Pounding beats? Check. Uplifting lyrics? Check. Huge, backlit white wings? Check. After last year’s Eurovision Song Contest was canceled amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, it is roaring back to life this year with coronavirus bubbles added to its heady mix of music and melodrama. National delegations traveling to the Dutch port city of Rotterdam are abiding by strict measures to reduce the risk of infections, while the thousands of fans allowed to attend dress rehearsals, two semifinals and the grand final on Saturday will have to undergo testing to ensure they do not bring the virus into the cavernous venue. Executive producer Sietse Bakker is glad it’s going ahead at all. “Organizing the Eurovision Song Contest is always challenging because you have less than a year to organize one of the biggest and most complex events in Europe. But to do it in a pandemic is much, much more complicated,” he told The Associated Press. Despite the pandemic measures, the contest that aims to unite Europe in song is continuing its 65-year tradition of upbeat fun. Fans near the Ahoy arena can get into the swing of the event early. Traffic lights at a pedestrian walkway outside the venue have been transformed so that a green figure dances to Abba’s iconic 1974 winning song “Waterloo” when it’s safe to cross. Eden Alene from Israel performs during rehearsals at the Eurovision Song Contest at Ahoy arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands, May 17, 2021.The immensely popular event mixes high camp — at rehearsals, Norway’s Andreas Haukeland, known as TIX, performed his song “Fallen Angel” in huge white wings — with lyrics encouraging inclusion and positivity while avoiding political messages. Belarus was booted out before the contest even started because organizers in the European Broadcasting Union said the country’s original song “puts the nonpolitical nature of the contest in question.” A replacement song also was rejected. The theme for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest is “Open Up.” It was actually chosen before the pandemic derailed public life around the globe but is now very apt as Europe begins to tentatively emerge from the coronavirus pandemic. “We decided to keep the theme because especially in these times, it’s important that we are open towards each other and that we feel the possibility to open up to one another, to show our true feelings, emotions and thoughts,” Bakker said. The 2019 Dutch winner, Duncan Laurence, said on the event’s website that he sees music as a way of forging links. “That’s why we need the Eurovision Song Contest. To feel connected again,” he said. Thousands of fans will be able to make the connection in person. Each event will be open to 3,500 people — only about 20% of the capacity of the arena — who must show a negative test result that is less than 24 hours old. Go_A from Ukraine perform during rehearsals at the Eurovision Song Contest at Ahoy arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands, May 17, 2021.The top 10 from each semifinal joins France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom — together with host country the Netherlands — in the final. Voting is conducted in each participating country by a panel of music industry experts and viewers. The pandemic forced the cancellation of last year’s event and this year prevented Australian singer Montaigne from flying to Rotterdam. The Netherlands is hosting the event because the country won the last time the contest was held, in 2019. Montaigne is still taking part, but by sending in a recorded live performance. She’s not the only one missing out. The mother of Dutch entrant Jeangu Macrooy also is unable to attend, as she can’t travel from her home in Suriname. Swedish singer Tusse’s father wants to know if he can vote for him from his home in Congo. Ukraine had a scare when Kateryna Pavlenko, the lead singer of the band Go_A, had to skip a rehearsal in Rotterdam and get tested after feeling unwell. The result was negative, and she was welcomed back. She and her band are among 39 national entrants vying for a coveted victory that can be a springboard to a global career or a fleeting taste of fame. For many, the stage and global television audience of millions is a chance to express messages of inclusion and positivity. Russia’s performer, Manizha, sings a song whose lyrics include the lines: “Every Russian Woman. Needs to know. You’re strong enough to bounce against the wall.” The singer, whose family fled to Russia from Tajikistan, said the message is for women all over the world “because we need to be, we have to be brave. We need to be happier. And I’m happy that I can inspire them on that stage because, you know, (the) Eurovision stage is the one of the hugest stages in the world.” Maltese singer Destiny also has a message of body positivity and is tipped to take it to the final. The 18-year-old’s powerful voice helped her win the Junior Eurovision contest and reach the semifinals of Britain’s Got Talent in 2017.
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Day: May 17, 2021
Ireland’s health service operator shut down all its IT systems Friday to protect them from a ransomware attack, which crippled diagnostic services and disrupted COVID-19 testing.An international cybercrime gang was behind the attack, said Ossian Smyth, Ireland’s minister responsible for e-government. Smyth described it as possibly the most significant cybercrime attempt against the Irish state.Ireland’s COVID-19 vaccination program was not directly affected, but the attack was affecting IT systems serving all other local and national health provisions, the head of the Health Service Executive (HSE) said.Ransomware attacks typically involve the infection of computers with malicious software, often downloaded by clicking on seemingly innocuous links in emails or other website pop-ups. Users are left locked out of their systems, with the demand that a ransom be paid to restore computer functions.No payment”We are very clear we will not be paying any ransom,” Prime Minister Micheál Martin told reporters.The HSE’s chief described the attack as “very sophisticated.” Officials said the gang exploited a previously unknown vulnerability. Authorities shut down the system as a precaution after discovering the attack early Friday morning and will seek to gradually reopen the network, although that will take “some days,” Martin said.The attack was largely affecting information stored on central servers, and officials said they were not aware that any patient data had been compromised. Hospital equipment was not impacted, with the exception of radiography services.”More services are working than not today,” HSE Chief Operations Officer Anne O’Connor told national broadcaster RTE.”However, if this continues to Monday, we will be in a very serious situation and will be canceling many services. At this moment, we can’t access lists of people scheduled for appointments on Monday so we don’t even know who to cancel.”
