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• Syrian Civil War
  • Reuters reports nearly 150 people are killed and at least 200 wounded in a series of car bomb and suicide attacks in the Syrian cities of Jableh and Tartus in government-controlled territory that hosts Russian military bases. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group claims responsibility. (Al Jazeera) (USA Today) (Reuters)
• Yemeni civil war (2015–present)
  • At least 41 army recruits are killed and 60 others injured in a suicide car bomb attack in Aden, Yemen. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group claims responsibility. (Reuters)
  • At least 13 suspected Al-Qaeda militants and two soldiers are killed in a raid in Aden, Yemen. (VOA News) (National Yemen)
• War in Iraq (2013–2017)
  • The Iraqi government begins Operation Breaking Terrorism, aimed at retaking the city of Fallujah, which has been under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group since early 2014. (Al Jazeera)
• Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir
  • Three policemen are killed in Srinagar, India. Hizbul Mujahideen claims responsibility. (News 18) (The New York Times)
• War in Afghanistan
  • The Taliban leadership council reportedly meets to determine a successor to Mullah Akhtar Mansour, killed this weekend during an American drone strike in Pakistan. (Reuters)

• Germany's Bayer AG makes an unsolicited bid valued at $62 billion cash to takeover American company Monsanto to create the world's largest agricultural chemical company. (Bloomberg) (The Wall Street Journal)

• An overnight fire at Pitakiatwittaya Christian elementary school's dormitory in the northern Chiang Rai Province in Thailand kills 18 girls between the ages of 5 and 12. The other 20 girls sleeping in the dorm are rescued, though five are injured. (CNN) (Facebook)
• Cyclone Roanu
  • Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Centre reports 92 people are confirmed dead with 109 people still missing from landslides and floods resulting from Roanu. More than 500,000 have been driven from their homes. (EconomyNext)
  • Bangladesh reports at least 26 deaths caused by drowning or homes collapsing with 500,000 evacuated during the storm. Maheshkhali Island officials are monitoring a badly damaged 17-mile stretch of mud embankment in danger of collapsing, allowing seawater to flood the communities. (The Weather Channel) (The Navhind Times)
• At least five people are killed after a Cessna 182 light-aircraft crashes near Port Allen Airport on Hawaii's Kauai island. (CBS News)

• 2015–16 Zika virus epidemic
  • Health officials are concerned about the spread of the Zika virus in Haiti, which suffered the worst epidemic of cholera in recent history following the deadly 2010 Haiti earthquake. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports there are 2,214 suspected cases as of April 23. But new research indicates the virus has been present since 2014. The actual infection rate remains unknown since the poor, densely populated nation lacks routine data systems that can track and document disease outbreaks. (AP)

• United States–Vietnam relations
  • United States President Barack Obama ends the American arms embargo with Vietnam during his visit in the country. (Washington Post) (USA Today)
• World Humanitarian Summit
  • The first-ever United Nations humanitarian summit opens in Istanbul, Turkey, to address the 125-million people crisis, the worst since World War II. (AP via Deseret News) (Reuters)
• Pope Francis meets with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Ahmed el-Tayeb in the Vatican. (Al Jazeera) (ABC News) (US News)

• Death of Freddie Gray
  • Judge Barry Williams finds Baltimore, Maryland, Police Officer Edward Nero not guilty of all charges. Nero was accused of second-degree intentional assault, two counts of misconduct in office, and reckless endangerment. Community leaders and elected officials appeal for calm. (CNN)
  • The Baltimore Police Department says Nero remains on administrative duty while an internal investigation continues. (AP via Daily Mail)
  • Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says the city is prepared to respond to any disturbance after today's acquittal. (AP via Salon)
• Threatening robocalls lead to mass evacuation of students in the United States and United Kingdom. None of the threats were found to be credible but disrupted General Certificate of Secondary Education tests in the UK. (NBC News)
• Democratic Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe is being investigated by federal prosecutors over campaign contributions, including a foreign contribution from a Chinese businessman, and what they consider to be "suspicious personal finances", as part of a public integrity probe that has lasted for more than a year, according to officials. The United States Department of Justice would not confirm or deny the investigation. (The Washington Post)

