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Portugal

Eurovision Contestants 2015: Portugal

Portugal’s Eurovision history is a sad one. In 47 appearances since its debut in the contest in 1964 and only four absences (once for boycott, once for poor results, once for financial reasons and once because it just didn’t feel like it), the country has never won or even finished in the top 5. A dreadful record.

May we suggest hanging one of those motivational posters in the dressing room of Portugal’s contestant this year, the 20-year-old singer Leonor Andrade? It could read “Perseverance is failing 47 times and succeeding the 48th,” or “I have not failed, I've just found 47 ways that won't work,” or “Even Cristiano Ronaldo only used to earn €12 million a year.”

Leonor will perform “Há Um Mar Que Nos Separa” (“There’s a sea between us”), a song in Portuguese (extra points for that) about being separated from someone after a “crazy night.” Will this year be the one the Portuguese Eurovision nightmare ends?

Our vote:

Does it make you want to visit that country? 2.50/10

Was there enough glitter? 6.50/10

Ok to quit your day job? 1.75/10

OVERALL AVERAGE: 2.42/10

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FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

After Abbas: Here Are The Three Frontrunners To Be The Next Palestinian Leader

Israel and the West have often asked: Where is the Palestinian Mandela? The divided regimes between Gaza and the West Bank continues to make it difficult to imagine the future Palestinian leader. Still, these three names are worth considering.

Photo of Mahmoud Abbas speaking into microphone

Abbas is 88, and has been the leading Palestinian political figure since 2005

Thaer Ganaim/APA Images via ZUMA
Elias Kassem

Updated Dec. 5, 2023 at 12:05 a.m.

Israel has set two goals for its Gaza war: destroying Hamas and releasing hostages.

But it has no answer to, nor is even asking the question: What comes next?

The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the return of the current Palestinian Authority to govern post-war Gaza. That stance seems opposed to the U.S. Administration’s call to revitalize the Palestinian Authority (PA) to assume power in the coastal enclave.

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But neither Israel nor the U.S. put a detailed plan for a governing body in post-war Gaza, let alone offering a vision for a bonafide Palestinian state that would also encompass the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority, which administers much of the occupied West Bank, was created in1994 as part of the Oslo Accords peace agreement. It’s now led by President Mahmoud Abbas, who succeeded Yasser Arafat in 2005. Over the past few years, the question of who would succeed Abbas, now 88 years old, has largely dominated internal Palestinian politics.

But that question has gained new urgency — and was fundamentally altered — with the war in Gaza.

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