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See the stunning winning photographs from Wiki Loves Earth 2015

Wikimedia Highlights, September 2015

News on Wikipedia: FIFA president suspended, and more

News on Wikipedia: Elections in Catalonia, supermoon, and more

Mon Dieu! Why a French novelist gave an entire year’s royalties to Wikipedia

“It’s addicting, editing Wikipedia. It’s just something I love to do”: Paulina Sanchez

Wikimedia project milestones: Swedish Wikipedia hits 2 million articles

News on Wikipedia: Japan shocks the rugby world, an earthquake strikes Chile, and

more

The first smile and photobomb ever photographed

Drone photography of Versailles: Lionel Allorge

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Commons:Templates

Sepp Blatter has found himself under renewed calls to step down from his position. Photo by the

International Students’ Committee, freely licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

FIFA, the world’s organising body overseeing association football all over the world,

has spent much of this year battling with corruption claims. Police in several countries

have launched investigations into accusations that some of their highest-ranked

officials may have been involved in bribery.

This month, FIFA’s president Sepp Blatter was urged by four major sponsors of the

federation to immediately step down from his position. Today, Blatter was suspended

for ninety days by the federation’s ethics committee.

He had previously won re-election just two days after police arrested fourteen people,

including seven officials, on corruption charges in May.

An article on these arrests, “2015 FIFA corruption case”, was drafted hours after they

were made. The original author was Gareth Kegg, who has been editing Wikipedia for

more than ten years and has, at the time of writing, created 1,564 articles on the site.

The first draft was fairly modest: based on one rolling news story from British

newspaper The Guardian, it named nine of the highest-profile arrests as well as the

background leading up to the leadership vote on May 28–29.

Since its creation, the article has grown from just a few paragraphs to an article

documenting the history of the allegations—from even before the May arrests which

brought the story to front pages worldwide—which now contains a total of 83

references, as well as a link to the court papers on the United States Department of

Justice.

The article’s attracted 534 edits since its creation—an average of around four edits per

day—by more than 200 users from all over the world. Arguably the world’s most

popular sport, it’s not surprising that football is a popular topic on

Wikipedia: WikiProject Football, one of many editor taskforces on Wikipedia, considers

more than a quarter of a million articles to be under its scope, and has 400 editors

signed up as members.

The article now covers international reaction to the indictments, FIFA’s suspension of

the World Cup bidding process, and Blatter’s decision to step down ahead of an

extraordinary FIFA Congress in 2016.

For the four sponsors, however—Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Visa, and Budweiser—

Blatter’s decision is not enough. They this week called for him to immediately leave his

post as President of FIFA, following reports last week that he had made “disloyal

payments” to the head of the European confederation of FIFA in 2011. The four

companies provide a large part of the estimated $1.62 billion FIFA takes in every four

years in World Cup sponsorship. Blatter denies wrongdoing, and refuses to respond to

the sponsors’ demands.

Today, members of the FIFA ethics committee suspended Blatter, as well as two other

officials, for 90 days in relation to the suspect payments. This decision was reflected

swiftly on Wikipedia.

The South Carolina National Guard provided locals with sandbags in preparation for the

storms. Photoby the South Carolina National Guard, in the public domain.

Also in the news this week was Hurricane Joaquin, which this week battered

theCaribbean with winds peaking at 155 mph (250 km/h). It was the strongest Atlantic

hurricane since 2010’s Hurricane Igor, and caused extensive damage to the

Bahamasand Bermuda. It is thought to have caused the deaths of at least 50 people,

the majority of them crew on missing cargo ship SS El Faro, presumed to have sunk

following widespread searching.

Joaquin contributed to the October 2015 North American storm complex affecting the

eastern United States, in particular the states of North and South Carolina. The storm,

known locally as a “nor’easter”, has caused catastrophic flash flooding since

September 29, ongoing in areas of South Carolina.

At least 18 deaths have been attributed to the storm, the majority of them in South

Carolina. The flooding is thought to have caused billions of dollars worth of damage to

homes in the regions worst hit. Parts of South Carolina have been declared disaster

areas, and more than 1,300 National Guard soldiers have been mobilised.

In the early hours of October 3, the United States Air Force bombed a Médecins Sans

Frontières (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, killing twenty-two people and

injuring more than 30 more. The United States and NATO have launched

investigations into the incident, condemned as a violation of international humanitarian

law by MSF.

The hospital was the only active medical facility in the area, reported The Atlantic, and

has been essentially shut down. Critical patients were referred to other providers and

MSF staff were evacuated from Kunduz. US President Barack Obama gave his

“deepest condolences” in a statement made following the attack, while the UN High

Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, demanded an independent

investigation.

Joe Sutherland, Communications Intern, Wikimedia Foundation

Elections in Catalonia, supermoon, and more

4 COMMENTSBY JOE SUTHERLAND ON SEPTEMBER 29TH, 2015

Here are some of the global news stories covered on Wikipedia this week:

In Catalonia, parties in favour of independence win a majority in regional elections.

