Portal talk:Current events

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Current events

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Covid-19[edit]

Reinstate COVID-19 pandemic to ongoing events, it is still very much an ongoing event of extreme note. Groble (talk) 06:01, 25 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

This proposal should be raised at WP:ITN, as the entry is posted through ITN. Carter00000 (talk) 16:09, 25 September 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

If the bar for "extreme note" is that low to the point where most countries have no mandates in place for it anymore and almost no one wears a mask for it, then in that case the HIV/AIDS pandemic, flu season, the tuberculosis epidemic, and the obesity epidemic should also be there. JM2023 (talk) 16:51, 1 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

2023–24 EuroLeague[edit]

2023–24 EuroLeague has started 161.132.241.124 (talk) 19:05, 5 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The news which this discussion is about has been added to the sidebar of the portal. Carter00000 (talk) 06:01, 8 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

that's the basketball one 161.132.241.124 (talk) 20:13, 10 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

You may also edit Portal:Current events/Sidebar yourself if there is a particular item you would like to add, such as the event you have mentioned above. Carter00000 (talk) 16:45, 12 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Unverified stories[edit]

Should it be included in the summary whether or not a story has been verified or not? Why include unsubstantiated stories? 2600:1700:3AE1:50:1129:806F:6AD2:AEEC (talk) 12:24, 6 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

This is specifically in reference to the October 5 story about a Russian child killed in Horlivka by a Ukrainian munition. The Al Jazeera news feed which is given as the source states that the story could not be verified. 2600:1700:3AE1:50:1129:806F:6AD2:AEEC (talk) 12:59, 6 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

On the "Ongoing" Section[edit]

Complete overhaul.

Something like

Ongoing events : 2023 Nigerien crisis, Flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians

Ongoing conflicts : Yemen War, Syria War, Ukraine war, Sudan War

Recent deaths : Lukt64 (talk) 00:09, 12 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

This proposal should be raised at WP:ITN, as the entries proposed are posted through ITN. Carter00000 (talk) 03:34, 12 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

You may also edit Portal:Current events/Sidebar if you mean the sidebar on the portal. Carter00000 (talk) 16:26, 12 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Completly agree. As well, why was the War in Sudan removed? it is a high-impact conflict. Affiliating (talk) 17:57, 17 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Not enough activity on the page. Lukt64 (talk) 18:03, 17 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

War crimes in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war[edit]

There should maybe be a consideration if there's enough consensus to just start avoiding the use of "War crimes in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war" header because of how it incentivizes gaming whether or not play-by-play back and forth events if each one is evaluated as being considered a war crime or not by Wikipedia's editors, which seems problematic and against the spirit of the discretionary sanctions on the Israeli-Palestinian and Arab-Israeli conflicts. I've already seen what seems to me to be worrying trends toward arms races of pushing stories in and out of the "War Crimes" grouping to control which events are being called war crimes in this hotly contested and developing scenario... I do think war crimes are being committed but a lot is going on and I don't think we can all keep up with it to the level of very careful accuracy that it should be at this time... but that's just my one opinion so far, not trying to be disruptive or anything. Sumstream (talk) 17:13, 9 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Those events should just be included under the general "2023 Israel-Hamas War" label to avoid passing judgement on if it is a war crime. For many of these, there is not enough info to know if it was a war crime or not, so it should not be definitely stated with a "war crimes" header, which makes it seem like it is known as an undisputed fact that the event was a war crime. Some of these, such as condemnations by NGOs or other governments, should also be in the reactions section instead. Folohsor (talk) 18:24, 11 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Agree get rid of the "War crimes" section entirely, its hilariously/horrifically biased; most of the sources are Al Jazeera (Qatar state-owned media; Qatar is an authoritarian state with no press freedom, and it's a primary Hamas funder, sponsor, and supporter and hosts their leader in Doha among high society) or literal Palestinian groups' statements. The "misinformation" section also seems to be entirely anti-Israel every day from what I've seen. And I know we have WP:NOTRIGHT and most sources are anti-Israel, but its outrageous. TBH maybe it should go to the neutrality noticeboard or get an RFC. JM (talk) 20:17, 13 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I just want to be clear that my statement is not meant as a criticism of the content of any headlines or an attempt to address the content of the headlines involved themselves. Sumstream (talk) 00:53, 14 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Well sure, I suppose what started as me agreeing with you developed into a general criticism of the bias underneath the "war crimes" label. I was going to start my own section about the bias, but figured I agreed with you and your topic was related enough for me to sort of branch off with that elaboration. JM (talk) 01:00, 14 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Sumstream@Folohsor@JM2023: just to bring in your notice, the user adding all discussed here has been blocked. All those problematic entries were his own sole additions, followed by disruptive behaviour. Pg 6475 ^TM 20:14, 14 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Appreciate it. Hopefully the current events template looks a lot better going forward. JM (talk) 21:17, 14 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Exactly my same thought. Regards Pg 6475 ^TM 21:27, 14 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I agree with you! It seems like a good majority of Wikipedia is biased towards Hamas. There needs to be a clear line towards neutrality in this. I support Israel and it just grieves me to see this bias. I always thought that Wikipedia was supposed to be neutral in it's reporting but it's clearly not. Anitarose33511 (talk) 17:23, 15 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The problem is twofold; Wikipedia can be wrong due to systemic bias of reliable sources, and it can also be wrong due to systemic bias of editors. JM (talk) 19:41, 17 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Worth noting the user that had consistently filed news items under war crimes has now been indef blocked, so hopefully that cleans up the issue for now.

