn't even be up for debate, just the wording. --  Grant  .  Alpaugh  07:39, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Posted, and for the record, we don't post map thumbnails on the mainpage - too much detail in too little area. --Stephen 08:40, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * About the image, instead that grey one, maybe this is more suited to the socialist's victory: Image:PsoeZapatero.jpg Serg!oo (talk) 13:42, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I think you can see him better on this one: Image:Zapatero_cornella_cropped.jpg. Pruneautalk 15:38, 10 March 2008 (UTC) [[Image:Zapatero_cornella_cropped.jpg|100px|right]]

The text is seriously flawed. Zapatero was elected only as representative of his constituency: his party have a plurality, but not an absolute majority, and it is crystal balling (albeit confident) to say that his party will be able to form a government. In the Spanish General Election, the Socialist Workers' Party win an increased share of the vote and a plurality, but no absolute majorit perhaps?
 * Support once text is agreed upon. Spencer  T♦C 01:19, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

We should probably really change the wording. Like: Zapatero's party PSOE wints the elections. --Tone 20:27, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Jules-Verne

 * The first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Jules-Verne is launched by Ariane 5 to the International Space Station.

Support. How about, "The European Space Agency sends the Jules-Verne resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station." -Susanlesch (talk) 08:08, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Note: the Verne now has its own article (Jules Verne ATV), if that could be wikied in the entry. Radagast (talk) 16:58, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I'd like it if the blurb mentioned that this is the first flight for a spacecraft of this type somehow. --Herald Alberich (talk) 18:20, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I have bolded the link to the Jules Verne, now that it has its own article. It is the subject of the blurb, and bolding it is much more intuitive than bolding resupply spacecraft. A  ecis Brievenbus 19:54, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Rings of Rhea

 * The discovery of the Rings of the Saturnian moon Rhea, the first known rings around a moon, is announced. (NASA) --199.71.174.100 (talk) 20:32, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Great science news, I am sure we can have two space-related items ITN. Support. --Tone 20:36, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support if the wording changes to say this is probably rings. They don't know yet for sure. -Susanlesch (talk) 20:41, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Strong Support The amount of space news on the itn is irelevant. This is a newsworthy and encyclopedic discovery, and it deserves to be on the main page. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 21:07, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Also support. Hammer Raccoon (talk) 21:29, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I suggest changing the picture from the flag to the rings image. I know its just an artist's conception, but it is as informative and far more aesthetically pleasing than the Malaysian flag. Random89 (talk) 00:20, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I support the picture chance. The rings are much more nice. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 00:57, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Vojislav Koštunica

 * Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica steps down from office.
 * This was suggested by User:ARC Gritt on the talk page. I have no opinion as nominator until further infomation is given. If he stepped down due to the whole Kosovo problem, then I support it, but if it was for any other reason I don't know... --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 18:26, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The move follows his failure to get his cabinet to reject closer ties with the European Union in the wake of Kosovo's declaration of independence. Didn't realise there was a nomination page here, thanks for sorting it out for me Plasma Twa 2. - ARC Gritt TALK 18:53, 8 March 2008 (UTC)


 * How about Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica (pictured) resigns, dissolving a coalition too divided over the loss of Kosovo to carry on governing. --Camptown (talk) 19:08, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * This is really important news and should be posted without too much hesitation. --Camptown (talk) 19:14, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * That wording sounds a bit biased to me, how about "Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica (pictured) resigns following disagreements with his cabinet over the EU and Kosovo. - ARC Gritt TALK 19:24, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * It is not that biased! The "loss of Kosovo" is basically what it's all about. --Camptown (talk) 19:27, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Adding the neutral version. --Tone 20:34, 8 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Can the page with the bolded link get more updating than just one sentence, and the POV problems sorted out before it shows up on MainPage, please? --PFHLai (talk) 20:53, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Right, I noticed the update was indeed really short. Thanks for removing. About POV, he actually said that the problem was a disagreement over Eu and Kosovo. --Tone 20:56, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * You're welcome, Tone. I meant the POV tag on the Vojislav Koštunica page since February.  I'm not sure what that was about.
 * Anyone who wants this story on MainPage may consider updating also Kosovo status process, Constitutional status of Kosovo or 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence. A decent paragraph or so, + references, would do. --PFHLai (talk) 21:25, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support If elections are covered, so should the dissolution of governments. Too bad we can't do the same in America. Madcoverboy (talk) 05:47, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Does the fall of the Serbian government generate a lot of interest outside of the Balkans? -- Mwalcoff (talk) 04:48, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * A change of government is ITN-notable by default, like elections. (But aren't we waiting for the results of the elections instead? I knew we did that a while back...) -- Howard  the   Duck  05:53, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * That's what I meant. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 03:54, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Waterboarding

