NEWS IN BRIEF - Culture: ESC reviews voting rules after strong support for Israel

Following Israel's striking audience success at the Eurovision Song Contest, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has announced a review of the voting rules. An EBU committee will examine whether the currently permitted 20 votes per device are still appropriate in the future, ESC President Martin Green announced. Advertising campaign rules will also be analyzed.

Israeli singer Yuval Raphael took second place at the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, receiving the most audience votes. However, she received significantly lower ratings from the juries. Several broadcasters, including Spain's RTVE, questioned the voting, suspecting political influence.

Raphael's performance as a survivor of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, received considerable attention during the competition. She was the only candidate featured in commercials during the recorded semifinal shows on the official Eurovision channel.

The Israeli-American Council also called for a vote for Raphael on social media, pointing out the possibility of casting up to 20 votes per device. However, the Eurovision Song Contest director stated that there is currently no evidence that this disproportionately influenced the outcome.

According to Martin Green, such campaigns are permitted under current regulations. However, in the future, the EBU intends to prevent targeted advertising from disproportionately mobilizing certain population groups. The televoting process will also be analyzed in this context.

The EBU said it wants to ensure that the Eurovision Song Contest remains a fair, non-politicized competition. The security measures for counting votes are multi-level and reliable. Nevertheless, the organization will take feedback from broadcasters seriously and incorporate it into its audits.

(dpa) According to a newspaper report, Austria's ESC winner JJ wants next year's Eurovision Song Contest to take place in Vienna without Israel. "It's very disappointing that Israel is still participating in the contest," the Spanish newspaper "El País" quoted 24-year-old Johannes Pietsch as saying. "I would like the Eurovision Song Contest to take place next year in Vienna, without Israel. But the ball is now in the EBU's court. We artists can only comment on that."

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), an association of broadcasters from dozens of countries, is the organizer of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), which has existed since 1956.

The trained opera singer Pietsch had scored the most points with the song "Wasted Love" in the competition held last Sunday night in Basel and won the international music show.

Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest has been repeatedly criticized in recent months due to the Middle East war. Last year's winner, Nemo from Switzerland, also openly advocated for Israel's exclusion. Seventy former Eurovision contestants recently expressed similar views in an open letter. Israel finished second in this year's Eurovision Song Contest last Saturday.

Read more: Eurovision winner JJ loses his way in politics and equates Israel with Russia

(dpa) The artist Eva, from the well-known Berlin duo Eva & Adele, has died. She died in their shared apartment in Berlin-Charlottenburg, her partner Adele told the German Press Agency. "I accompanied her at home," she explained. After undergoing surgery on her lumbar spine, Eva had recently been lacking energy.

Eva & Adele were an institution in Berlin, but also far beyond the capital's borders. They first met in 1988, and since 1991, the duo could be found at international cultural events and parties as a walking work of art. Their distinguishing feature was their always identical and often garish attire—with shaved heads and extravagant costumes. Eva & Adele always kept private details, including their age, secret.

"We were together day and night, for decades. We rocked it incredibly well," Adele said in retrospect. "Eva had enormous strength and discipline. For her, art was the most precious thing in the world. But she wasn't just strong; she was also particularly tender and sensitive."

Now Adele must forge her own path. "I will continue to work as an artist," she announces. "That's what Eva told me at the end, too: 'Please keep working.'" Adele first wants to finish a major project involving 201 canvases, which they have both been working on for years.

An Eva & Adele Foundation is also planned. "We decided on that several years ago." The goal of the foundation will be to support projects that reflect the duo's entire artistic oeuvre.

The two consistently kept their art and private lives separate. Regarding their origins, they said only this much: "We come from the future." In an Instagram post, they now read: "Eva went back to the future today. She left this world and entered the eternal stage."

zin. Robbie Williams is back with a new studio album: "Britpop," scheduled for release in autumn 2025. It is his first studio album since 2016 and marks his return to the roots of British pop-rock.

The first single, "Rocket," is already available. Williams will be joined by Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi. Williams will perform songs from "Britpop" on his UK tour, which kicks off next week in Edinburgh.

In addition to Tony Iommi, other prominent musicians on the album include Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple), Chris Martin (Coldplay) and Gaz Coombes (Supergrass).

(dpa) Indian author Banu Mushtaq has been awarded the International Booker Prize. The 77-year-old women's rights activist won the British award jointly with her translator Deepa Bhasti for the short story collection "Heart Lamp," according to the organizers. The two share a prize of 50,000 pounds.

The stories were translated from Kannada, a language spoken by around 65 million people. The twelve stories, written over 30 years from 1990 to 2023, depict the lives of women in patriarchal societies in South India. Mushtaq is the second Indian author to receive the prestigious award. This is the first time a short story collection has won.

The award was presented on Tuesday evening at the Tate Modern Gallery in London. Jury chairman Max Porter said the book "is something truly new for English readers: a radical translation of beautiful, vibrant, life-affirming stories."