I'm no fan of Israel per se, but the avalanche of edits every single day began to feel like sizable anti-Israel POV-pushing, especially when multiple sources used weren't exactly reliable/neutral. The Kip 19:40, 15 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Live Blogs, especially Al Jazeera[edit]

Live blog usage has been normalized for a long time on the Current Events Portal. This includes especially live blogs to CNN, BBC, and yes, Al Jazeera as well. This has frequently included stories that do not get their own dedicated article page. The usage being a live blog and/or without a dedicated article page of its own has been disproportionately used to remove Al Jazeera headlines. Even though Al Jazeera English and the related English-language AlJazeera.com have plenty of editors' voices to express the reasons why it is continuing to be used the way it has been here at WP:RSN, and recent edits continue to use BBC live blog that amusingly "according to the Al Jazeera news network." itself directly is relying on Al Jazeera's reporting, helping to show the enduring secondary source reputability being established. Please, please do not remove headlines purely for the reason that they are headlines sourced from Al Jazeera's live blog, because Al Jazeera English and AlJazeera.com are reliable sources, internationally award-winning for reporting on the exact contentious subject of the Arab-Israeli conflict in disputed Palestine. Sumstream (talk) 03:26, 15 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

In addition to some valid points made on that discussion, there is also Al Jazeera controversies and criticism and Al Jazeera English#Controversies and criticism to consider. It's quite strange to me that not only is a live blog used (which you would think would have lower editorial standards, since it's live reporting), but the wisdom of using a source which (regardless of how much it asserts its own independence) is still owned by the same authoritarian government that is a state sponsor of terrorism which shelters the leader of Hamas in its capital and is a primary funder, sponsor, and supporter of Hamas. JM (talk) 17:53, 15 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Please consider that I have viewed for years live blog usage of BBC and CNN without complaint, just as there is years of no issue with Al Jazeera, in between flare-ups of conflict escalation. Their reporting on this exact conflict that you are concerned with has earned them international awards, enough for its own article and these are international awards, the Peabody is not administered by Qatar. Also as described in the referenced discussion a "reliable source" does not need to be a "perfect source" or "proven to be free of any bias whatsoever" what you are describing you are not evenly applying Wikipedia guidelines to all sources (such as having no issue with BBC's live blog, which itself also relies on Al Jazeera, as many secondary sources do, because it's reliable and the best option). Sumstream (talk) 19:36, 15 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]