 * "President George W. Bush has vetoed legislation meant to ban the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics."
 * This has to be on the main page. (See Google News for reference on how widespread this news is) --Bender235 (talk) 17:58, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Please don't tell us if it needs to be on the main page or not. We wil decide in a diplomatic fashion. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 18:16, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. Milestone in the history of human rights (or lack thereof). <span style="font-family:times new roman, times; color:#000064;">Lovelac <span style="font-family:times new roman, times; color:#AA0000;">7 22:40, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, sadly it is. --Bender235 (talk) 09:56, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I'll support. Obviously I'm not surprised he vetoed it though. ---CWY2190TC 23:57, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose there is one sentence about Bush vetoing it in the waterboard article. There does not appear to be a article on the bill itself. This does not deserve to be on the main page. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 00:26, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment: Plasma Twa 2 is correct that there appears to be little in Wikipedia about the anti-torture legislation itself. If that changes, I would support. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 01:06, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Waterboarding is supposed to be the main article in this comment. --Bender235 (talk) 10:47, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose In terms of face notability, I don't know that this would even make it into the top 10 failings of this administration. It's mostly a political stunt attempting to paint the President into a corner, not the watershed moment in the history of human rights some would make it out to be. The appropriate articles haven't been thoroughly updated either, as mentioned before. Madcoverboy (talk) 05:51, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose This shouldn't even make it to the drawing board.--WaltCip (talk) 00:24, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Didn't know we had so many Bush believers in here. Actually this is a historic milestone in human rights history. For the first time, a western democracy allows torture and admits they're already using it. Of course this is notable. Google News had it as #1 story. You guys are absurd. --Bender235 (talk) 10:47, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Please assume good faith. And, to clarify, the United States is a republic, not a democracy. Furthermore, my opinion on Bush is irrelevant to my decision.--WaltCip (talk) 12:21, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The thing is that there is no article that has been sufficiently updated, as the guideline says. If there was an article with a more exhaustive coverage than one sentence in the waterboarding article... Maybe vetoes issued by Bush? --Tone 10:52, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Neutral If there are a bunch of Presidential pardons handed out in 10 months, some might be related to this topic, and then we have a headline if the underlying article on pardons is quickly updated first.100TWdoug (talk) 14:42, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Malta
There are general elections on Malta today, with two parties going neck-and-neck, the Nationalist Party of incumbent Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and the Labour Party of Alfred Sant. See also Maltese general election, 2008. I propose that these elections are added to ITN when the results are known. A ecis Brievenbus 12:41, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. --Tone 13:02, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Just for the record, something like a national general election doesn't need to be cleared ahead of time. Simply write a blurb when the results are known.  --   Grant  .  Alpaugh  13:46, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Please see WP:ITN/S for general style for elections. Madcoverboy (talk) 16:10, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Conditional Support. The ministub needs considerably more content than it has now before it gets on ITN. --PFHLai (talk) 16:01, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Malaysia
There are general elections in Malaysia as well today. Three blocs are taking part: Barisan Nasional, Democratic Action Party and Barisan Alternatif. See also Malaysian general election, 2008. As with Malta, I propose adding this election to ITN when the results are known. A ecis Brievenbus 12:41, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. --Tone 13:02, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Conditional Support. Gotta wait till after the (official) results are in the article. --PFHLai (talk) 16:03, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Perhaps written as : "The ruling Barisan Nasional retains control of the government in the Malaysia general elections, but suffers its largest losses of assembly seats in forty years." AP - Mailer Diablo 19:08, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * How about: "The ruling Barisan Nasional party maintains a majority in the government after the Malaysia general elections, but suffers its largest loss of parliment(ary) seats in forty years." Spencer  T♦C 20:40, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * How about:
 * The Barisan Nasional, despite its largest loss of seats in forty years, maintains a majority in the Parliament of Malaysia.
 * Please update the article first. Thanks. --PFHLai (talk) 21:07, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * That sounds good...but I think we should say how many seats it lost. I still can't think of a way to add it in...I've been toying with it, so...I think it's good. Maybe we should say that Barisan Nasional is a political party, I don't know. Spencer  T♦C 22:42, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Support once the wording is determined. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 04:50, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Support. How about: "The Barisan Nasional coalition maintains its simple majority but loses parlimentary majority and control of five states in Malaysia's general election." I read 136, 137 and 139 somewhere, making it hard to mention "winning" 13? of 222 seats. -Susanlesch (talk) 05:23, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Support I'm gonna plug the WP:ITN/S again :) Update that reference as well with standards for reporting these news items. Madcoverboy (talk) 06:49, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Andean crisis
This needs to be updated, and the frequency with which death tolls etc are updated establishes that there is no objection in principle to doing so here. Colombian armed forces launch an attack in Ecuadorian territory, killing a FARC commander, and startinging a diplomatic crisis, since resolved, with Ecuador and Venezuela.  Kevin McE (talk) 09:40, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support updating the present item. --Tone 13:02, 8 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Updated as
 * The diplomatic crisis triggered by a Colombian military operation launched within Ecuadorian territory against the FARC is resolved.
 * --PFHLai (talk) 16:13, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Waris Dirie

 * Something to keep an eye out for: Somali model and UN advocate for the abolition of female genital mutilation Waris Dirie has gone missing after a visit to Brussels. Belgian police will hold a press conference later today. A  ecis Brievenbus 12:50, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Article says she has been found again. So probably not news. Thue | talk 21:23, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * For now I agree. Dirie appears to be unharmed, and she says that she had been wandering through Brussels. A  ecis Brievenbus 12:53, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Texas Caucus Counts
Just suggesting keeping an eye out for Obama technically winning Texas like Nevada. Kopf1988 (talk) 04:32, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Won't be neccessary, since it wouldn't be going up no matter who won. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 04:48, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Jerusalem Attack