(dpa) Actor Kevin Spacey was honored with a lifetime achievement award on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival and spoke out against cancel culture in an acceptance speech. "Who would have ever thought it would be a brave idea to honor someone who has been exonerated in every single courtroom he's ever entered," the 65-year-old said on Tuesday (May 20).

Spacey's career was shaken by allegations of sexual assault. A New York jury acquitted him in 2022, and further lawsuits were dropped or dismissed due to the statute of limitations. A trial in London in which four men accused him of sexual assault also ended in acquittal in 2023.

In his speech, Spacey addressed cases in which people had been unfairly "cancelled." He recalled the "Hollywood Blacklist" of the 1940s and 1950s, which included artists believed to have ties to communism. History often repeats itself, he said. "The 'blacklist' was a terrible time in our industry, but we must learn from it so that something like this never happens again."

Spacey was honored by the Better World Fund. The two-time Oscar winner ("American Beauty," "The Usual Suspects") has not yet been re-hired by Hollywood or major filmmakers.

lyb. / (dpa) His role as a beer-drinking regular in the American TV series "Cheers" earned George Wendt fans worldwide. On Tuesday (May 20), the 76-year-old actor passed away peacefully at home, his family announced. No cause of death was disclosed.

In the popular comedy series "Cheers," about a fictional Boston bar, which ran from 1987 to 1993, he played regular customer Norm Peterson, who always sat at the bar with a beer. Ted Danson played the bartender who entertained his quirky customers. Wendt was nominated for six Emmy Awards for his iconic role.

Wendt has also appeared in dozens of television and film productions. He starred alongside Robert De Niro and Annette Bening in the 1991 drama "Guilty by Suspicion." He co-starred with Jamie Lee Curtis and Mel Gibson in the sci-fi romance "Forever Young" (1992). He also appeared in the Christmas comedies "Santa Baby" (2006) and "Santa Buddies" (2009).

(dpa) The legendary Russian choreographer Yuri Grigorovich of the Moscow Bolshoi Ballet has died at the age of 98. This was announced by Russia's State Central Theatre Museum in Moscow, which has repeatedly organized exhibitions on the ballet master's life and work. Born on January 2, 1927, in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Grigorovich shaped Soviet and Russian ballet for decades at the world-famous Moscow Bolshoi Theatre.

Grigorovich choreographed works at the Bolshoi, including "Spartacus," "Ivan the Terrible," and "Romeo and Juliet." His adaptations of the Tchaikovsky classics "Swan Lake" and "Sleeping Beauty" are legendary. He led the world's largest ballet company for more than 30 years. In 1991, he established the "Benois de la Danse" ballet prize. The award recognizes the most important dance achievements of the previous year.

"Furthermore, his name was long considered virtually synonymous with contemporary Soviet choreography in the Western world," the Bavarian State Opera wrote in a tribute. "Born in the same year as John Cranko and Maurice Béjart, his work, like that of the two Western choreographers, is characteristic of a style that defined the era, its world, and its time."

In 2008, at the age of 81, Grigorovich returned to the Bolshoi to take on a permanent position, leading the new soloists, overseeing the performance of new pieces, and maintaining the repertoire. Grigorovich had resigned in 1995 amid a dispute over the Bolshoi's artistic direction. Afterward, he worked temporarily in the South Korean capital, Seoul, among other places.

(dpa) The hope of making a quick buck after stealing an ornate 18-carat gold toilet is costing a British man dearly. The 36-year-old was sentenced to 21 months in prison, suspended for two years, for his involvement in the sensational crime. He must also perform 240 hours of unpaid work, the PA news agency reported.

The court found it proven that the man had helped sell some of the gold following the crime in September 2019. His good nature had been exploited, the man told the PA following the sentence.

What exactly happened to the famous toilet from Winston Churchill's birthplace is not entirely clear. Another man was found guilty of the theft itself, and another man pleaded guilty to theft. The sentences for each of these cases are still pending.

The fully functional toilet, named "America," had an insured value of 4.75 million pounds (approximately 5.64 million euros). It was created by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and was the centerpiece of an exhibition in the lavish mansion in Oxfordshire where Churchill, the future Prime Minister, World War II victor, and Nobel Prize winner, was born on November 30, 1874.

The gold toilet was on display opposite Churchill's birthplace. Visitors were allowed to use it – but only for a maximum of three minutes to avoid queues. The toilet had already been on display at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2016.

The stolen golden toilet has not yet been found. According to investigators, it was either cut up or melted down. The incident was reminiscent of the theft of a 100-kilogram gold coin from Berlin's Bode Museum in 2017.

In August 2022 , the British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie was scheduled to give a speech in New York State when a man stormed the stage and stabbed him more than ten times. Rushdie was seriously injured but survived the attack. He has been blind in one eye ever since. Rushdie processed this trauma literarily in "Knife."

The perpetrator was Hadi Matar , an American citizen with Lebanese roots. Matar was found guilty by a jury last February. On Friday (May 16), the sentence was announced. The New York court sentenced Matar to 25 years in prison.