• Tajikistani constitutional referendum, 2016
  • The Tajikistani constitutional referendum results in the removal of term limits of incumbent President Emomali Rahmon. (TASS) (ABC News)
• Binali Yıldırım is appointed Prime Minister of Turkey after the resignation of Ahmet Davutoğlu amid disagreements with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (ABC New) (BBC) (VOA)
• Austrian presidential election, 2016
  • Independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, a member of The Greens, is elected President of Austria in a tight contest that was decided by mail-in votes. (CNN) (USA Today)
• Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines presumptive president-elect, says he will allow the immediate burial of former kleptocratic dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Heroes' Cemetery in metropolitan Manila. (AP)
• Cypriot legislative election, 2016
  • The Democratic Rally wins the legislative election. (Daily Sabah) (TASS) (EU Observer)

• ISRO successfully launched India's Reusable Launch Vehicle demonstrator mission (RLV-TD). (NASA Spaceflight)

Cyprus election

• Nominated by PanchoS (talk · give credit)
• Updated by Mariakos Antoniou (talk · give credit), Μαρκος Δ (talk · give credit) and Number 57 (talk · give credit)

• Support, the article has been updated sufficiently regarding the results and their analysis. I think a blurb about DISY retaining their plurality (rather than the Anastasiades government, Anastasiades would hold power as an executive president regardless of the result) could be better though. --GGT (talk) 22:16, 24 May 2016 (UTC)

• That's true. I intentionally omitted DISY as the party lost mandates and wasn't cited as a winner. On the other hand, mentioning the two mandates for far-right ELAM, as some news outlets did, seems WP:UNDUE as well. I added two altblurbs but am not overly happy with either of them, so feel free to join in with a better proposal. --PanchoS (talk) 06:50, 25 May 2016 (UTC)
• Support. Added a third altblurb which I think is nearly there but not quite perfect. Thryduulf (talk) 09:04, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

• altblurb3 is a good approach. I added yet another one. An admin should possibly chose one of the last two blurbs. --PanchoS (talk) 10:48, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

• Please can we have (a) some news sources included in the nomination for us to read (b) at least one blurb free from grammatical errors (c) an article with more than just a one-sentence lead and (d) an article that is less opinionated ("Mere months before the 2016 legislative election...", "Papadopoulos had gone even further off the mark stating..."? Others may have further ideas. Bencherlite 10:40, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

• Support - updated and ready.BabbaQ (talk) 20:58, 28 May 2016 (UTC)

Tajikistani referendum

• Nominated by Brandmeister (talk · give credit)

• Support If the head of the Russian observing mission is Sergey Sirotkin (politician), he should be wikilinked. I am quite sure it was not Sergey Sirotkin (racing driver) though ;) Zwerg Nase (talk) 09:35, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
• Question. Does the removal of term limits only apply to the current president, or to anyone who is president? The blurb suggests the former. 331dot (talk) 09:38, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
  • Only to the current president Rahmon, from what I've read, making him President for Life. The wording is provisional, so altblurb might be suggested. Brandmeister 09:44, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
    • I don't understand why they would do that and change it to allow his son to run at 33 years old- but I digress and will say that I support posting as a notable change to their constitution. Given your reply I'm not actually sure the blurb needs to be changed. 331dot (talk) 09:49, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
• Support. I don't like the "voters vote" in the blurb, but can't immediately think of better phrasing. Thryduulf (talk) 10:52, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
• Support and adding an alt blurb that doesn't use "voters vote". Banedon (talk) 10:59, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Voters endorse. Voters favor. Voters approve. Sca (talk) 13:50, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Adjusted. Brandmeister 17:51, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

• Support and second the use of 'approve', which is most appropriate for referendums. Fgf10 (talk) 15:41, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
• Support - constitutional referendum is notable.BabbaQ (talk) 16:39, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
• Support - Eschew the use of the altblurb which invokes passive voice.--WaltCip (talk) 19:25, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
• Posted the article is barely above stub quality, but consensus is strong, so posted in the hope that we can get this expanded reasonably quickly. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:32, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Binali Yıldırım appointed Turkish Prime Minister

• Updated and nominated by Nub Cake (talk · give credit)

• Oppose for now. Needs some referencing improvement. Especially the following section: Education, Early political career, second paragraph of Member of Parliament, middle paragraph of Minister of Transport, Awards and Honors section. --Jayron32 01:24, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Added references to the parts stated. Awards and Honours section is already sourced. The source at the end of the first paragraph lists the universities. Nub Cake (talk) 14:49, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Support Article now meets minimum quality standards. --Jayron32 15:40, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

• Oppose, not the result of an election. Figurehead figleaf. Abductive (reasoning) 03:31, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Not all countries elect their PMs, as a matter of fact. Brandmeister 07:26, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