 * At least eight people are killed and dozens wounded in a shooting attack on the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in Jerusalem. -ReuvenkT C 15:04, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. I suggest changing to "Eight people are killed in a a shooting at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in Jerusalem." The number of wounded is something sources tend not to agree on, but for the record, the BBC and CNN put the figures at "nine" and "at least nine" respectively. Hammer Raccoon (talk) 17:46, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose To my knowledge and reading of the event, no one notable was injured or killed and it was not the deadliest attack of its kind. I would suspect that the attack is tied in with the on-going conflict in Gaza. Madcoverboy (talk) 18:11, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The article in question, while relatively high quality, is still short. Just like shootings in the US, violence between Palestinians and Israelis is unfortunately all too common - there are any number of previous incidents that involved greater loss of life that weren't covered either. We certainly didn't cover any of the bombings in Afghanistan or Pakistan that involved 50-80 deaths. I continue my oppose on the grounds of slippery slope precedent. Madcoverboy (talk) 02:10, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Arguably we should have covered bombings/shootings where deaths of that magnitude occurred. What I feel sets this apart from US shootings is that this isn't just some kid who got depressed and thought it would be a good idea to go kill some innocent bystanders; rather it's an act of terrorism. I don't think previous exclusion of terrorist acts in the Middle East should prevent ths from going up. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the reason we haven't had similar stories up isn't so much people opposing them, but more to do with no one suggesting them. Hammer Raccoon (talk) 13:55, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The NIU and Kirkland shootings were both nominated and rejected. I also don't see how the deaths of students at an American high school is any less of an atrocity or crime than the deaths of students at a yeshiva. "Act of terrorism" is an ill-defined concept for which almost any violent crime can be ascribed (in my POV). For that matter, why is this "act of terrorism" any different from the other "acts of terrorism" committed before the Pakistani elections last month or everyday in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Columbia, Congo, Chechnya, and so on that don't saturate media coverage? You begin to see the problem in lowering the ITN bar for violence against civilians. Madcoverboy (talk) 16:47, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I take your points. I'd argue that this is of particular interest because, as the BBC puts it, "the outpouring of public grief will add to pressure on the Israeli government to end the peace talks with the Palestinians". You could probably argue this is crystal balling a bit though. Just to clarify, I didn't mean to imply that shootings in America were "less of an atrocity or crime", but that they have less international impact than these shootings. Anyway, I just thought it would be good to freshen ITN up a bit. Hammer Raccoon (talk)
 * Strong support -- This is a major story, and it should be on there already. To address the comment above, it is significant because it is the first massacre of its kind in two years, and because of its potential impact on the "peace process".  6SJ7 (talk) 18:24, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * No Opinion I don't know how many shootings happen in this area, so I can't be the judge. Maybe if this was anywhere else in the world it could go up, due to the conflict in the area. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 21:26, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Neutral per Plasma Twa 2. Spencer  T♦C 01:47, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Strong support (Full disclosure: I nominated this article). This could be a major turning point in the peace process (or lack thereof). I think this is notable since things have been heating up in the middle east in the last week or so. Plasma Twa 2: There had not been an attack on this scale in Israel since April 2006. See the first footnote in the article. -ReuvenkT C 17:45, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Question: This is the first time I have been involved in an "In the News" discussion, and I have to ask:  Is this how long it usually takes to decide things?  Because at this point, this incident is starting not to be "news" anymore.  (The impact of it will probably create news for weeks and months to come, but the incident itself is now two days old.)  For that matter, the most recent story on the main page right now is still John McCain wrapping up the Republican nomination, four days ago.  What goes on here?  6SJ7 (talk) 17:56, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Normally, it should take a ay or two, maybe even less. For some reason, though, the past week it has gotten really slow, with at least two well-supported items not making it on the template within a reasonable time (AKA in a time where it would still be considered news). Granted, some items take so long because, as with this one, there is not a clear consensus to either put it up or keep it off. As it is, there are three supports, one oppose, and two neutrals, which is hardly a consensus and doesn't mean it will make it on the itn. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 18:21, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I guess someone felt that was enough to put it up. ---CWY2190TC 16:20, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Not the smartest thing I've ever seen an admin do, but it doesn't really bother me. I'm jsut glad someone actually updated the itn. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 17:48, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * +1 drive by admin. Nth reason for dedicated ITN admins. Spanish and Maltese elections still aren't up there for the record. Madcoverboy (talk) 04:48, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Viktor Bout

 * One of the world’s most notorious arms dealers, the former KGB major Viktor Bout, is arrested at a hotel in Bankok, Thailand. --Camptown (talk) 23:07, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 23:27, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I'd support once more information about the circumstances of his arrest and alleged crime come to light. The summary should remove more POV terms like "world's mot notorious." Madcoverboy (talk) 00:24, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The U.S. labeled his as "the world's most notorious", but:
 * How about: The Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout is arrested at a hotel in Bankok, Thailand, as part of an American-led sting operation. --Camptown (talk) 12:44, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Seems to suffer from a bit of WP:OVERLINK. I would just wait until he is indicted so we could list the specific or number charges and under what jurisdiction is he being accused and tried (UN, US, Russia, etc.) Madcoverboy (talk) 18:05, 7 March 2008 (UTC)


 * "The Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout is charged with X counts of Y in Z after being apprehended in sting in Bankok, Thailand.Madcoverboy (talk) 18:05, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I don't think we need to link trafficker to smugling. Spencer  T♦C 01:48, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Times Square bombing

 * A bombing at a military recruitment station in Times Square.
 * Oppose as nominator. Let's just get this one out of the way because you can be sure this is going to saturate the news cycle, pundit talkathons, and blogosphere. Famous landmark, yes - but bombings happen all over the world everyday involving far more insidious motives and greater loss of life. Madcoverboy (talk) 16:21, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Yup, oppose. A glass window was smashed. Yawn. Hammer Raccoon (talk) 17:34, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * No article, no post. And no, this is not a suggestion to make the article. It's a non-issue. --Golbez (talk) 17:44, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * For the record, why propose something you oppose? ---CWY2190TC 17:48, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Because there will inevitably be a drive-by editor saying "OMG! But it's the lead story on CNN, MSNBC, and BBC!!!!" I'm saving us the trouble of going through the usual histrionics about "wait for this to develop more" and "make sure there is an article first", followed by the "is this notable" debate and the WP:WAX counterarguments, and then the decent into American/Euro-centrism arguments. If it develops into a bigger story, we'll revisit it - but no one was hurt, the damage was minimal, and it was not part of a wider issue.  Madcoverboy (talk) 17:58, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I tend to agree. There's no article, there's no serious damage, and from what I gather it's not even certain (although likely) that the recruitment agency was the target of the blast. A  ecis Brievenbus 17:50, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Well of course Oppose and not even worth an article, other then significant coverage and of course that the city is still on high alert because of 9/11, this incident had relatively little impact other then material damage, no human impact and it was also not (or more likely) a terrorism act. -- JForget 18:35, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

