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Eurovision Contestants 2015: Greece

You've got to admire Greece and its strategic thinking: Choosing Maria Elena Kyriakou, a Cyprus-born singer, to represent the country is a very clever move indeed, and one that will without a doubt secure Athens a minimum of 12 points from the island. Ha, take that Angela Merkel! Of course, you could also be a killjoy and say it's pointless since Cyprus always gives Greece 12 points anyway ...

So, Maria Elena Kyriakou. A qualified teacher and divorced mother of three, she lives between Greece and Cyprus and runs a private tutoring program. Similarly to other candidates in this year's Eurovision, she took part in the Greek version of The Voice in 2014 and won the contest.

In Kyriakou's own words, her song "One Last Breath" is about love, heartbreak and is "very meaningful" to her. But news junkies like this writer will tell you that the song can also be interpreted as a barely hidden swing at Greece's creditors for the deadly austerity policies they've imposed. You be the judge.

Our vote:

Does it make you want to visit that country? 1.25/10

Was there enough glitter? 4.75/10

Ok to quit your day job? 1.75/10

OVERALL AVERAGE: 2.58/10

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FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

Wartime And Settlements: Preview Of Israel's Post-Netanyahu Era

Heated debate in Israel and abroad over the increase in the budget for settlements in the occupied West Bank is a reminder that wartime national unity will not outlast a deep ideological divide.

photo of people in a road with an israeli flag

A July photo of Jewish settlers in Nablus, West Bank.

Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA
Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — During wartime, the most divisive issues are generally avoided. Not in Israel though, where national unity does not prevent ideological divisions from breaking through into the public space.

Benny Gantz, a longtime Benjamin Netanyahu nemesis, who became a member of the War Cabinet after October 7, criticized the government's draft budget on Monday. It may sound trivial, but his target was the increased spending allocated for Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Gantz felt that all resources should go towards the war effort or supporting the suffering economy — not the settlers.

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The affair did not go unnoticed internationally. Josep Borrell, the European High Representative for Foreign Policy, said that he was "appalled" by this spending on settlers in the middle of this war.

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