German car maker Volkswagen is found to have rigged their diesel test results.

Pope Francis visits eastern United States following an earlier visit to Cuba.

A stampede at the annual Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, kills more than 1,100 people.

A total lunar eclipse is witnessed over half of the world.

Catalonia votes

Junts pel Sí, led by the incumbent President of Catalonia Artur Mas, won most of the

seats. Image byGeneralitat de Catalunya, in the public domain.

Catalonia, an autonomous community in the east of Spain, held its regional

parliamentary elections on September 27. The election was announced by President

of Catalonia Artur Mas in January, with the intention being to focus the vote on

thecommunity’s independence aspirations. Together for Yes, headed by Mas, finished

the day with 62 seats, six short of a majority; they are likely to form a coalition with the

left-wing Popular Unity Candidacy. The result, though not conclusive, is likely to put

pressure on the Spanish general election scheduled for December.

Learn more in the related Wikipedia article: Catalonian parliamentary election, 2015

Volkswagen in emissions scandal

Volkswagen CEO, Martin Winterkorn, resigned in the wake of the

announcement. Image by Volkswagen AG, in the public domain.

German car maker Volkswagen (VW) was last week found to have used software

designed to circumvent emissions tests in the United States. Around 11 million cars

were carrying software which could detect when they were undergoing emissions

tests, and activate pollution controls which were otherwise dormant. CEO Martin

Winterkornresigned from the company in the wake of the announcement, and VW

stocks fell 20% the day after news broke. VW announced plans to spend $7.3 billion to

cover the costs of the scandal on September 22.

Learn more in the related Wikipedia article: Volkswagen emissions testing scandal

Pope Francis tours the United States

Pope Francis met US President Barack Obama during his time in the country. Image by the White

House, in the public domain.

Following a trip to Cuba last week, Pope Francis visited the United States between

September 22 and 27. It was the seventh papal visit to the country since it established

full diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1984. During his trip, he made

appearances in Washington, DC; New York City, including the United

Nations headquarters; andPhiladelphia. In a speech delivered to Congress, he

discussed a range of issues including immigration, protection for persecuted religious

groups including Christians,poverty, capital punishment, and climate change.

Learn more in the related Wikipedia article: Pope Francis’ visit to the United States

Stampede at the Hajj kills hundreds

A stampede at the annual Hajj, a mandatory pilgrimage forming one of the pillars

ofIslam, resulted in the deaths of at least 1,100 people in Mina, Saudi Arabia. It

follows a crane collapse on September 11, which killed 111. It is the deadliest such

incident sincea stampede in 1990, which resulted in 1,426 deaths. The root cause of

the stampede is unclear, but it coincides with multiple obstacles including the hottest

temperatures recorded in Mecca for twenty years. Almost a thousand further people

are thought to have been injured, while more than a thousand others are as yet

unaccounted for.

Learn more in these related Wikipedia articles: 2015 Mina stampede, Hajj

“Supermoon” lunar eclipse

The moon typically appeared red in the sky thanks to Rayleigh scattering. Image by Frank

Schulenburg, in the public domain.

A total lunar eclipse took place between September 27 and 28, seen over the

Americas,Europe, Africa and parts of Asia. It coincided with a “supermoon“; mid-

eclipse, the moon was just 59 minutes past its closest approach to Earth in 2015. The

moon appeared up to 12.9% larger in some areas, as well as taking on a red hue due

to Rayleigh scatteringand the refraction of that light by Earth’s atmosphere into

its umbra. It was the final in atetrad, or four lunar eclipses in a series; the next such

eclipse will take place in 2033.

Learn more in the related Wikipedia article: September 2015 lunar eclipse

Photo montage credits: Image by Frank Schulenburg, in the public domain; Image by the White

House, in the public domain; Image by Volkswagen AG, in the public domain; Image by Generalitat

de Catalunya, in the public domain. Collage by Andrew Sherman

To see how other news events are covered on the English Wikipedia, check out the ‘In

the news’ section on its main page.

Joe Sutherland

Communications Intern

Wikimedia Foundation

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Categories:Communications, News on Wikipedia, The wikis, Wikimedia Commons,Wikipedia

Tags:Catalonia, elections, Hajj stampede, Pope Francis, Supermoon, Volkswagen

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4 Comments on News on Wikipedia: Elections in

Catalonia, supermoon, and more

Alex 1 week

I loved the supermoon lunar eclipse. Thanks for providing earlier and I enjoyed it too much.

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homeandstylesg 1 week

A stampede at the annual Hajj was a sad news.

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Wikimedia Blog 2 weeks

Worth replying? or just good discussion for this article?

On Fri, Oct 2, 2015 at 12:29 PM, Wikimedia blog wrote:

>

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Miguel Suevos 2 weeks

Headline story on Catalonian’s results is missleading. A majority of votes are against

independence, while a majority of seats were won by the pro-independence parties due to

weighted electoral rule.

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