:: Eurovision 24 :: Oslo 2010

RTÉ, the Irish Television broadcaster has confirmed to esctoday.com , that Ireland will participate at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 to be staged in Moscow, although they are not ready to announce any details about the way in which their entry will be selected yet. RTE have remained very quiet since Dustin the Turkey's representation at Eurovision 2008 in Belgrade last May, but there was no doubt Ireland would return due to the return of the jury to the Eurovision voting. Ireland have won the contest 7 times, their most recent win was in 1996 .

Hadise will represent Turkey in Eurovision Song Contest 2009. TRT confirmed that she was one of the final artists in negotiations with the broadcaster to represent Turkey in Moscow. She is one of the most popular pop, soul and r'n'b singer in Turkey and also in Europe.

Paddy Power, the Irish bookmakers have been quick to offer odds on the United Kingdom's chances of success at the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. After it was confirmed that Andrew Lloyd Webber would pen the song and select the act, the book makers are offering a near reversal on the country's expected outcome compared to 2008. Paddy Power are offering odds of 9/1 for a United Kingdom victory at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. They are also offering odds of 3/1 on the song going to number one in the official UK charts. Odds of 40/1 are being offered on the United Kingdom finishing in last place again in 2009, with odds of 100/1 on the country receiving 'nil points' for the musical theatre master's efforts. Source: ESCToday.com NL

As mentioned earlier , Andrew Lloyd Webber said today he has officially accepted the “mission impossible” as he attempts to win the Eu rovision song contest for the United Kingdom. The composer of musical hits including the 'Phantom of the Opera', 'Evita', and 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat', will pen the UK’s Eurovision entry and search for the perfect voice to perform it in Moscow next year. However, in a competition dogged by accusations of ’bloc-voting’, which led presenter Terry Wogan to threaten walking out on the competition he first hosted 35 years ago, Webber has admitted it will be his toughest challenge yet. He said: “In my life I have never shied away from the impossible and this looks like the biggest mission impossible of all time, but with the might of the British public behind me who knows what will happen?” The composer will embark on a televised talent search for the vocalist and hopefuls have until November 21 to send their audi

Ralph Siegel, who keeps the record of having composed the most songs for the Eurovision Song Contest, has stated that he wants to take part in the competition again. He has already composed a song and chosen a singer, who is still kept a secret. 63-year-old Ralph Siegel has stated that he has written about 30 or 40 exposés over the last few months until he has chosen his personal winner. He told: "It is my dream to represent Germany again and, of course, I also want to win again." He composed the only German winning song in the competition, Ein bißchen Frieden, back in 1982. In total, he wrote 18 songs in the competition for Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Source: ESC Today

Director of 1FL TV, Liechtensteins first own television station, Peter Heeb, told eurofire.blog.de that the broadcaster has currently no plans to join the EBU, because they don't have the budget for an active EBU membership. An option for 1FL TV is, that a suitable sponsor will finance the membership. Then they will decide, if it will be possible to join the European Broadcasting Union. Until they are not in the EBU, Liechtenstein won't have the chance to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. Liechtenstein has tried to take part twice in the past. Both attempts failed because they don't have a national broadcaster. News Source: OIKOTIMES.com resources

Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović, the hosts of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest are dating and have found themselves in all Serbian media as a result. After Eurovision the two were often seen together in cafes and restaurants in Belgrade although both had relationships at the time. The defining moment is expected to have occurred in June when the couple was invited to attend Jean-Paul Gaultier’s fashion show in Paris. Both ended their relationships upon their return to Serbia but denied they were dating. In July and August the couple was seen holidaying together in Spain and Montenegro while Jovana accompanied Željko to his concert in Bulgaria in early September. They finally publically showed their affection in late September when the couple attended the concert of the Greek singer Antonis Remos in Belgrade. I always love a happy ending! News Source: OIKOTIMES.com resources

As some may know already, Google is celebrating ten years since the launch of their search engine in 1998. As part of their celebrations, Google launched a sub section of the search engine back in 2001 , which shows the results you would have gotten back in that year. Pictured: ESC Today logo back in 2001. 2001 was very different to today, internet wise. Remember there was no "You Tube" or "Wikipedia" back then. Here at Eurovision 24, we said we would have a little fun and do a bit of Eurovision searching of our own. We searched for the " Eurovision Song Contest " and we would see what it would bring up. First to come top of the search results is songcontest.nl , a website popular at the time, but has not been updated for quite some time. For some unusual reason, there was no mention of www.songcontest.com , the official website for Eurovision Song Contest 2001 in Denmark. Remember the official Eurovision Song Contest website Eurovision.tv , did not exist