The General News Thread

[DragonAtma]

So Alberta -- the most conservative province in Canada -- held an election. To everyone's surprise (including the conservatives, who held the province since 1971), the winner was the NDP, who even won enough seats to form a majority government, not a minority government.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/05/05 ... 10742.html

[Dong Zhou]

Eurovision:

Hosts Austria: Thought they did a poor job if I'm brutally honest. Stage was great, got a good crowd and a good half time show but overly long opening ceremony, their post cards were dreadful and unintuitive, the show also dragged on too long. Didn't watch all the votes but seems some amazingly low vote tallies for a lot of countries.

1) Sweden: Winners with Måns Zelmerlöw's "Heroes" getting 365.

I wasn't a huge fan, I loved the staging with the drawing of the fat boy and the other things, song was fine. Would have gone midtable myself.

2) Russia: Polina Gagarina with peace song "A Million Voices" on 303.

Given Russia aren't the most beloved nation in Europe, Gagarina deserves immense credit for winning over Vienna during her stay though as she got close to winning, the mood did seem to change. I thought the song was fine but of the issue songs, preferred Hungary and France's.

3) Italy: Operatic trio Il Volo with Grande amore/Great love with 292

Was pushing the other two hard at one stage. Last slot was probably cancelled out by being in Italian, very strong singers and a good song.

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4) Belgium: Loïc Nottet with Rhythm Inside on 217.

A fine song but took awhile to get used to.

5) Australia: Guy Sebastian with Tonight Again on 196.

I do wonder if this does better if it wasn't Australia. A good song with a good singer and skilled performer, it made me want to get up and dance which is what a dance number should do. Could do well in clubs

6) Latvia: Aminata Savadogo with Love Injected on 186.

Would have been near the bottom for me, she has presence but song a tad creepy and not well performed.

7) Estonia: A duet from Elina Born and Stig Rästa with Goodbye to Yesterday. Got 106 points

I loved the stage effects, the use of shadows. I loved the idea of the song. Not a fan of the singers

8) Norway: Another duet with Kjetil Mørland and Debrah Scarlett with "A Monster like me" with 102

I would have liked this even more if the lyrics contained more then a verse and a chorus. Got a bit of mystery, Morland is a good singer and they make a good duet, I did like the song itself which was quite sweet.

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9) Israel: Nadav Guedj with dance number Golden Boy with 97 points.

It was creepy. Alright tune but something a tad off with the words. Didn't get me off my feet

10) Serbia: Bojana Stamenov with Beauty Never Lies with 53 points.

Fine. Decently done "your all beautiful" type thing.

11) Georgia: Calligrapher Nina Sublatti with Warrior got 51 points.

I didn't get this one at all...

12) Azerbaijan: Elnur Hüseynov returns with Hour of the Wolf. 49 points

Fine, didn't stick in mind.

13) Montenegro: Knez with Adio, 44.

Fine

14) Slovenia: Maraaya's duet was "Here for You" with 39.

Really not a fan.

15) Romania: Pop group Voltaj with De la capăt (All Over Again) with 35 points

Touched on the band's considerable charity work for children, was a pretty good song.

16) Armenia: Band Genealogy with "Face the Shadow" which was accused of being coded references to Armenian genocide. 34 points.

I don't think having every single member of the band do a bit by themselves worked as they had very contrasting styles. Fine and a decent song when they sing together till the last bit.

17) Albania: Elhaida Dani with I'm Alive, 34

Was not a fan.

18) Lithuania: The returning Monika Linkytė duets with Vaidas Baumila with "This Time" with 30 points.

Forgettable love song with no chemistry.

19) Greece: Maria Elena Kyriakou with One Last Breath, getting 23 points.

Really not a fan.

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20) Hungary: Boglárka "Boggie" Csemer with Wars for Nothing

Of all the messagey ones, felt this was the best. Well sung, good lyrics, gun images building on the stage.

21) Spain: TV presenter and Man U's lest favourite female Edurne with Amanecer got 15 points.

Forgettable

22) Cyprus: Giannis Karagiannis with "One Thing I Should Have Done", 11 points.

It had a bad start and he wasn't the best singer but he grew into it, a sweet and loveable song. How did it get only 11 points?

23) Poland: Disabled singer Monika Kuszyńska went with "In the Name of Love", 10 points.

A messagey one but didn't stand out.

24) United Kingdom: Electro Velvet with "Still In Love with You" got 5.

This divided people over here but I had avoid listening to it till the final. I thought it deserved points for trying something different: went with a very 20's style song and the most effective staging was in it went with that rather then glowing union jack and disco. Singers weren't bad and I quite liked the style. 5 points was ridiculous.

25) France: Lisa Angell with N'oubliez pas (Don't Forget) got only 4.

The first messagey one which may not have helped, I liked the soldiers trick with the staging, decent "worthy" song and decent singer. 4 was very harsh.

Joint last with 0) Germany: Ann Sophie with Black Smoke.

This was a lower mid-table one, an alright song with a decent (and trying to add a bit of sexuality to it) singer, it was a nice enough unmemorable one. Not one deserving of humiliation. I wonder if Germany is being punished for Andreas Kümmert refusing to take part.

Austria: The band The Makemakes with I am Yours.

I thought it was just one crooner to be honest. Set fire to piano and in my view, had the best sung song in the show with the thumb tapping Australians second.

[Dong Zhou]

Marine Le Pen has formed a political group in the European Parliament called the "Europe of Nations and Freedom". Includes Hungary's Jobbik, the Freedom Party the Netherlands, Italy's Northern League, Austria's Freedom Party, Vlaams Belang from Belgium, Polish Congress of the New Right and an ex-UKIP MEP Janice Atkinson. Jean-Marie Le Pen however is not part of the group.

[DragonAtma]

That's because the two le pens were at each others' throats not too long ago.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/0 ... 23348.html

[Dong Zhou]

President Hollande floating the idea of a Eurozone parliament. I can't see this going down well in UK, not so sure how it will go down in Euro countries

[Dong Zhou]

Seems like Merkel is looking to tackle the issue migration into EU but given Greece is going to the polls again, that could be put off awhile long.

[Dong Zhou]

Germany drops the Dublin convention for Syrian refugees

[DragonAtma]

Canada's 2015 election will probably be a liberal majority. As of right now, 137 ridings have been called for the liberals, plus they're ahead in 48 more (a total of 170 are needed for a majority).

UPDATE: 170 ridings have been called for the liberals; fifteen more have the liberals in the lead.

[Gray Riders]

We've got a Liberal majority in Canada.

If I had to guess I'd say some major factors in this surge from third place in the last election to majority was Jack Layton's death weakening NDP support and causing a lot of their previous supporters to flip back, Justin Trudeau being a lot more popular than Ignatief, and at least partially people wanting a change after a decade of the same government (especially with the recent scandals).

[Dong Zhou]

Law and Justice wins Poland elections with Beata Szydło becoming PM, seems to have caught people here by surprise