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Eurovision Contestants 2015: France


France hasn't won the Eurovision Song Contest since 1977,when Marie Myriam moved the audience with her song “L’oiseau et l'enfant”. Nobody has been able to renew that performance in 38 years, even though France has tried extremely hard to seduce the members of the jury. The country has sent some of its biggest stars to the contest like Patricia Kaas or Natasha Saint Pier, who actually got pretty good results.

Last year, France was completely humiliated when it finished last, with only two points given by its European neighbors. Surprisingly, nobody seemed to enjoy the song “Moustache” by Twin Twin, about a man who really wants to grow a moustache. Some say the whole country almost went on strike, started a protest and founded a start-up on communication strategies for future musical contests.

This year, Lisa Angell will perform the song “N’oubliez pas” (Don’t Forget), full of emotion. Filmed in Normandy on the D-Day beaches, she asks us not to forget her — probably for when it's time for the final voting.

Our vote:

Does it make you want to visit that country? 7/10

Was there enough glitter? 3.25/10

Ok to quit your day job? 1.75/10

OVERALL AVERAGE: 4/10

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Sinking The Moskva, Inside Ukraine's Biggest Strike On The Russian Black Sea Fleet

As Ukraine steps up its attacks on the Black Sea fleet and other targets in Crimea, here's the inside story of Russia's devastating naval defeat in April, 2022.

photo of a crane, a shipyard and smoke in the distance

Smoke billows from the fire-hit southern site of the Sevastopol Shipyard on Wednesday after reports of a Ukrainian strike.

Viktoria Sukonnikova/TASS via ZUMA
Roman Romaniuk

Updated September 15, 2023 at 2:30 p.m.

KYIV — On April 13, 2022 the Russian military suffered its worst naval defeat in modern times when the flagship of Moscow’s fleet, the cruiser Moskva based in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, was sunk.

Based on dozens of interviews with Ukrainian military officials and viewing never-before-seen photos of the incident, Kyiv-based news service Ukrainian Pravda has conducted its own exclusive investigation to reconstruct how Ukraine successfully carried out the attack.

Russia still actively avoids any public references to the Moskva, and there are relatives of dead sailors who still have not received any information about the fate of their loved ones. The Russian Defense Ministry has offered no details about the causes of the sinking, claiming that the ship suffered "surfacing failure," after a fire. Moscow has made allusion to bad weather and claimed that all crew members had been rescued.

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