I just want to say I'm a little worried about this "there's no article" nonsense that's been happening lately. Nowhere in ITN policy does it state we need a new article for the bolded link in the blurb. That is a threshold that almost no item can meet. All that is needed as far as updates go is a well written and encyclopedic update to the pertinant articles whether that be a few sentences or an entire section. Just wanted to clarify. --  Grant  .  Alpaugh  22:53, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I checked the Times Square article a while ago, and I saw two sentences that said the same thing: A bomb went off om March 6, 2008. Nothing informative. I think that an article for a nominated item kind of supports it's news-worthyness, to put it simply. I guess this might just be another flaw for the criterias and whatnot. And, while I'm here, Oppose. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 23:32, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

11th National People's Congress

 * The plenary session of the 11th National People's Congress begins in the Great Hall of the People (auditorium pictured) in Beijing, China. --Camptown (talk) 16:04, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Wasn't the People's Congress already covered in October? I guess I'm just ignorant of the parliamentarian pretenses of this autocracy, but how is the plenary session different or notable? Madcoverboy (talk) 16:09, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose. 1. The article National People's Congress has not be updated to mention this session.  2. The article on the 11th session is a one-line stub.  3. How is the beginning of a legislative session notable?  The current US congress was added for the sole reason that a woman was the leader of the House. ---CWY2190TC 16:13, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Wikimedia

 * Wikipedia's co-founder Jimmy Wales (pictured) is facing allegations that he used the Wikimedia Foundation funds to pay for personal expenses.
 * This is a notable story, even outside the WP community. --Camptown (talk) 11:43, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose, maybe it's news, but it's not encyclopedic. Nothing that would warrant inclusion on ITN. A  ecis Brievenbus 11:45, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Where are the updates to the article, btw? A  ecis Brievenbus 11:49, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Good question. A specific article about the controversy 2008 Wikimedia controversy is needed... --Camptown (talk) 11:56, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * No, it's not. There's nothing on ITN policy about having to create a new article.  Come on, guys, you all know better than this.  If there are significant updates to the relevant articles then I support, the idea that this isn't encyclopedic is ridiculous.  Wikimedia has made a significant cultural impact in the US, at the very least (I have no idea about the popularity of Wikipedia in other countries), and I think most people view it as a pretty benevolent thing.  If these accusations are anything more than complete hogwash then I think they call that into question.  --   Grant  .  Alpaugh  12:46, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Of course, ITN is not for starting new articles. But, what would people think, who have heard about Jimmy Wales in the media, when they consult WP for additional information, only to find that the article doesn't mention the allegations in one single word? --Camptown (talk) 13:06, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * That's exactly the point. Bias can also be a problem of omission.  Like I said, if and only if these allegations make it into the relevant articles (whether that be the article on Jimbo or some other new or existing article) I think this warrents inclusion.  --   Grant  .  Alpaugh  13:19, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * This is not even close to being notable. People get accused of using company funds for personal reasons all the time. ---CWY2190TC 12:26, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Agreed. If I had a penny for every time a British MP gets accused of taking liberties with their allowances... And I still don't see any relevant updates anywhere. Hammer Raccoon (talk) 13:07, 6 March 2008 (UTC)


 * We should also try to avoid self-references to our projects. Unless it's a worldwide notable event, we shouldn't post it on ITN. - Mtmelendez (Talk) 13:51, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose Charges or indictments haven't even been filed, much less any judgments reached—ITN isn't the place for rumors or innuendo. As with every other news item, there is no race to be the first to "break" this story. Madcoverboy (talk) 16:15, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Zimbabwean Dollar

 * The Zimbabwean dollar reaches a record low of $25 million for $1 US.
 * source--Tornlabel777 (talk) 01:18, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Interesting but not really news. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 01:43, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose Same grounds as the euro news - it's just a psychological barrier and likely to change every day. Nothing worth noting 5 years from now. Madcoverboy (talk) 05:25, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose Furthermore, this is not a currency as widely used or traded as the euro. --PFHLai (talk) 15:50, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Warren Buffett

 * Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, is named the richest person in the world.
 * Corrections are welcome. Bill Gates held this record for thirteen years so maybe others will find today's news notable. -Susanlesch (talk) 23:29, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose - Not even a psychological news item - at least, not the way it's worded.--WaltCip (talk) 23:52, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * What is a psychological news item? -Susanlesch (talk) 23:54, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I support it. If it isn't huge news, it is still rather important in a encyclopedic context. Plus, it sure is interesting. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 00:09, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Rewrite as follows: Warren Buffett replaces Bill Gates as the world's wealthiest person in Forbes magazine's annual list of the world's richest people. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:56, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks, just to shorten that how about this. -Susanlesch (talk) 01:20, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Warren Buffett replaces Bill Gates in the Forbes list as the world's wealthiest person.
 * Perhaps best would be: Warren Buffett replaces Bill Gates at No. 1 in Forbes magazine's list of the world's wealthiest people. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 01:44, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Windy to my eye for the small space we have. I liked your addition of Forbes and Gates, and prefer the short version. -Susanlesch (talk) 02:03, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Can we perhaps use "usurps" or "surpasses" instead of "replaces," as though it was some sort of official position? --   Grant  .  Alpaugh  05:02, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * How about:

