Eurovision 2023: UK will host on Ukraine’s behalf

Published

2 years ago

July 26, 2022

The United Kingdom will host the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023 on behalf of 2022 winner Ukraine

The UK will host the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023 after organisers decided it could not be held in Ukraine due to the ongoing Russian war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1fl60ypdLs

UKRAINian group “Kalush Orchestra” won the 2022 eurovision song contest with a song calleD “STEFANIA”

Ukraine won the competition earlier this year

Under normal circumstances, winning the contest means your home country hosts the competition the following year.

But with Ukraine in a state of war, organisers said Ukraine would not be able to ensure a safe venue or event.

https://twitter.com/SamRyderMusic/status/1551634748996567042?s=20&t=rmYsDzKypGH3NAXsaOBXGg

The United Kingdom, which was the runner up – will instead host the event.

UK’s 2022 Eurovision contestant Sam Ryder tweeted his solidarity with Ukraine following the announcement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ0hqX_92zI

UK Contestant SAM RYDER was the runner up in the 2022 Eurovision song contest with “space man”

Just like each year’s winner, Ukraine will automatically qualify for the Grand Final in 2023, instead of having to go through several qualifying rounds.

The “Big five” – UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain automatically qualify for the Grand Final every year – as they are the nations that contribute the largest amount of funds to the competition.

Last week President @ZelenskyyUa and I agreed that wherever Eurovision 2023 is held, it must celebrate the country and people of Ukraine.

As we are now hosts, the UK will honour that pledge directly – and put on a fantastic contest on behalf of our Ukrainian friends.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) July 25, 2022

UK cities will now bid to host the event.

Glasgow in Scotland was one of the first to announce they would bid to host it.

London may seem like an intuitive choice for some, though it might be difficult to justify the capital being awarded yet another large scale event.

Other cities in the UK that have the necessary infrastructure and venues large enough include Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle.

President Biden signs TikTok bill – what’s next?

Published

2 days ago

April 26, 2024

ticker NEWS

TikTok users could soon find that the popular social media service is either under new ownership or could be outright banned in the United States.

President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that requires TikTok to find a new owner—or face a ban in the United States.

Over the past several months, Washington D.C. has been under pressure to ban the popular Chinese-owned social media app.

Lawmakers and security experts have long raised concerns that the Chinese government could tap TikTok’s trove of personal data about millions of U.S. users.

TikTok’s CEO said the bill is disappointing and reiterated that the company has committed to challenge it.

David Zhang from China Insider. joins Veronica Dudo to discuss

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