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• Syrian Civil War
  • Tahrir al-Sham, al-Qaeda's branch in Syria, claims responsibility for yesterday's twin bomb attacks in Damascus which left dozens dead. (BBC)

• A landslide at a rubbish dump on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, kills at least 48 people. (BBC)
• A bus driver in the Haitian city of Gonaïves ploughs into crowds of people celebrating Rara while speeding away from an earlier accident which left one person dead, killing at least 38 people, including a group of street musicians, and injures 17 others. (Reuters)

• Ahmad Daqamseh, the Jordanian soldier who shot seven Israeli schoolchildren on March 13, 1997, is released from prison in Jordan. (Reuters)

• Abkhazian parliamentary election, 2017
  • People in the breakaway state of Abkhazia go to the polls for an election. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
• Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama dismisses four cabinet ministers, including Minister of Internal Affairs Saimir Tahiri and Minister of Health Ilir Beqaj, in a bid to make the government more technocratic following opposition Democratic Party protests. (Reuters)
• Former President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Artur Mas, is banned from holding public office for two years after organising an unofficial, unconstitutional independence referendum in 2014. (The Guardian)

• 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
  • The field of 68 teams is announced. The overall top seed is defending national champion Villanova; the remaining #1 seeds are Kansas, North Carolina, and Gonzaga. (ESPN)

Ethiopia landfill landslide

• Nominated by 2607:fea8:a260:4ae:f5d8:e204:8133:446f (talk · give credit)

• Comment Obviously we're going to need an article, but this is an ITN-appropriate event; I think we also did post the 2015 landfill landslide that happened in 2015 in China too. --MASEM (t) 03:26, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
• Oppose stub article, the event itself is covered in one sentence. The Rambling Man (talk) 09:05, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
• Neutral/Comment - I'm neutral on this because fifty~ dead is definitely notable but the article sucks. We've been getting a lot of shitty article in ITN/C lately; I'm not sure if it reflects the process as a whole but I wish people put a little more effort into articles that they are nominating. I'd do more myself but I'm not suited in scouring news sources, possibly in other languages, and paraphrasing as to prevent plagiarism. UNSC Luke 1021 (talk) 11:49, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
• Oppose article is a stub with barely more information than is already in the proposed blurb. Not of sufficient quality for posting on main page. --Jayron32 12:50, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
• Oppose - In the past 5-6 hours barely any work has been done on the article, so I'm moving to oppose because the article is garbage (no morbid pun intended). UNSC Luke 1021 (talk) 17:51, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
• Support based on noteworthiness, pending expansion of the article itself. It shouldn't take too long to churn out a half-decent page for ITN. Kurtis 17:58, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
• As above, notable but nowhere near ready at the current time. --LukeSurl 18:03, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
• Oppose The lack of coverage on the landslide currently on Misplaced Pages is disappointing. --AmaryllisGardener 17:07, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

2017 Dutch–Turkish diplomatic incident

• Nominated by Mjroots (talk · give credit)
• Updated by AKAKIOS (talk · give credit)

• Oppose War of words so far, like in old times ("When the British came out and said Gamal Abdel Nasser is a dog, we can come back and call you the sons of sixty dogs"). Brandmeister 13:38, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
• Strong oppose political mudslinging is not ITN worthy. --MASEM (t) 13:40, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

  Can you point out where in Misplaced Pages:In_the_news it says that "political mudslinging is not ITN worthy"? The only criteria are that there is an update and that the event is significant. Note also: "Arguments that deal with the appropriateness of topics in general but also ignore the specific story being discussed are also usually not supported by the community." 81.204.120.137 (talk) 21:51, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

  • Switch to Support given the escalation of the situation. --MASEM (t) 13:41, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
• Oppose posting a war of words. Not even sure it merits an article. If ambassadors are withdrawn or diplomatic relations broken, maybe. 331dot (talk) 13:45, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

I'd like to point out that ambassadors are now, effectively, withdrawn.128.214.69.166 (talk) 07:52, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Changing to post-posting support given the escalation. 331dot (talk) 17:16, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