Concise, accurately worded, mentions the 3 important actors. Random89 (talk) 05:14, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Warren Buffet (pictured) surpasses Bill Gates to become the wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes magazine.
 * Oppose all wordings Warren Buffet is filthy rich. Bill Gates is filthy rich. One of them is now richer than the other. Move along, no news here. Madcoverboy (talk) 05:30, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support in the name of churn. I'm being a cranky bastard opposing everything when I'm also trying to make the template more dynamic. Madcoverboy (talk) 04:40, 7 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Random89's looks fine to me. You're welcome to your opinion. Believing in "here today, here tomorrow", investing against the U.S. dollar and offering to back everyone else's bonds and succeeding are entertaining ideas. I'd say congratulations. -Susanlesch (talk) 05:50, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, Madcoverboy, that is three supports plus me. Is that enough? -Susanlesch (talk) 05:21, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support in the spirit of cycling through ITN. --   Grant  .  Alpaugh  09:52, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

May I ask what more you need? Just checking in and I don't know who "you" are but imagine an admin. Four supports now plus me for a story that is positive and non-political for a change.-Susanlesch (talk) 18:32, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Ah yes, I hear more cries for the need for a dedicated ITN group that's responsible for updating the template. But seriously, this should go up, as it has a number of supporters and a single user opposing. Random89 (talk) 20:09, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * This is happening more and more often, it seems. This happened with the Prince Harry item, too. Random's got a good idea, it seems.--Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 20:29, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Google News finds some headlines even in the U.S. spelling his name with one "t" so maybe some people missed it in news search. A thought anyway. -Susanlesch (talk) 21:15, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * No, thanks. A little too tabloid-ish for me. --PFHLai (talk) 15:49, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

I agree, this is more reason than ever to make a dedicated ITN group. Does anyone want to make the proposal up so that we can submit it official? --  Grant  .  Alpaugh  03:11, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Was it Madcoverboy that proposed it on the talk page? Perhaps he has a proposal already made? --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 03:51, 8 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Glad to see more enthusiatic people here at ITN. :-) --PFHLai (talk) 15:49, 8 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Heh. Added a cropped image, and will ask on Main Page talk. -Susanlesch (talk) 19:51, 8 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Warren Buffet (pictured) surpasses Bill Gates to become the wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes.
 * Support wording for the third time. Can we get this added already?  This is getting ridiculous.  --   Grant  .  Alpaugh  05:39, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

I've removed the blurb about Buffett. Truly, not important enough to warrant inclusion in ITN. One's rich; one's richer now. --MZMcBride (talk) 17:58, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support removal, as the whole thing is trivial at best. - Bobet 18:06, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Can't remove what isn't on there. ---CWY2190TC 18:18, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Indeed. It was there, it was removed and I'm saying I believe the removal of the blurb was a good thing. Do you understand now? - Bobet 18:36, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Ah. Didn't know it was on there. ---CWY2190TC 18:45, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

How disappointing, MZMcBride. Including the crisis in South America, after John McCain whose article logged over 300,000 page views in four consecutive days on the main page, Mr. Buffett was the most requested article of any news candidate on Wikipedia this week. Without the benefit of the main page ITN, Warren Buffett had over 70,000 page views in one day, and, loosely, 140,000 views over those four days. P.S. I wrote that out pretty fast and it is sure to have errors but I hope it helps people get the idea. -Susanlesch (talk) 02:43, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Brett Favre Retires

 * NFL quarterback Brett Favre, career leader in passing yards and touchdown passes, retires from football.
 * Oppose as nominator. Its a pretty big story in North America, but I don't think its international enough. Random89 (talk) 20:01, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose. While he is one of the most known players in the NFL, I doubt any retirement in any sport would be notable enough. ---CWY2190TC 20:06, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose. He is no Gretzky or Jordan. This doesn't effect anyone but football fans. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 21:40, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

McCain

 * Senator John McCain of Arizona clinches the number of delegates needed for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
 * Since it is probable that he will get to 1191 delegates tonight, I posted this so we could discuss wording. ---CWY2190TC 23:12, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I believe it was decided earlier that it would go up when the tally was crossed so I'll give the wording a try:


 * Senator John McCain of Arizona clinches the Republican Party nomination for the 2008 American Presidential Elections by having won over 1191 delegates.
 * Anyone else want to take a stab at this? Random89 (talk) 00:04, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The status quo pretty much dictates that the only thing notable in presidential politics is the results of a general election, not the results of a psychologically key primary such as Super Tuesday.--WaltCip (talk) 01:46, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * With all do respect, the American presidential election is not apart of the status quo. ---CWY2190TC 02:01, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * With all due respect, American exceptionalism is outdated. ~ UBeR (talk)
 * With all due respect, recognizing the objective fact that the US Presidential elections are longer, more expensive, and more important than literally every other election on the planet is not exceptionalism, it's rational. Grant.Alpaugh 04:22, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Fact: If this gets posted, this will be the first U.S. political item on ITN. And that's saying that in the last 3 months, news agencies the world over are devoting much of their airtime to the U.S. primary elections. Heck even Singapore's Channel NewsAsia had a day long coverage of last month's Super Tuesday. -- Howard  the   Duck  05:01, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * While i do support this going up, we do have to make a choice. Either this goes up now, when the nomination is clinched, or when the Rebublican convention happens and he is 'officially' nominated; I really can't support this going up in both instances. That said the wording is fine, and in theory support it unless it is determined that it would be better to have come convention time. I prefer to have it now, as when the convention rolls around it will be pretty much old news, considering that it was a done deal. Thethinredline (talk) 02:35, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Anyone who knows anything about modern American Presidential politics knows that the conventions are usually nothing but a formality. This years' Democratic convention appears that it might be different, but not the Republican one.  John McCain is the Republican nominee, and the Convention is irrellevant.  We will know at some point that this is going to be a brokered convention for the Democrats, which I think is worth posting.  First time in at least 25 years and probably more like 40 (depending on your definition) since this has happened.  That is newsworthy and we'll know about it several months before the convention.  If this happens then I think we should still post when the nominee is chosen at the convention.  So long story short we should only post the conventions if they are brokered, and we should post both that there are going to be brokered conventions and what they decide, as these two events will be months apart.  Grant.Alpaugh 04:31, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The previous discussion said that the U.S. nomination goes up when a person wins the nomination - that is when he surpassed the number of delegates needed. The U.S. is no ordinary country where other non-U.S. news agencies cover the primary elections. -- Howard  the   Duck  02:41, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The number of delegates does not matter. We don't need to make it longer then it actually is. "Senator John McCain of Arizona clinches the Republican Party nomination for the 2008 American Presidential Elections." will be just fine. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 03:24, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, that seems fine with me. It's official McCain passes 1191 and Huckabee has bowed out. Put it up. Random89 (talk) 03:57, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

