Nations pull out of Eurovision after Israel allowed to compete

Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands will boycott next year’s Eurovision Song Contest after public broadcasters decided to let Israel compete.

The song contest has now been thrown into chaos, with other countries expected to follow suit.

Iceland had also threatened to pull out of the competition before a crunch meeting in Geneva on Thursday, while there were reports Belgium and Finland were mulling similar moves. Competing broadcasters have until mid-December to confirm their participation.


What will Canada do if it is granted a slot?

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Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s blubfest is a sorrowful sight

There is nothing brave or boundary-breaking about the Wicked: For Good stars’ relentless emoting.

Laurel and Hardy. Morecambe and Wise. Many showbiz double acts have been extremely fond of each other, to the extent that, like these pairs, they would often be shown onscreen sharing a bed. But surely no showbiz duo has ever demonstrated as much of a mutual tendresse as Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, the stars of the Wicked film franchise.

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Iranian Matchmaking Platform Lets Parents Sign Up Girls as Young as 13 for Marriage

A 13-year-old girl in the Islamic Republic of Iran is getting a bit long in the tooth for getting married, and now there is an app for that. Iran International reported last Sunday that “an investigation by the reformist daily Shargh found that a licensed Iranian matchmaking platform lets parents sign up children as young as 13 for marriage, with no age filters or meaningful safeguards in place.” Those who are familiar with the life of Muhammad as he is depicted in traditional Islamic sources, and with Islamic law, will find it odd that the matchmaking site sets the age that high.

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Crying woman begged ‘I have said no, please stop’ to asylum seeker living in migrant hotel ‘as he raped her’,

A young woman was heard begging ‘please stop’ to an asylum seeker in a secret recording as he ‘raped her’, a jury has heard.

Distressing audio clips which were secretly recorded by the alleged victim were played to the jury in a rape trial.

Chret Callender, 28, drunkenly forced himself onto the young woman after he turned up at her home following a night out on June 14, Bournemouth Crown Court heard.

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When Biological Reality Becomes a Crime: Swiss Man Imprisoned Over Facebook Post

A Swiss wind instrument repairman is serving a ten-day jail sentence after refusing to pay a fine imposed for a comment he made on Facebook about biological sex. Emanuel Brünisholz, from Burgdorf in the canton of Bern, responded to a December 2022 post by Swiss National Councillor Andreas Glarner, writing: “If you excavate LGBTQI people after 200 years, you will only find men and women among the skeletons; everything else is a mental illness that was fostered by the curriculum!”

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Liberals nervously await the effects of Steven Guilbeault’s resignation on the party’s Quebec fortunes

The Montreal riding of Laurier–Sainte-Marie is ground zero for Quebec’s media elites and the beating heart of the province’s cultural industries. Not surprisingly, it skews progressive and has reliably sent left-leaning MPs to Ottawa for more than three decades.

Last week’s resignation of local MP Steven Guilbeault from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet generated a minor earthquake in Laurier—Sainte-Marie whose aftershocks are being nervously monitored in federal Liberal circles in Quebec.

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Meet the ‘Cougars for Luigi Mangione’ — and new fans of the alleged killer

‘Mangionistas’ are queuing for days for a glimpse of their idol after the death of the healthcare boss Brian Thompson. They are not without their critics

They had been waiting in sub-zero temperatures since Saturday afternoon, their tents snaking around barricades at the Manhattan Supreme Court.

The throng of mostly young women — and some older, self-styled “cougars” — had queued for their chance to see Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare chief executive, in the flesh.

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Waymo has its sights set on Toronto for driverless cars. The city’s history with Big Tech suggests that’s cause for alarm

Waymo vehicles proved to be excellent fireballs when summoned by LA’s rioters.

The question of how to deal with an incoming wave of advanced robots might seem like a sci-fi hypothetical from a far-flung future, but, for Toronto city hall, the future isn’t so far away.

Last month saw a notable debut on the city’s lobbyist registry: Waymo, operator of fleets of autonomous taxis in several cities in the United States. The Silicon Valley company is owned by
Alphabet, making it a corporate sibling to tech giant Google. They’re one of the premier players in the burgeoning self-driving car market, offering a real service where people ride in taxis with no human driver present.

And now it appears they are looking at driving their driverless cars north of the border.


So some bad actor in theory could order dozens of Waymo vehicles to wherever the mohammedans are desecrating public space with their cult rituals.

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Iranian child bride forced to marry aged 12 faces execution over the death of her abusive husband

An Iranian child bride who was forced to marry at just 12 years old is facing execution over the death of her abusive husband.

Goli Kouhkan, an undocumented Baluch woman today aged 25, is set to be executed this month, eight independent United Nations experts warned in a statement published Tuesday.

‘Kouhkan’s case exemplifies the systemic gender bias faced by women victims of child marriage and domestic violence within Iran’s criminal justice system,’ the experts said.

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Immigration Minister warns foreign nationals to not abuse asylum system as U.S., U.K. tighten rules

Immigration Minister Lena Diab is warning foreign nationals against abusing Canada’s asylum system, as other G7 countries tighten their refugee rules.

Britain and the U.S. have recently restricted their asylum regimes, raising concerns among immigration experts that this could divert some refugee claimants to Canada.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced he is halting asylum applications, while the British government is planning to end automatic permanent residence for refugees, and would require them to reapply every two-and-a-half years to stay in the country. Britain plans to make refugees wait 20 years for permanent residence.

Canada is an easy mark and Diab is a liar.

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