I respectfully disagree. It doesn't have to be a result of an election. A blurb about the resignation of the Austrian Chancellor and the appointment of his successor is currently on the ITN. Nub Cake (talk) 14:13, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

• This is not ITNR; as such, I have removed that notation. 331dot (talk) 09:39, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
• Support per Nub Cake. "A blurb about the resignation of the Austrian Chancellor and the appointment of his successor is currently on the ITN". Can't put it any better. Banedon (talk) 14:25, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

We don't post one item just because we have posted other items in the same category of events. Each item is weighed on its own merits. 331dot (talk) 14:46, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Yes, but I'd still say that unless someone explains clearly what the difference between Austrian Chancellors and Turkish Prime Ministers are such that the former merits posting and the latter doesn't, then if we oppose posting this because of anything other than article quality issues, it would be a sign of systemic bias. It's up to ITN whether we want to embrace bias or fight it, and I personally think we should have a discussion on that; I do on a personal level feel we should fight bias however, and so I'm supporting. Banedon (talk) 15:11, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

• Support - The fact that it wasn't an election is irrelevant. Most countries don't directly elect senior government officials, not a reason not to post. Fgf10 (talk) 15:43, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
• Comment. I don't want to formally say that I oppose this but the effect of this seems minimal; the PM is chosen by the President and as such must agree with his policies(in fact, the previous PM was dismissed forresigned due to disagreeing with Erodgan). The new PM has even suggested his role should be abolished de jure because Erodgan is already in charge de facto. 331dot (talk) 15:54, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
• Support The senior leadership of the CCP (PRC) is not 'elected' by the wider public, so "it was not an election" is a No-go argument. And until Turkey formally moves to a Presidential system, this is ITN recurring material. CaradhrasAiguo (talk) 16:10, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

@CaradhrasAiguo: This is not a recurring item; in fact, the recurring items list specifically states that changes to head of government are discussed on their own merits. 331dot (talk) 16:14, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

@331dot: Regardless, it is a non-trivial consolidation of power in favor of Erdogan, and thru my lens it is clearly by no means an insignificant step in the path towards increased Authoritarianism, and possibly Totalitarianism in the Turksish 'Republic'. CaradhrasAiguo (talk) 16:21, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

• Support. Though Yıldırım won't be much more than a figurehead, he has been a key minister for years, and both his positive achievements and dark sides are remarkable. Apart from that, current developments in Turkey are very intensely covered in int'l media, and CaradhrasAiguo is right in noting that this is another important step towards authoritanism. We should also reward the main author of this contentwise awesome article, though I'd like to see more English-language sources, or at least translations of some of the more important sources' titles. Technically it's a bit early, as Yıldırım has not yet been confirmed by parliament, but it is beyond any doubt that he will be confirmed at the parliament's next session. --PanchoS (talk) 16:31, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
• Support – New (nominal) head of government in a country of 79 million. Sca (talk) 22:00, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
• Posted The Rambling Man (talk) 06:14, 24 May 2016 (UTC)
• Comment I cannot, actually, determine whether or not this nomination should be ITNR. The criteria states that "heads of state" are ITNR, election or not, but that "heads of government" are not ITNR, election or not. The definition of Turkey's government, as noted on Misplaced Pages, the CIA and Turkey's own government webpage, is "parliamentary republic". This means the PM, as head of parliament, should be the most powerful person in the country, and if ITNR should have any correlation with impact, then surely heads of government should be ITNR for republics. Now, the difference between "state" and "government" is something of a Western conceit that Turkey (among others) is doing away with, and there's good reason to say that de facto power in this particular "parliamentary republic" actually does lie with the head of state, contrary to their assertions otherwise. The strictest reading of the ITNR criteria leads me to say that ITNR should not apply here, and this particular case seems to support that. But the fact that, for many countries on Earth, ITNR would cover the change in a mere figurehead, but not the person in charge of the actual functioning of the state and government strikes me as absurd, and surely this would have been considered when laying down the ITNR criteria.128.214.53.18 (talk) 07:43, 24 May 2016 (UTC)

  Perhaps WT:ITNR is a better venue for this since the item has been posted, regardless of whether it should be included as an ITNR candidate or not. The Rambling Man (talk) 07:50, 24 May 2016 (UTC)

Indeed- though they may want to review prior discussions on that subject. 331dot (talk) 18:03, 24 May 2016 (UTC)

May 22