I proposed this two weeks ago and this was the language we agreed upon:
 * Senator John McCain of Arizona (pictured) secures the Republican nomination for the Presidency of the United States. Grant.Alpaugh 04:20, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support ---CWY2190TC 04:27, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support wording I definitely prefer the use of "secures" rather than "clinches" PageantUpdater talk • contribs  05:13, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. It's a forgone conclusion. <span style="font-family:times new roman, times; color:#000064;">Lovelac <span style="font-family:times new roman, times; color:#AA0000;">7 05:14, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support Wording This was a what was discussed before. Random89 (talk) 06:29, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support There was wide consensus on this page and on talk about promoting this as soon as a candidate secured the nomination. All this gnashing of teeth about American exceptionalism has already been hashed out and the pertinent issues addressed - by every NPOV metric, the campaign for the American presidency is the longest, most complicated, the most internationally covered, and most expensive of any leadership post in the world and a major milestone such as this definitely warrants coverage. Please take your anti-American POV elsewhere. Madcoverboy (talk) 17:08, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

At the risk of commenting in the wrong place again, now that this tagline is up can I also suggest changing the picture to one of McCain? The item on Medvedev is now several items down, and there are a number of free pictures of McCain (e.g. his profile photo) that are readily available.

Sorry if this is the wrong place to suggest this; I was directed here after I asked on Template talk:In the news. -- jonny - m t  14:20, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * No, you're posting in exactly the right place :) support picture change  Grant.Alpaugh 17:47, 5 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Time to change pictures? --Camptown (talk) 15:02, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I still like the picture of Medvedev, myself. --207.47.145.86 (talk) 18:06, 5 March 2008 (UTC) (Plasma Twa 2)
 * support picture change to McCain. -- Grant  .  Alpaugh  18:38, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Picture changed. - Mtmelendez (Talk) 20:25, 5 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Looks good. Can you say "clinches the number of delegates" rather than the nomination, which he will receive surely, but not until the convention? -Susanlesch (talk) 22:24, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * He has not yet clinched the nomination. I do not see why people are jumping the gun here, it reminds me of when Montenegro held a referendum on whether to secede from Serbia. Some wanted to say that after the referendum Montenegro was automatically a country, but it wasn't until they declared independence that that actually was the case. Likewise, McCain is not yet the nominee as the actual nomination has yet to occur. ~ Rangeley ( talk ) 22:34, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Are you suggesting we wait until September then? ---CWY2190TC 22:41, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, I am suggesting we wait until he has secured the nomination before we say he has secured the nomination. He is the "presumptive nominee" according to the press - he has yet to secure the nomination according to any reputable source... and thats because a reputable source would know that he will not have secured it until the convention. Perhaps using the language "presumptive" would be suitable for us as well? ~ Rangeley ( talk ) 23:08, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 points: 1) One of the criteria we had chosen for putting this up was that when all other serious candidates drop out, we post this.  With Mike Huckabee dropping out yesterday the only candidate with an active campaign in the Republican Party is Ron Paul, who had no chance of winning enouch delegates to contest the nomination in St. Paul.  2)  Another one we had chosen was that if a candidate broke the delegate barrier via endorsement (ie other candidates give their delegates to another after they drop out).  Depending on the source you use McCain might have crossed this a week ago.  I know because I considered posting after the updated McCain and Romney totals crossed 1191.  McCain has crossed that barrier himself by everyone's count, but if you add in Romney's (and potentially Huckabee's after he made a call for "party unity" as he dropped out, indicating he would support McCain's nomination) numbers he is several hundred delegates over the threshold by everyone's count.  Thus, an extremely unlikely or unfortunate (but definitely newsworthy) series of events would have to occur in order for McCain not to be the nominee.  He would basically have to die or have a scandal break that was so serious it would end his career/public life.  Since neither of those is very likely, we'll just go ahead and post this now.  Basically it's like saying that it is only presumed that the sun will come up tomorrow, or it is presumed that the tides will rise and then fall, or maybe it is presumed that any time a US item gets proposed it is accused of bias.  -- Grant  .  Alpaugh  00:11, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I support changing the wording to Susan's proposal. Fact of the matter is he is not officially the nominee. It would have to be an act of Chuck Norris porportions for him not to be the nominee, but in the end he still isn't. It should stay up, since it is the first truely international news of this whole race. But, as I've said before, we don't post the results of a championship before it is over, no matter what the score. It's the same for this. People can complain all they want, but the bottom line is he is not yet the nominee. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 00:16, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Just a note that someone else came up with those terms at the top of this whole discussion. Someone corrected me yesterday so I do agree it would be nice to be a bit more careful with the word nomination. -Susanlesch (talk) 05:54, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Copied from WP:ERRORS The news thing about John McCain is misleading. He's not the GOP nominee at all until the convention. Plenty can happen to make him not be chosen at the convention. xihix (talk) 21:22, 5 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Please read the discussion at In the news section on the Main Page/Candidates. You're not the only user who has concerns over this, and I'd like to see the discussion unfold to find consensus. - Mtmelendez (Talk) 21:28, 5 March 2008 (UTC)