• Oppose - ITN will get 30+ postings a day if we post every rhetorical back-and-forth at the national political level. That would not be a good thing.--WaltCip (talk) 13:47, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

  Can you provide evidence for this rather absurd statement. Should be discounted by the closing admin. 81.204.120.137 (talk) 18:31, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

  Yes, my oppose vote should be discounted among the waves and waves of other oppose votes snowing in. Bugger off.--WaltCip (talk) 20:20, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

  So in summary, no evidence for your absurd statement. Now I know why Trump won the election. 81.204.120.137 (talk) 21:42, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

  If you are as familiar with ITN as you seem to be, you should know that we do not just parrot what is reported in the press, we weigh the notability of the nominations presented. People can disagree about what is notable in good faith- and the notability of something can certainly change over time. What all of those who oppose this are saying is that this does not seem notable at this time. If anything changes- we can all reevaluate our positions. Please stop personally attacking those who disagree with you. 331dot (talk) 22:06, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

  Can you point me towards the part of his statement where he is discussing notability? Thanks. And please, do not hararass me on my talk page. 81.204.120.137 (talk) 22:17, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

  You have a very different definition of "harassment" than the rest of us if you consider one warning made in good faith harassment. 331dot (talk) 22:21, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

  Hardly in good faith, if you use these template in content disputes, one-sidedly. But back to the content dispute, can you please point out where WaltCip is discussing notability in his statement? All I see are some alternative facts. 81.204.120.137 (talk) 22:27, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

  You clearly have made up your mind-which is your right- so I see little point in further comment. 331dot (talk) 22:48, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

• Oppose – Per 331. Entertaining episode, but so far without substantive effect. Sca (talk) 16:23, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
• Oppose - I argued to keep the article because of notability but it isn't newsworthy until something more than a shouting match happens. If we posted every notable event of mudslinging, Donald Trump would be in the news every five minutes. UNSC Luke 1021 (talk) 18:13, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
• Support - the foreign minister refused a landing permit, another minister deported out of the country, the Dutch ambassador being refused re-entry into Turkey, that's anything but just "political mudslinging". 81.204.120.137 (talk) 21:48, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
• Weak Oppose As diplomatic pissing contests go this one is a little more intense than usual, but for now that's still what it is. If there is an actual break in diplomatic relations I would reconsider supporting. -Ad Orientem (talk) 22:57, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
• Comment Post-posting support I'm with Ad Orientem here; this is well above the usual complaints at each other but I think it would need an actual diplomatic break to rise to the level of ITN. Erdogan making a complete dick of himself (and pretty much wiping out any chance of Turkey joining the EU for the forseeable future) can of course be included in his article. Well, that escalated quickly Black Kite (talk) 23:23, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
• Oppose - per Ad Orientem. Example of other "diplomatic pissing contests", Vietnam demands China stop cruises in South China Sea . If this kind of event isn't very uncommon then it's hard to justify posting. Banedon (talk) 05:26, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

In order to make the comparison, Vietnam would have to PNG the Chinese ambassador, with China doing the same, and Japan canceling state visits, and violent protests breaking out. This is a little more than your standard piss and moan.128.214.69.166 (talk) 07:57, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

True. I switch to support. Banedon (talk) 08:52, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Adding alt blurb 2 since I don't understand alt blurb. The information in alt blurb 2 isn't actually in the article though. Article only says that Turkey banned the Netherlands' diplomat, not vice versa. Banedon (talk) 11:26, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

"Although not arrested, she was declared as persona non grata and eventually escorted to the Dutch-German border"128.214.69.166 (talk) 11:33, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

That sounds like one particular ambassador is banned. Kind of like if one country's ambassador breaks the law, but claims diplomatic immunity, the other country can declare the violator persona non grata but do not break off relations. All the first country has to do is send a different ambassador. Betül Sayan Kaya is also not actually an ambassador. In fact reading the article again what exactly is the cause of this diplomatic incident is not well communicated. The first section makes it seem like it's got something to do with campaigning, but the "escalation" section says nothing about campaigning. Why is the Turkish government sending ministers to its consulate in the Netherlands, and why is the Netherlands refusing them entry? Banedon (talk) 11:47, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

