Author: staff

Dramatic key changes, flaming set design, and onomatopoeic song titles — when it comes to camp and sentimental spectacle, no event does it better than the Eurovision Song Contest. Returning for its 69th edition, this year’s event takes place in Basel, Switzerland following 25-year-old Nemo’s win last year with their catchy tune ‘The Code’. A total of 26 contestants will perform in what has already proven to be another controversial edition. Contentions have ranged from complaints over the song lyrics of Malta’s entry by Miriana Conte, to politically charged discussions about Israel’s inclusion — over 70 former contestants signed an…

“Trump said he wanted to use power for peace; he lied,” Khamenei said. Instead, the theocratic leader said, Trump and his administration “used power to massacre Gaza, to incite war wherever they could, and to support their own mercenaries.” Khamenei reiterated his threats against Israel, calling it “the Zionist regime,” and “a dangerous and malignant cancerous tumor in this region [that] must and will be uprooted.” “The U.S. must and will leave this region,” he added. While Iran’s rhetoric against the U.S. and its allies persists, Tehran and Washington are negotiating a new deal to prevent Iran from developing nuclear…

Oleh Hryhorov, head of the local military administration, announced the death toll. He reported on social media that three of the injured are in serious condition and described the attack as “another war crime by Russia.” Moscow did not immediately comment on the attack. On Saturday, Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that an in-person meeting between the Kremlin leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains “possible,” but only if certain conditions are met first. Peskov did not specify those conditions, but he commented on the prisoner swap. “What the delegations agreed to yesterday remains to be…

In December 2003, Ruslana Lyzhychko was offered the chance to represent Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest.“I said yes immediately. I called my mother and told her, ‘Mom, I’m going to the Eurovision Song Contest’. And my mother replied ‘Ruslana, you will win.’”It was the second time Ukraine had ever competed in the show and everything was new.“I paid for everything myself – for promotion, production, hotel, costume and travel for our entire delegation. I spent all the money that my husband and I had. It was a really big risk for our family,” she recalls.But the risk paid off…

According to Reuters, local health authorities in Gaza reported that the latest Israeli strikes killed at least 58 people overnight, bringing the death toll to over 300 since Thursday. On Friday, Trump acknowledged his concern about the escalating conflict. “We’re looking at Gaza. And we’re going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving,” the president said. In the early hours of Saturday, Palestinian media reported that Israeli ground troops had advanced toward Deir al-Balah, one of the few areas in Gaza where ground troops have not yet operated in during the war. Earlier this week,…

A POLITICO investigation uncovers the full extent of Potra’s empire and his influence over the pro-Georgescu campaign that plunged Romania into crisis. Drawing on business records, financial transactions, prosecutor files, land registries, and testimonies from insiders, this research reveals a portrait of a man who amassed both vast wealth and powerful connections through his mercenary activities. It raises crucial questions, too, over his links with Moscow.  Royal bodyguard Potra is a man who has been shaped by war.  Now 54, the Transylvania-born legionnaire honed his physique during a five-year stint in the French Foreign Legion before spending almost 30 years as a private…

Kristersson thanked the staff of Sweden’s foreign ministry “who, under the leadership of Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard, have worked intensively on this matter.” He also thanked “my European colleagues who have been helpful in the process.” Medin had been charged with insulting the president, a crime in Turkey, and with membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish militant group that Turkey designates as a terrorist organization. The PKK announced on Monday that it will disband and disarm, ending 40 years of conflict with Turkey. Relations between Sweden and Turkey have been rocky in the past, with the…

Last year’s presidential election was controversially canceled after what authorities deemed to be major Russian election interference in support of ultranationalist candidate Călin Georgescu. With Georgescu banned from standing in this month’s rerun, 38-year-old nationalist Simion is in the lead after the first round but polls have shown the gap to the moderate candidate Nicușor Dan narrowing significantly for Sunday’s decisive vote. Elena Calistru, president and co-founder of local non-profit Funky Citizens, which monitors disinformation, said that the implementation of measures passed by the Romanian authorities is failing to meet the bar for electoral objectivity.  The criticisms center on emergency…

At least nine people have been killed and four were injured after a Russian drone strike which hit a passenger bus in Ukraine’s northeastern region of Sumy, according to local officials.The Sumy regional administration said in a post on the Telegram messaging app that “This is another war crime by Russia — a deliberate strike on civilian transport that posed no threat.”The strike took place a few hours after talks had been held between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Turkey, the first direct peace talks in years, were unsuccessful in bringing about a ceasefire.Ukraine’s national police released photos showing the…

Somewhere over the Atlantic, a gleaming private jet gifted by Qatar soars high, while EU leaders experience severe altitude envy down on earth. According to ABC News, the Trump administration might be about to replace its Air Force One plane with a luxurious Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet, courtesy of the state of Qatar. Although the Gulf country says the deal is not final yet, the gift would obviously be the best way to commemorate that weird sword dance Donald Trump did in Saudi Arabia during his first mandate. The Donald will probably have the plane upgraded with golden letters spelling…