List of All Articles with Tag 'war'

Sweden's Loreen has won the Eurovision Song Contest for a second time, earning a historic triumph at an extravagant and crowd-pleasing show held in Liverpool, United Kingdom, on behalf of Ukraine.

This weekend’s Eurovision Song Contest is taking place in a city brimming with Ukrainian flags, Ukrainian food, Ukrainian musicians and Ukrainian fans: Liverpool

Eurovision, that famously camp song contest which has a strong pro-LGBTQ+ stance and has this year acknowledged Putin’s war in Ukraine as the reason for it being held in Liverpool on the country’s behalf, has blocked President Volodymyr Zelensky from making a video address - because it would breach the event’s “non-political nature”. Organisers behind the show, who on Thursday saw no issue with drag queens absolutely slaying on the M&S Bank Arena stage and preaching messages of love and acceptance, rejected the request ahead of the grand final on Saturday. In a statement, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) – whose previous decisions to ban Russia and Belarus from participating definitely weren’t political, obviously – said the request from Mr Zelensky to address the Eurovision audience “while made with laudable intentions, regrettably cannot be granted by the European Broadcasting Union management as it would be against the rules of the event”. Belarus was disqualified from the contest in 2021 over political messaging in their planned entry (their second attempt before the deadline), while Russia was kicked out of Eurovision a year later for its illegal invasion of Ukraine. And the rules state “all participating broadcasters” must ensure that “the ESC [Eurovision Song Contest] shall in no case be politicised and/or instrumentalized and/or otherwise brought into disrepute in any way”. That’s ‘instrumentalise’ in the sense of using Eurovision as a platform to spread a political message, before anyone makes a musical pun (we know you want to)… Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The EBU’s decision has since been criticised by Boris Johnson, the former prime minister who became a meme over how many times he’d meet with the Ukrainian president whenever he was experiencing a turbulent moment in his premiership. “It would have been right to hear from President Zelensky at tomorrow night’s Eurovision. There is only one reason the contest is not in Ukraine and that is because of Putin’s illegal war,” he tweeted. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman told reporters: “The prime minister believes it would be fitting for President Zelensky to address the event and we’re disappointed by the decision from the European Broadcasting Union. “The values and freedoms that President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine are fighting for are not political; they’re fundamental, and Eurovision themselves recognised that last year when they rightly suspended Russia’s participation from the competition.” No 10 added, however, that they are not planning to call on the EBU to change its mind. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

When it comes to Eurovision, you kind of have to accept and embrace the weirdness. So, when the second semi-final of this year’s contest – taking place in Liverpool, of course, on behalf of Ukraine – decided to bring out Peppa Pig to do the conga, many British viewers weren’t that surprised at all. The popular children’s character made an appearance shortly after voting opened during Thursday’s show, which eventually saw fan favourites Belgium and Austria go through to Saturday’s grand final, amongst others. She was also joined by the pop group Scooch, who represented the UK in Finland with “Flying the Flag (For You)” back in 2007. While Peppa danced away, UK commentators Scott Mills and Rylan Clark revealed the latter’s dressing room had also been taken over by the pig. “My dressing room was removed today,” said Clark. “It used to say ‘Rylan’, now it says ‘Peppa the Pig’,” added Mills. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Incredible. Following Peppa Pig’s appearance, many just accepted the scenes as peak British weirdness, and some noticed Ukrainian host Julia Sanina looked rather bemused by it all: As the camera cuts back to the presenters, co-presenter Alesha Dixon can be seen telling Sanina that she will “explain it to you later”. We don’t think it requires any explanation, Alesha… Others, meanwhile, expressed glee at the show’s credits making clear that Peppa Pig was, in fact, Peppa Pig: Peppa has since taken to Twitter to confirm she had an “oinktastic time”, which is nice to hear. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Eurovision Song Contest has barred President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from addressing the final of the pan-continental music competition

A request by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to address the Eurovision Song Contest final in the English city of Liverpool on Saturday has been denied by broadcasters.

The 67th Eurovision Song Contest will soon reach its climax with a grand final broadcast live from Liverpool

The Eurovision Song Contest has barred President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from addressing the final of the pan-continental music competition

Aled Nurton is part of a fan group who travel the world to see the glitz and glamour of Eurovision.

The Lakers-Warriors series continues to garner huge ratings.

The 58th Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards will kick off Thursday with co-hosts Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks taking the stage live from the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas.

Shaq and Charles Barkley lost it on "Inside the NBA."