 * How about instead of "secures" make it "virtually secures". I'd bet it'll be the same number of lines. -- Howard  the   Duck  10:09, 6 March 2008 (UTC)


 * No, we should avoid ambiguous terms on ITN. People will start asking what "virtually" means. I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but I've seen many news organizations posting our headline (i.e. secures the nomination). - Mtmelendez (Talk) 14:08, 6 March 2008 (UTC)


 * OK, that argument is convincing enough for me. -- Howard  the   Duck  14:45, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Tajikistan Energy Crisis

 * The energy crisis in Tajikistan continues to worsen, with the UN warning that 2 million people risk starvation. Otebig (talk) 16:25, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose - A no-story.--WaltCip (talk) 17:16, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
 * How can 2 million people risking starvation in a former Soviet republic be a no-story? --Camptown (talk) 18:27, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Nothing in the article says the threat of starvation is caused by energy shortage as Otebig's hook suggests, but rather both are caused by cold weather. (support for the first half of the hook) Narayanese (talk) 18:36, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support 1st half of hook. 76.227.132.220 (talk) 21:17, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Needs to be rewritten, but I support the inclusion of some story about the energy crisis, as it is a well-written articles. Random89 (talk) 23:11, 4 March 2008 (UTC)


 * How about: An ongoing energy crisis in Central Asia hits the mountainous nation of Tajikistan in the middle of its coldest winter for five decades. --Camptown (talk) 10:22, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Looks good.Narayanese (talk) 17:30, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Added. --Tone 17:35, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Do you think the word "coldest" should link to Cold wave? Spencer  T♦C 21:30, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
 * By what definition of the seasons is March "middle of winter"? Does the Central Asian winter run from January to May? Inaccurate colloquialisms should be avoided: during its coldest winter for five decades. Kevin McE (talk) 18:32, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

St. Padre Pio

 * The remains of one of the Catholic Church's most popular saints, Padre Pio (pictured), are exhumed at the sanctuary at San Giovanni Rotondo, to be prepared for public veneration.--Camptown (talk) 08:43, 4 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Postpone. I'd say let's consider this one when he is publicly displayed. Right now, there isn't much coverage, but even then the display may not be notable worldwide. - Mtmelendez (Talk) 15:21, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I'd say oppose. If there is a huge swell of notable press a bit later, then maybe we can reconsider. Random89 (talk) 23:12, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Operation Warm Winter

 * Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announces a temporary break in Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip. At least 115 people have been killed in the operation so far.
 * This might need some rewording but I haven't much time right now. Anyway, it's all over the news right now and the operation has it's own article. Feer  17:51, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Conditional support on basis of brevity - I suggest rewording or simply omitting the second sentence; it's misleading, but it also doesn't bear any direct relevance to the event in general.--WaltCip (talk) 14:27, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Colombian armed conflict

 * Colombian armed forces execute a attack in Teteye, Putumayo, during which one Raul Reyes, the second in command in the terrorist organization FARC is killed.


 * My first attemp to suggest something for In The News, is a very very VERY important news and damn if it deserves to be put in the main page.--ometzit&lt;col&gt; (talk) 14:48, 1 March 2008 (UTC)


 * In an ITN event, a certain article needs to be bolded, one that covers the conflict. Is there such an article? Spencer  T♦C 16:34, 1 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Also it is unlikely using a phrase like 'terrorist organisation' in the narative voice for an ITN headline is acceptable. See Words to avoid 01:04, 2 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Support here is the article: 2008 diplomatic crisis between Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela


 * The Colombian armed forces execute an attack in Teteye, Putumayo, killing FARC commander Raul Reyes and triggering a diplomatic crisis.
 * This reworded version seems a bit less POV and links the appropriate article. Random89 (talk) 15:57, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Adding. --Tone 16:16, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Current wording avoids the whole grounds for the diplomatic crisis. Putumayo is in Colombia, and would not be grounds for a diplomatic incident.  The trigger for the crisis is that Reyes, was in Ecuadorian territory when he was killed.  Suggest Colombian armed forces execute an attack on a FARC training base in Ecuador, killing commander Raul Reyes and 16 others, and triggering a diplomatic crisis
 * Remember to have the accent on the u in Raúl...I forget if the mainpage ITN has it or not. Spencer  T♦C 11:56, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

USS New York

 * The USS New York, made from the metal of the World Trade Center, is christened by the United States Navy.
 * Support as nominator This plays a significant role in the September 11 attacks aftermath.-- Effer AKS 01:18, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
 * It isn't notable enough. Mearly a story of interest and no real importance. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 03:05, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose Not sufficient international interest, limited notability within the US beyond the novelty of recycling WTC steel. Madcoverboy (talk) 18:53, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oppose As Madcoverboy said, a novelty. Of little interest, even within the United States.--WaltCip (talk) 14:29, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Russian presidential election
Replace the Cypriot presidential election note with this on 21:00 GMT (0:00 Moscow Time). --Bender235 (talk) 11:27, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Russian voters elect president to replace Vladimir Putin. Dmitry Medvedev is heavily favored to win.
 * Dmitry Medvedev of the United Russia party is elected President of Russia, succeeding Vladimir Putin.


