Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-05-19

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] 51st Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals held in Athens Thursday

[01] 51st Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals held in Athens Thursday

The 23 countries taking part in Thursday night's semi-final were: Armenia (which is taking part for the first time in the history of the competition), Bulgaria, Slovenia, Andora, Belarus, Albania, Belgium, Ireland, Cyprus, Monaco, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Finland, The Netherlands, Lithuania, Portugal, Sweden, Estonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iceland.

The ten best semi-finalists elected late Thursday night will now compete in Saturday's final with the 14 top songs of last year's Eurovision song contest: Switzerland, Moldova, Israel, Latvia, Norway, Malta, Denmark, Romania, Croatia (which was the first runner up and took the slot following the withdrawal of Serbia-Montenegro), the four major countries which traditionally participate in the competition -- Spain, Germany, France and the United Kingdom -- and 2006 host country Greece, which won the Eurovision song contest in 2005 with "My Number One" performed by Elena Paparizou.

Thursday night's qualifiers were Armenia, with "Without your Love" performed by Andre; Bosnia-Herzegovina, with "Lejla" performed by Hari Mata Hari and his band; Finland, with "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by the heavy metal band Lordi; FYROM, with "Ninanajna" performed by Elena Rusteska; Ireland, with the ballad "Every song is a cry for love" performed by Brian Kennedy; Lithuania, with "We are the Winners (of Eurovision)" performed by LT United; Russia, with "Never let you go" performed by Dima; Sweden, with "Invicible" performed by Carola; Turkey, with "Superstar" performed by Sibel Tuzun; and Ukraine, with "Show me your Love" performed by Tina Karol.

The event was hosted by Greece's Eurovision 2004 third-place winner and pop heartthrob Sakis Rouvas ("Shake It") and Greek-American model, reporter and actress Maria Menounos, who will also host the Final on Saturday night.

Caption: Ireland was one of the 10 of 23 competing countries in the Eurovision song contest semi-finals on Thursday night in Athens to qualify for the final, to take place Saturday at the indoor basketball court at Athens OAKA main Olympic complex. Brian Kennedy brought Ireland to the finals with a heart-rending performance of "Every song is a cry for love". (ANA-MPA/Orestis Panagiotou)

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