The news extension supplies article information such as publication time. Its recent-publication window is separate from the permanent article URL and the site’s broader archive. (Google News sitemap documentation ↗)
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Removing old sitemap entries while keeping articles
Illustrative Google timing: a story published Friday at 09:00 UTC remains within Google’s two-day news-sitemap window through Sunday at 09:00 UTC. After that point, remove the news entry or metadata but keep the live story and archive listing. The timing rule applies to Google News, not deleting the article.
What the two-day rule applies to
An empty recent-news sitemap can be correct when nothing has been published in the last two days. Check for a missing qualifying story before treating an empty file as a failure. A routine correction should not reset the original publication time to force an old story back into the window.
A quick check after a template change
Pick one newly published article and one older article you edited today. Compare their public pages and the recent-news sitemap. This gives you a quick test of whether the system is selecting recently published articles or accidentally selecting any recently modified record.