Dustin the Turkey will represent Ireland in 53rd Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Irlande Douze Pointe”. The winner was chosen by the mixture of televoting and sms.

Ireland is the country with the record of 7 wins in Eurovision Song Contest. The most successful country won in 1992, 1993, and 1994 in a row but after hosting the contest in 1997 the things dramatically changed. In 2005 the country did not reach the final, in 2007 finished last in Helsinki. This year Ireland will take part in the first semi final on May20th.

Ukrainian national final was held and the audience decided Ani Lorak to sing the song Shady lady. She sang all five songs but the public chose the song composed by Philip Kirkorov with lyrics by Karen Kavaleryan.

The results are:
“Shady lady” - 14 points
“A dream for a brighter day” - 8 points
“I’ll be your lady” - 8 points
“Ya stanu morem” - 4 points
“Zhudu tebya” - 2 points

The song “DJ Take me away” won in EuroBGvision. The song will perform Bulgaria in Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade. Unique musical instrument was created specially for the song. Bulgaria takes part in the second semi final on May 22th in the Serbian capital.

The results after the voting are:
Deep Zone & Balthazar - “DJ Take Me Away” - 15.37%
Georgi Hristov & Gianni Fiorelino - “Sogno” - 15.27%
Nikolai Manolov - “Po-Dobre” - 12.98%
Dani Milev - “Slanceto I Mraka” - 11.54%
Svetozar Christov & Vladimir Dimov - “Tired Soul” - 11.26%
Nevena Tsoneva - “Ne Istjesvai” - 9.63%
Desi Dobreva - “Strong” - 9.60%
Ivaylo Kolev - “Should’ve Been The One” - 3.76%
New Generation - “Running Scared” - 3.14%
Ivan & Stani - “You Are Magic” - 3.06%
Simona Sivanio - “Obehstaj Mi” - 2.33%
Te & Preslava Peycheva - “Tazi Vecher” - 2.06%

Tonight will be presented the 5 songs of Boaz Mauda on the broadcaster’s official site. The special show will be broadcasted by IBA. For the first time the songs will be performed to the public next week on Kdam-Eurovision, which is the Israel national final for Eurovision Song Contest 2008. The program tonight will start at 22.45 local time.

The songs in competition are:
“Ke’ilo kan” by Dana International and Shai Kerem
“Masa Haiyai” by Itay Pearl
“Hin’e Ha’or” by Ovadia Hamama -  A duet with Maya Avraham
“Bli ahava” by Henree
“Parparim” by Doron Gal - A duet with Oshrat Phaphir

The semi final of Croatian preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 will be held on Friday 22nd.Dora08 will take place in Opatijia. The running order for the show has been announced by HRT and it is:

Bonaca & Nera - Tvoje oko za more duboko
Antonija Å ola - Gdje je srce tu je dom
Ivo Gamulin Gianni - Sanjam
Ibrica Jusic - Iskoci sa mnom iz jureeg vlaka
Martina - Idi leda mi okreni
Zorica Kondža - Za tobom luda
Vlatka Grakalic - Kazi mi
Ivana Radovniković - Kakav tuzan kraj
Mor Roll - Ne razumijemo se
Danijela Pintaric - Dotakni zvijezde
Dani Stipaničev - Ja san umra za ljubav
Kraljevi ulice & 75 cents - Romanca
Maja Å uput - Lako zaljubljiva
Emilija Kokic - Andeo

Six of the fourteen singers will go to the final on Saturday.

Due to the political situation in Serbia, Beovizija 2008- country’s selection show for Eurovision Song Contest will be temporary postponed. This short announcement has been given on Serbia’s national broadcaster RTS. The new date for the semi final and final will be announced to the public shortly.

After the declaration of independence in Kosovo on Sunday, the broadcaster took decision to delay the show temporarily. Sandra Susa is RTS executive producer for entertainment. On a meeting with the singers she will explain them the broadcaster’s decision.

The running order for the Beovizija 2008 semi final had been determined earlier.
1. Studio Alektik and Cveta Majtanovic - Iznad nas
2. Drum’n'Zez - Dunav 
3. Negativ - S tobom bih ostala
4. Mogul - Mojda baš
5. Nenad Ceranic - Slepa ulica
6. Betty Boop -  Kvar
7. Sloba Bajic - Precica do dna
8. Aleksa Jelic & Ana Stajdohar - Beli jablan
9. Beauty Queens - Zavet
10. Andrej Ilic Band - Tijana
11. Lejla Hot - Da si tu
12. Ivana Cosic -  Kao da hodam
13. Tamara Nikezic - Nisi prvi
14. Dejan Vozlic - Ako me huješ
15. Zana Band - U život kockam se
16. Marko Vulinovic - Sada ili nikada
17. Zoe Kida u Zemlji Gruva - Cudesni svetovi
18. Ognjen and friends - Cucemo, cucete
19. Denis and Obule - Bezimena
20. Jelena Tomasevic - Oro

 Ani Lorak was selected to represent Ukraine to Eurovision Song Contest 2008. During the National final, Ani will perform four songs on February 16th. The public will have to choose which one of the song to represent Ukraine.

The titles of the songs are:
I’m your woman (music and lyrics: Bozhena Kostroms’ka)
The dream of a bright day (music: Ani Lorak, lyrics: Yuriy Suc)
Shady lady (music: Philip Kirkorow, lyrics: Karen Kavaleryan)
Ya stanu morem (music: Vitaliy Volkomor, lyrics: Nikolay Brovchenko)

The show for the Ukrainian final will be choreographed by Olena Kolyadenko, her fashion designer will be Angela Lisytsa. She will be supported by male dancers, too.