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Ireland’s data regulator can resume a probe that may trigger a ban on Facebook’s transatlantic data transfers, the High Court ruled Friday, raising the prospect of a stoppage the company warns would have a devastating impact on its business.
The case stems from EU concerns that U.S. government surveillance may not respect the privacy rights of EU citizens when their personal data is sent to the United States for commercial use.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), Facebook’s lead regulator in the European Union, launched an inquiry in August and issued a provisional order that the main mechanism Facebook uses to transfer EU user data to the United States “cannot in practice be used.”
Facebook had challenged both the inquiry and the Preliminary Draft Decision (PDD), saying they threatened “devastating” and “irreversible” consequences for its business, which relies on processing user data to serve targeted online ads.
The High Court rejected the challenge Friday. “I refuse all of the reliefs sought by FBI [Facebook Ireland] and dismiss the claims made by it in the proceedings,” Justice David Barniville said in a judgment that ran to nearly 200 pages.
“FBI has not established any basis for impugning the DPC decision or the PDD or the procedures for the inquiry adopted by the DPC,” the judgment said.
While the decision does not trigger an immediate halt to data flows, Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems, who forced the Irish data regulator to act in a series of legal actions over the past eight years, said he believed the decision made it Inevitable.
“After eight years, the DPC is now required to stop Facebook’s EU-U.S. data transfers, likely before summer,” he said.
A Facebook spokesman said the company looked forward to defending its compliance with EU data rules as the Irish regulator’s provisional order “could be damaging not only to Facebook, but also to users and other businesses.”
Privileged access
If the Irish data regulator enforces the provisional order, it would effectively end the privileged access companies in the United States have to personal data from Europe and put them on the same footing as companies in other nations outside the bloc.
The mechanism being questioned by the Irish regulator, the Standard Contractual Clause (SCC), was deemed valid by the European Court of Justice in a July decision.
But the Court of Justice also ruled that, under SCCs, privacy watchdogs must suspend or prohibit transfers outside the EU if data protection in other countries cannot be assured.
A lawyer for Facebook in December told the High Court that the Irish regulator’s draft decision, if implemented, “would have devastating consequences” for Facebook’s business, affecting Facebook’s 410 million active users in Europe, hitting political groups and undermining freedom of speech.
Irish Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon in February said companies more broadly may face massive disruption to transatlantic data flows as a result of the European Court of Justice decision.
Dixon’s office welcomed the decision on Friday but declined further comment.
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Rombauer romped to an 11-1 upset victory Saturday in the Preakness, denying Bob Baffert-trained Kentucky Derby winner Medina Sprint the chance at a Triple Crown that would have come with a giant asterisk.Medina Spirit finished third in the 1 3/16-mile race and was passed for the first time in his career after starting as the 2-1 favorite. All eyes were on Medina Spirit after he failed a post-Derby drug test for the presence of the steroid betamethasone.Midnight Bourbon, who was 3-1, was second. Keepmeinmind was fourth and Baffert-trained Concert Tour ninth in the 10-horse field.Rombauer busted the bias of horses hugging the rail, passing Midnight Bourbon and Medina Spirit down the stretch and winning by 3½ lengths.Jockey Flavien Prat won the Preakness two years after being elevated to the Derby winner aboard Country House when Maximum Security was disqualified.Trainer Michael McCarthy won his first Triple Crown race and captured the Preakness before Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, for whom he worked as an assistant before opening his own barn.Rombauer is owned by John and Diane Fradkin, a far cry from Medina Spirit’s Zedan Racing Stables and other horse racing conglomerates. He won for the third time in seven starts.McCarthy said this week Rombauer’s best weapon was his intelligence and that his colt was training well. But few picked the long shot to win the Preakness, which was run in front of 10,000 fans at Pimlico Race Course.Baffert was not in attendance, staying away because of the controversy with Medina Spirit, who still could be disqualified from the Derby.
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May 17 marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Willis Conover, the Voice of America broadcaster who helped popularize American jazz worldwide. Mike O’Sullivan looks back on his career and global impact on music and diplomacy.Producer (opening segment): Jimi Cook.
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