The questions you are asking are answered in the articles in the altblurbs. Briefly: the government of Turkey (contrary to the principles of the EU and its own laws) is trying to change the constitution in favor of a strongman, and is agitating amongst Turkish expats abroad. The countries where this is happening do not look on this kindly, as it makes a mockery of their sovereignty, creates security problems (riots), and involves them in a civil dispute of a foreign government against their will. Turkey was clearly notified that their government officials were not welcome to do this, but those government officials went anyway, abusing various diplomatic privileges and using outright subterfuge to enter the countries. These people were turned back, expelled or PNG'ed (a very serious designation that is usually reserved for spies). Turkish strongman takes offense to this, and here we are.128.214.163.204 (talk) 13:21, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks. It's not well-communicated in the article, however. The background section ends with "campaigning is not allowed", but the escalation section begins with "Turkish minister entry denied". It doesn't say why the minister is going there, or what the rationale behind denying him entry is. The next paragraph says the minister requested for a gathering and the Netherlands retaliates by revoking landing privileges for his plane. Again it doesn't say why the Netherlands is acting like this. But in any case I expect the article to be improved quickly now that it's on ITN. If it isn't I'll improve it myself over the next few days. Banedon (talk) 15:07, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

• Support. Dutch-Turkish relations are effectively severed, Turkish government visits to Denmark are postponed for the foreseeable future, and the event has opened up a rift in the German government. The article is quite nice (as far as developing news articles go), giving concise background which is digestible to the naïve reader. I would like to compare this to the US-Russian diplomatic back-and-forth in the waning days of the Obama Administration. In that incident (which was proposed here at ITN and rightly closed), it was merely the government of one side making claims and ejecting diplomats without a quid pro quo from the other, and there was little if any public demonstration. Here, we have quid pro quo abound, mass demonstrations on both sides and the incident spreading beyond the two principle states.128.214.69.166 (talk) 07:52, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
• Support – as someone who is caught right in the middle of this, it is difficult to judge how major an event this is exactly. I need to point out, however, that this happened merely two days before the Dutch election, and this incident is caused by an upcoming Turkish referendum that is going to have a huge impact. Turks in the Netherlands is a very large minority in the country and this incident puts a negative light on all of them, I'm afraid. This incident puts EU-Turkey relations at risk as well, and may impact things such as the refugee crisis. I can't not support this news blurb. ~Mable (chat) 08:46, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
• Support I know some of the opposes above were made when this was a little diplomatic spat between Turkey and the Netherlands, but it's got bigger than that. Turkey's relationship with the EU as a whole is now on the line. With the implications for Turkey's (increasingly unlikely) accession to the EU, and the context of the rise of populist / anti-immigration / anti-Islam politics in Europe, this is a significant development that we should post. GoldenRing (talk) 09:41, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
• Comment The original blurb is somewhat POV, and I don't think a specific diplomat is worthy of being singled out with a link and a picture since this now includes multiple diplomats from both sides. So, I added an altblurb.128.214.69.166 (talk) 10:06, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
  • I think the altblurb is indeed an improvement. ~Mable (chat) 10:31, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
• Support alt blurb. The Rambling Man (talk) 11:06, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
• Support whichever way you look at it this is a very unusual powerplay at international level. Nergaal (talk) 12:00, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
• Support - This has severely escalated since yesterday. On the other hand, holy fucking shit guys; we're all going to die. /s UNSC Luke 1021 (talk) 12:02, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
• Support - This has escalated beyond minor diplomatic tit-for-tat.--WaltCip (talk) 12:13, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
• Posted a variation of Alt-blurb II, also shortened it up a bit. --Jayron32 14:18, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
• Well, that was unexpected. Thanks all, especially those who changed from oppose to support. Mjroots (talk) 16:59, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
• Photo- File:Turkish people protesting the Netherlands.jpg is available for use, could be presented as (protestors pictured). Mjroots (talk) 21:56, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

  WP:ERRORS. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:57, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

March 11