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☆ Eurovision is back, but will Baby Lasagne or Nemo triumph? Your complete guide
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

“People are like ‘OK, Sweden is the spiritual home of Eurovision’ – I see Eurovision as this moving entity,” she tells CNN. “The whole product, ABBA, is a vibe, isn’t it?”ABBA sing "Waterloo" at Eurovision 50 years ago. But ABBA are the past; Baby Lasagne, Windows95Man and Nemo – a person, not a fish – are very much the present. This year’s slim favorite is Baby Lasagne, whose arena-pounding anthem “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” describes a brain drain affecting Croatian towns. He credits his fiancée with helping him launch his career – “She’s the lasagne, and I’m just the baby,” he tells CNN.

Persons: Paul Anka, Abba –, Loreen, –, “, Loreen –, they’ve, ” Loreen, Olle Lindeborg, Lasagne, Nemo, Sarah Bonnici, aga, you’d, Music ”, Dominic Lipinski, Marcus, Martinus, ”, – “, I’m, Switzerland’s Nemo, ” Nemo, ” Joost Klein's, Jens Büttner, Joost Klein, Teemu Keisteri, he’s, Windows95Man, it’s, Belgium’s Mustii, Bonnie Tyler’s, Sanjin, Marina Satti, Hera Bjork, ” Saba, Slimane, who’s, ” Poland’s Luna, Jeff Spicer, ” we’re, Luna “, doesn’t, we’re, ” Portugal’s, … “, Alyona Alyona, Jerry Heil, Jens Bittner, ” Joost Klein, bro, airdropped, Angelina, Greta Thunberg, Eden Golan, audibly, they’ll, oddballs gunning Organizations: CNN, Waterloo, Malmo, Eurovision, Getty, Pulitzer, aga … aaa, aaa, United, Music, MAG, San, ” “ Hurricanes, Israel, European Broadcasting Union Locations: Sweden, AFP, Malmo, Europe, Armenia, wail, Gaza, Israel

☆ Pope sparks anger after saying Ukraine should have the ‘courage of the white flag’ and negotiate
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-10 | by ( Radina Gigova | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Pope Francis has sparked anger after saying Ukraine should have the “courage of the white flag” and negotiate to end the war with Russia. In an interview with Swiss broadcaster Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS) published on Saturday, Francis was asked whether he thinks negotiations would “legitimize the stronger party.”“That is one interpretation,” he replied. We shall never raise any other flags,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a post on social media Sunday. People wave Ukrainian flags at St.Peter's square as Pope Francis addresses the crowd on Sunday. “How about, for balance, encouraging Putin to have the courage to withdraw his army from Ukraine,” Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said Sunday in a post on X.

Persons: Pope Francis, Francis, ”, Dmytro Kuleba, “, Alberto Pizzoli, Sviatoslav, unconquered, ” Father Sviatoslav, Matteo Bruni, Pope, Francis’s, Putin, Radosław Sikorski, Edgars Rinkēvičs, Alexandra Valkenburg Organizations: CNN, Radio Télévision Suisse, Getty, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Greek Catholic Church, Press, Vatican News, EU Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Swiss, Kyiv, “, AFP, New York, Ukrainian, “ Ukraine

☆ Avdiivka: Ukraine’s defeat darkens the mood in the West
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Traveling from the Munich Security Conference towards Ukraine’s frontlines, the polite frustration and manicured pleas of Western leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky feel yet more desperate. Ukrainian soldiers of Brigade 71 fire artillery in the direction of Avdiivka on February 18, 2024. Latvia’s president spoke of “murder,” Germany’s defense minister of how the death showed Russia was “willing and able to provoke” the West. Tobias Schwarz/ReutersIn and of itself, the Ukrainian defeat Avdiivka does not herald a sea change in Kyiv’s fortunes. Instead they may face larger existential questions about providing a lot more help, very urgently, to stop Ukraine’s war becoming Europe’s.

