Portal talk:Current events/2008 May 27

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May 27

May 27, 2008 (Tuesday)

Khilafat Centenary celebrated around the world by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. (CNN)
Rights groups say afghan women committing suicide at alarming rate; Women rights groups say that last year, almost 500 women chose death or disfigurement to life of despair by setting themselves on fire to escape forced marriages, slavery or sexual and other types of abuse.(VOA)
Argentine farmers announce that they will stop selling grain for export from 28 May to 2 June in a deepening row with the federal government over export taxes. (AFP)
The Russian Constitutional Court meets in its first session since it relocated from Moscow to the historical building of the Governing Senate at the Decembrists Square in Saint Petersburg. (Itar-Tass)
The S&P/Case-Shiller index shows a record annual decline in United States house prices of 14.1%. (CEP News)
Aung San Suu Kyi
- The State Peace and Development Council extends Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest by one year. (AFP via Google News)
- Police in Burma detain more than a dozen members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. (AP via Google News)
In the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake, the People's Republic of China evacuates 100,000 people from Mianyang as engineers prepare to drain the landslide dam-created Tangjiashan Lake.(CNN)
Thabo Mbeki, the President of South Africa, leaves for Japan to attend a conference on African development despite concerns about the 2008 South African riots. (AFP)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
Protesting soldiers seize the deputy head of the Army of Guinea a week after Lansana Kouyate is dismissed as Prime Minister. (BBC News)
Leiden University Medical Center scientists decipher the first complete DNA sequence of a woman. (MSNBC)

ITN Candidates

Nominate Aung San Suu Kyi item.--Pharos (talk) 17:48, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Can you provide specific wording here? National League for Democracy is unsourced, not a big fan of unsourced pages on the main page. Not really the biggest thing in Burma going on anyways. --Lemmey talk 18:08, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I bolded Aung San Suu Kyi in the item to show that it is the updated article. Until there is a cyclone update, this appears to be a reasonable candidate, though not as big as the Sichuan update that went up. - Banyan Tree 00:15, 28 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Added. Timer says 24 hours since last update and this older candidate appears reasonable. It doesn't include as much prose about the update as I'd like, but there's really not much to say beyond "still imprisoned" so I'll give it a pass. Placed under the Sichuan item of the same date as being less significant. (I expect an uproar about "timers resulting in ITN trivia" now.) - Banyan Tree 22:52, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm against the Aung San Suu Kyi item going up. A single sentence in the article describes her house arrest extension...generally speaking, if a single line is all that can really be said about a subject (in the subject's article), I'd prefer it wouldn't go up. If expansion was included, (for example: reason junta gave for her arrest extension), then I might consider supporting. Spencer^T♦^C 00:17, 30 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As I note above, it's marginal. Normally I look for at least a paragraph of updated text for an existing article, or a decent stub in the case of a new article. Given that the reason for the extension was the same as why she's under house arrest in the first place, which is detailed, I felt that demanding that the reason be reiterated just for ITN would be a bit much. I probably wouldn't have put this as the top item given the level of updated text, but am OK with inserting it into the middle of the template, if you follow my fuzzy reasoning on weighing the various factors. - Banyan Tree 00:34, 30 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Personally, I'm not too big on any of these...the DNA sequencing one I considered, but in the article, there was a single, unsourced line mentioning it. Spencer^T♦^C 19:44, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have now added a reference for the brief update in DNA sequence. Keep in mind that the items in the 'Current events' box are not all ITN candidates, but they should be considered potential candidates. Thanks.--Pharos (talk) 20:22, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'd put the dynamiting of the dam in Sichuan up, and bold 2008 Sichuan Earthquake to get an ongoing story back on ITN with new info. Random 89 19:46, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sure. Sounds good to me now that I look at the article. Spencer^T♦^C 19:57, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I too concur but in a non voting manner in accordance with new trial period procedures (that do not spell out what to do after the trial period or how the trial will be evaluated...) --Lemmey talk 20:01, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Presumably, we will have a vote. But, since we apparently no longer have the right to vote here, I assume it will end up like the Soviet Union, where one man will decide what goes up while he kills a couple million of the rest of us. This trial is the beginning of the itn's five-year plan, trust me. --Plasma Twa 2 21:31, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I also concur in a non-diplomatic fashion, The earthquake one is good. --Plasma Twa 2 21:24, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The earthquake article has not yet been updated with that information.--Pharos (talk) 22:29, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I updated it myself. The item is posted.--Pharos (talk) 23:24, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

But despite the large red box (why is it not flashing?) telling us the template needs to be updated, no admin has come by and done it? Oh right, On ITN, the template updates you! Random 89 22:15, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There has been an update now, and the timing on the box has been adjusted.--Pharos (talk) 23:24, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I like the Aung San Suu Kyi and the china items. Possibly also the DNA. The Aung San Kyi article could do with some attention though at the moment it doesn't really do the job of clearly explaining the most recent developments. Billsmith453 (talk) 14:14, 28 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]