 * A result hasn't been announced (because the election hasn't happened yet); this should wait until after the election has occurred and a result roughly determined. - Mark 11:57, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Sometimes events are posted ahead of time to work out the wording, but new leaders follow a fairly consistent template. Madcoverboy (talk) 19:36, 1 March 2008 (UTC)


 * I disagree, use of the word 'election' is highly controversial. Most monitoring organisations and western Governments would never call the Russian process an 'election'. Also, although the election has not happened yet, the poll is fixed for Medvedev to win, and for turnout to be very high, as always. I wouldn't put this poll on ITN, but equally I couldn't put the fixing on there either. 86.166.227.112 (talk) 13:10, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * It will go on once Medvedev wins the election. ---CWY2190TC 18:57, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support I agree - it's not as though Raul Castro's election was an exemplary of a democratic process. It's a change of head of states involving a major nation and it will go up when the "results" (however contestable) are announced. Madcoverboy (talk) 19:29, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. They're deciding the next president of one of the most important countries in the world. --Plasma Twa 2 (talk) 20:02, 1 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Dmitry Medvedev (pictured) wins the Russian presidential election with an estimated 69% of the vote.
 * Now a good chunk of the vote is in, I think we can safely say he's won. --Philip Stevens (talk) 18:51, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
 * It's not a race. When it's officially announced, it goes up. Madcoverboy (talk) 18:56, 2 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Vladimir Putin's favorite nominee, Dmitry Medvedev (pictured), succeeds him in the Russian presidential election with an estimated 69% of the vote.
 * In support of the above, and having read TIME's "man of the year" article on Putin, it seems that it is common belief that Medvedev is Putin's puppet that will make Putin the Prime Minister, so as to overcome the two consecutive terms barrier for presidency (that also applies to Russia). I think we should hint to this major issue of Putin's term being prolonged "from the window". NikoSilver 23:36, 2 March 2008 (UTC) (btw TIME goes as far as to quote a Russian joke: Putin is in a restaurant with Medvedev and orders for a steak. When asked by the waiter "what about the vegetable", he replies "yes, the vegetable will have a steak too".)
 * Time might claim it to be a qu; it might just ote, but is the word "vegetable" used in that sense in Russian. The joke was on UK TV about 20 years ago (on Spitting Image), and proves little.
 * Time claims that it is a popular joke among Russians. I don't speak Russian, but the word vegetable is used the same way in four languages I happen to speak. Sure it's old; it's the Medvedev part that's new in it. NikoSilver 00:11, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I would probably use different wordage than "Putin's favorite nominee" maybe: "Dmitry Medvedev (pictured), heavily endorsed by Vladimir Putin, succeeds him in the Russian presidential election with an estimated 69% of the vote." I'm not sure if this works, but here it goes. Spencer  T♦C 01:28, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, "heavily endorsed" sounds better indeed. NikoSilver 10:35, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I don't think the heavily part is necessary, even if slightly more accurate. Endorsed is sufficient to convey the sentiment that he's Putin's man. Also, most sources I have read/heard haven't gone so far as to suggest Dmitry is Putin's puppet, while acknowledging Dmitry is only there because of Putin they tend to suggest no one knows how Dmitry will fit in and what role Putin is going to really play in Russia after this, which makes more sense to me. If we do want to do this (I don't really care either way), I would suggest:
 * Dmitry Medvedev (pictured), endorsed by outgoing President Vladimir Putin, is elected as President of Russia
 * Nil Einne (talk) 17:42, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. Presidental election sucessor of the most powerful country in the world. Eop4g8 (talk) 01:38, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Colombian armed conflict

 * Colombian armed forces execute a attack in Teteye, Putumayo, during which one Raul Reyes, the second in command in the terrorist organization FARC is killed.


 * My first attemp to suggest something for In The News, is a very very VERY important news and damn if it deserves to be put in the main page.--ometzit&lt;col&gt; (talk) 14:48, 1 March 2008 (UTC)


 * In an ITN event, a certain article needs to be bolded, one that covers the conflict. Is there such an article? Spencer  T♦C 16:34, 1 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Also it is unlikely using a phrase like 'terrorist organisation' in the narative voice for an ITN headline is acceptable. See Words to avoid 01:04, 2 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Support here is the article: 2008 diplomatic crisis between Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela

2007-2008 Israel-Gaza conflict

 * Its been the worst fighting since Israel withdrew from the Strip in 20005. At least 52 Palestinians were killed as well as two Israelis soldiers. Hamas also responded by firing 50 rockets at Israel. Of the Palestinian causalities eight were children and 16 were militants. Abbas referred to the attacks as "more than a holocaust" while Ehud Barak said "Hamas and those who fire rockets at Israel are responsible and they will pay the price". Khaled Meshaal (Hamas leader) also referred to the attacks as a holocaust. At least 91 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed in the past four days. --Al Ameer son (talk) 00:44, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
 * It is an ongoing conflict and unless these latest attacks get their own article, or expanded in the 2007-2008 Israel-Gaza conflict, I don't see how it would meet the guidelines. ---CWY2190TC 23:16, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Do you have any suggestions on a title name for a new article, because I'd like to create one? --Al Ameer son (talk) 00:44, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I don't know if a new article is necessary at this time personally. I suggest you start with expanding the section in the existing article. If/when it gets too large for it's on article, then you are welcome to split as necessary Nil Einne (talk) 01:07, 2 March 2008 (UTC)


 * There is already a new article on it, 2008 Israel-Gaza conflict. Does this qualify it to be included on the main page. Abbas suspended contact with Israel as well. --Al Ameer son (talk) 20:19, 3 March 2008 (UTC)