Persons: Ukraine’s frontlines, Volodymyr Zelensky, Diego Herrera Carcedo, Alexey Navalny, Putin, ”, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Zelensky –, –, Tobias Schwarz, Avdiivka, Bakhmut, —, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Oleksandr Syrsky —, Zelensky, ’, Tucker Carlson, Kostiantyn, Zaluzhnyi Organizations: CNN, Munich, Ukraine’s, Ukrainian, United States Congress, Brigade, Getty, Trump, NATO, Republican, Reuters, European Union Locations: Europe, Ukraine, Avdiivka, Anadolu, Russia, West, Munich, Germany, Moscow, Kyiv, Kupiansk, Kharkiv, Russian, Poland, frontlines, North Korea

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Latvia’s president says Russia is planning for a long war in Ukraine and he has a message for countries wavering on continuing military support to Kyiv: Keep supplying arms or the Ukrainians will lose and Russia will have a green light for threatening others in the future. In July, Rinkēvičs was sworn in as president of Latvia, which was part of the Soviet Union until its break-up in August 1991. He said it is important for the West to support both Ukraine and Israel against attacks on “our values” and the international order. Rinkēvičs said the EU and NATO need to prepare for a long war in Ukraine. Many experts and officials have said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hope is to outlast Western support for Ukraine in a long war.

Persons: —, Edgars Rinkēvičs, Russia’s Wagner, Rinkēvičs, ”, “, ” Rinkēvičs, Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s, Vladimir Putin’s, “ Let’s, let’s Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, Associated Press, European Union, NATO, Russia, Russia’s, Gaza Health Ministry, EU, Ukraine, Security Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Kyiv, Europe, Africa, Gaza, Israel, Latvia, Soviet Union, Baltic, EU, Iran, It's, Moscow, ” Ukraine, United State, Asia, Taiwan, Latvian, United States, Nazi Germany, New York

☆ Fact Check-High temperatures in the early 20th century don’t disprove climate warming
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

An inaccurate table of record-high temperatures in Europe circulating online shows that a handful of records set before 1950 still stand, but also that most records in specific cities were set after 2000. !” to imply that recent heat records set in Europe are not new. However, the post’s implication that record-high temperatures disprove climate warming is unsupported by further evidence. Temperatures for Europe as a whole show long-term warming trends with several countries having revised their all-time heat records over the past few years. Historical local heat records are not evidence for or against overall climate warming.

Persons: “, Belgium’s, Copernicus, Read Organizations: State, Reuters Locations: Europe, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, England, Ventspils, Daugavpils, Begijnendijk, Uccle, Slovenia, Netherlands

☆ Opinion: Russia’s uneasy neighbors
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Opinion Frida Ghitis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

“All of Russia’s neighbors are under threat,” he said, “if Ukraine does not prevail.” He will find few who disagree among those neighbors. It’s why Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, one of the most eloquent proponents of the need to support Ukraine, says Ukraine is Estonia’s own front line. Here, the exterior of Russia’s embassy has become a showcase for the contempt Estonians feel for their former master. As in Estonia, Russia’s 21st century assault on Ukraine brought echoes of Russia’s 20th century subjugation of Latvia. Genuine normalcy, a permanent sense of safety, Russia’s neighbors have discovered, will have to wait until peace returns to a secure Ukraine.

Persons: Frida Ghitis, Latvia CNN —, it’s, Lithuania —, Volodymyr Zelensky, ”, Vladimir, Putin, Raivis, “, It’s, Kaja Kallas, Michal Fludra, Ukraine —, ” Janis Melnikovs, Radio Maria, Melnikovs, there’s, Russia —, Toomas, Margit Raud, Margit, —, Galina Domenikovska, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Russia’s Organizations: CNN, Washington Post, Politics, Latvia CNN, Frida Ghitis CNN, Estonian, Russian Embassy, Ukraine Independence, NATO, Catholic, Radio, Ukraine, Kremlin, People Fleeing, Authorities, Soviet Army, Twitter Locations: Riga, Latvia, Russia, Ukraine, Moscow, Estonia, Lithuania, Denmark, Netherlands, Soviet Union, Tallinn, Estonian, Finland, Helsinki, People Fleeing Ukraine, Viru, Baltics, Russia’s, Baltic, Republic of Georgia, Crimean

☆ Fact Check-Latvia did not fine citizens for celebrating WW2 victory over Hitler
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Fines issued by Latvian police for publishing symbols that are banned by law are being falsely claimed online to be fines for commemorating World War Two victory over Nazi Germany. One X user said: “That is the day celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany. Because Latvia is a Nazi state in Nazi NATO” (here). Riga officially commemorates victory over Nazi Germany on May 8. Local police say the fines were not for commemorating a particular event, but for public displays of outlawed symbols.