After the world premiere of Ruslana’s show “Wild Energy” in Azerbaijan national final, today she said “I was very happy that the premiere of my new show took place in Baku. Azerbaijan is a very special country with ancient and beautiful traditions. Fantastic people live there. It was a big surprise for me that almost half of the audience were filming our performance with their mobile phones and digital cameras. In the first few seconds I thought it was a special light effect in the arena.”

Then she added: “In Baku we presented only a piece of the new show. Still, in those 30 minutes, we tried to show my new performance character, which is Amazonka, the Amazon, a wild and independent woman who gradually falls in love as the show unfolds. We have worked on this show for a long time already. Our goal was to create a truly professional performance. It has been more than 3 years that we’ve worked on it. And I can honestly tell you that my heart and soul are in it.”

 BBC confirmed that there will be no press launch this year for United Kingdom Eurovision Song Contest. It is expected in the next week more details to be released through the press office.

In the last years, a press launch has been organized and the participating artists in he national final have been announced three weeks earlier. That was opportunity the press to meet the participating artists and to hear their songs.

Any details about the location and date of the show are not announced yet and the broadcaster may surprise with something new and different.

 In Czech Republic a private TV channel  is claiming that the victory of Teresa Kerndlova was influenced by a company called Icom. It is possible that the employees were told to vote continuously by SMS.

The national broadcaster strongly refused that allegation, saying ” “There was no problem whatsoever with the televoting during our national final. There is no intention of disqualifying Tereza who is extremely upset by the whole incident. The story was initiated by a private TV channel, based on an anonymous email and another anonymous statement.

Tereza is currently working hard on her show for Belgrade. Her latest album was indeed sponsored by Icom but this is a common thing and in no way means that the company encouraged the employees to vote for Tereza. The management of the company themselves have denied any attempt to influence their employee’s votes.”

 Tickets for the United Kingdom Eurovision Song Contest selection show are available to apply online. The working title of the show is “Making your mind up”. It will be recorded on Saturday, March 1st at BBC Centre, London.

 Those of you who want to be in the audience also can apply online. A person can not apply for more then 6 tickets.

Last night was announced the running order of the upcoming Beovizija final.The show Evropsko Lice was hosted by TV persons and Serbian famous artists. Mari Mari, Ivica Klemenci  Olivera Kovacevic,Darko Kamaritc Srdjan Predojevic, Sandra Šuša  and Gorica Popovic took part.

Twenty artists will compete at the semi final. Only ten of them will go to the final on the next day.

The running order is:
1. Alektik and Cveta Majtanović - “Iznad nas”
2. Drum’n'Zez - “Dunav”
3. Negativ - “S tobom bih ostala”
4. Mogul - “Mozda baÅ¡”
5. Nenad Ceranic - “Slepa ulica”
6. Betty Boop - “Kvar”
7. Sloba Bajić - “Prečica do dna”
8. Aleksa Jelic and Ana Å tajdohar - “Beli jablan”
9. Beauty Queens - “Zavet”
10. Andrej Ilić Bend - “Tijana”
11. Lejla Hot - “Da si tu”
12. Ivana CosiC - “Kao da hodam”
13. Tamara Nikezic - “Nisi prvi”
14. Dejan Vozlic - “Ako me cujeÅ¡”
15. Zana - “U zivot kockam se”
16. Marko Vulinovic - “Sada ili nikada”
17. Zoe Kida u Zemlji Gruva - “Cudesni svetovi”
18. Ognjen and prijatelji - “Cucemo, Cucete”
19. Denis and Obule - “Bezimena”
20. Jelena TomaÅ¡evic - “Oro”

Maria Haukaas Storeng won the Norwegian national final for Eurovision Song Contest and will represent her country in Belgrade. She won the competition with her song ” Hold on, be strong”. She qualified to the final of Melodi grand Prix and there she beat the other candidates with her melodic song. To the Super Final were sent four songs and there she won by a landslide with more then 80 000 votes then Torstein Sødal.

Maria Haukaas Storeng 195.661 votes - “Hold on be strong”
Torstein Sødal 118.095 votes - “Eastern wind”
Veronica Akselsen - “Am I supposed to love again”
King of Trolls - “Far away”

On the national final in Moldova was decided Geta Burlacu to represent the country to Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade.

She performed her melodic jazzy song “A century of love” perfectly and won the professional jury. The audience’s undisputed favorite was Alexa who won more then 3 000 votes, but left on second place.

Csézy will represent her country in the Belgrade. She won the Hungarian national final. She will sing her song in the second semi final of Eurovision Song Contest 2008 on May 22nd. On the final the jury gave one point more to Adrien Szekeres.

The results according the jury are:
15 points - Adrien Szekeres - “Piszkos tánc”
14 points - Csézy - “Szívverés”
13 points - Antal Zsuzsa & Fishers Company - “Falak között”
12 points - Pflum Orsi – “Távol”
11 points - Vágó Zsuzsi Zsuzsi Mészáros Árpád Zsolt - “Két szív”
10 points - Gál Csaba Boogie - “Úgy figyeltelek”
9 points - Mónika Hoffman - “Légy te az Elso”
8 points - Lola - “Legszebb nap”
7 points - Fiesta - “Gyplölve szeretni”
6 points - Orsi Szatmari - “Véletlen”
5 points - 21 gramm - “Még egy dal”
4 points - Imre Zsuzsa - “Érintés”
3 points - Candies - “Van aki nyer”
2 points - Dure - “Nem ismerlek már”
1 point - EZ ONE zenekar - “Lesz ki hazavár”