Persons: “, Hitler, Saint George, Simona Grāvīte, ”, Grāvīte, Read Organizations: Latvian, Nazi, Facebook, Russia, Victory, Nazi NATO, Latvia’s State Police, Independent State, CIS, Local, Reuters Locations: Nazi Germany, Latvia, Nazi, Riga, Moscow, Estonia, Lithuania, Baltic, Soviet Union, Ukraine

☆ Ukraine Is Sacrificing For Us - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Nicholas Kristof | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Many Americans and Europeans flatter themselves by seeing the war in Ukraine through a false prism. We pat ourselves on the back for providing expensive weapons and paying higher heating bills to help Ukrainians win their freedom — and we wish they’d get on with it. In fact, what’s clear here in the Baltic countries is that it’s the other way around: The Ukrainians are sacrificing for us. “We have by our support for Ukraine defended ourselves,” said Egils Levits, who concluded his term as Latvia’s president this month. He used his last full interview before leaving office to argue that the West should provide Ukraine with more weapons to ensure that it recovers all its territory, including Crimea — so that Vladimir Putin’s aggression is thoroughly discredited.

Persons: they’d, ”, Egils Levits, Vladimir Putin’s Organizations: Lithuania — Locations: VILNIUS, Lithuania, Ukraine, Baltic, Europe, Crimea

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is not even in Belarus, Lukashenko told CNN – he is in Russia, Lukashenko claimed. Available satellite imagery has also not shown any signs of the kind of preparations and security that would be standard at a Russian nuclear facility. Russia has the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons, with 4,477 deployed and reserve nuclear warheads, including around 1,900 tactical nuclear weapons, according to the Federation of American Scientists. “Putin does not need tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus to use those weapons,” Bergmann added. “But it is concerning to the US that tactical nuclear weapons could potentially be co-located in Belarus with Wagner fighters.

Persons: Wagner, Alexander Lukashenko, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Lukashenko, CNN –, Alexander Zemlianichenko, Vladimir Putin, Putin, ”, Max Bergmann, “ Putin, ” Bergmann, Lukashenko’s, Alexander Nemenov, Angela, Prigozhin, Leonid Kasinsky, ” Lukashenko Organizations: CNN, Wagner Group, Wagner PMC, Federation of American Scientists, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Directorate of, Ministry of Defense, Soviet Union, Experts, NATO, European Union, Lithuanian President’s Communication, Georgetown University, Kremlin, Wagner, Russian Ministry of Defense Locations: Russia, Europe, Belarus, Russian, Minsk, Belarusian, Tsel, Soviet, Vilnius, Lithuania, AFP, Poland, Belarus US, St . Petersburg

☆ $200 billion in frozen Russian assets could help rebuild Ukraine. Europe is trying to figure out how
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —Russian assets frozen in European accounts could generate billions of dollars a year for rebuilding Ukraine. One idea put forward in the EU is to draw off the interest on income generated by Russian assets while leaving the assets themselves untouched. This approach would probably deliver about €3 billion ($3.3 billion) a year, according to Anders Ahnlid, the director general of the Swedish National Board of Trade and head of the EU working group looking into frozen Russian assets. The group said in April that cash on its balance sheet had more than doubled over the year to March to stand at €140 billion ($153 billion), boosted by payments associated with frozen Russian assets, including bonds. Euroclear routinely invests such long-term cash balances and, in the first quarter, it recorded €734 million ($802 million) in interest earned on cash balances from sanctioned Russian assets.

Persons: Anders Ahnlid, “, ” Ahnlid, ”, Euroclear, Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš, John Thys, I’m, ’, ” — James Frater Organizations: London CNN, Union, Bank, EU, Swedish National Board of Trade, CNN, European Commission, European Central Bank, ECB, Group, Latvia’s, Latvia's, European Locations: Ukraine, Brussels, Russia, EU, Belgium, AFP, Europe

Pressure mounted on Germany to approve the transfer of its Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, a day after Western allies meeting at the U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany failed to reach an agreement about sending armored vehicles. Edgars Rinkēvičs, Latvia’s foreign minister, said on Twitter Saturday morning that he and his counterparts from Lithuania and Estonia “call on Germany to provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine now. This is needed to stop Russian aggression, help Ukraine and restore peace in Europe quickly. Germany as the leading European power has special responsibility in this regard.”

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