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Let’s be honest: none of us saw a song about being possessed by the ghost of writer Edgar Allan Poe coming at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, but we’re all here for it. In Austria’s entry for the competition – taking place in Liverpool on behalf of last year’s winners, Ukraine – singers Teya and Salena ask “Who the Hell is Edgar?”, and that’s a blooming good question. The answer? Edgar Allan Poe… poe, poe, poe, poe, poe… Yes, that is the chorus, and yes, it is that catchy. So aside from being supposedly possessed by Poe, what prompted the duo to write about the American writer, who died all the way back in 1849? According to the lyrics, the singer is “happy” to be taken over by Poe because the song is “feeling special” and will “make me rich”. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter However, arguably the more interesting lines come later in the track, when Teya and Salena reference the figure “0.003” – the amount of money music streaming giant Spotify pays artists after a single stream of a song. The lyrics continue: “Give me two years, and your dinner will be free / Gas station champagne is on me / Edgar cannot pay rent for me. “Zero, dot, zero, zero, three / At least it pays to be funny / Ugh.” So yes, “Who the Hell is Edgar” does appear to actually be about the poor treatment of artists in the music industry. We love to see it – and so do other Eurovision fans: However, Austria’s chances of winning the contest may be scuppered now, after it was revealed on Friday that they would be first up to perform in Saturday’s Grand Final. According to an online article from the Eurovision Song Contest itself back in 2019, at the time, only three songs in the competition’s history won after performing first. Out of 67 winners, just over 34 per cent came from the first half of the show, so it doesn’t look that good for them. Elsewhere, though, there is some good news for Luxembourg, as it’s been announced the country will return to compete in the show from next year – ending a 30-year hiatus after they were relegated in 1993. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Vladimir Putin will leave Russia and travel the farthest distance from his home country for the first time since an arrest warrant was issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to a report. Mr Putin has reportedly accepted an invitation by Xi Jinping to visit China and the Kremlin is gearing up for his attendance at the Belt and Road Forum in October, three people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. News of the visit comes after Mr Putin declined an invitation by India to attend G20 summit next week. The Kremlin said the Russian leader has a “busy schedule” while his main focus at the moment is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia will be instead be represented by its foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. Moscow is an ally to Delhi and Beijing, both of whom are regional rivals and share strained diplomatic ties with each other. Both countries are not signatories to the ICC either. The Russian leader has, ever since the warrant was issued, travelled only to Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine. Before the warrant, he had visited Iran last year. On Tuesday, the Kremlin said a schedule for bilateral Russian-Chinese contacts was being worked out, when asked about the reported visit. “The schedule of bilateral Russian-Chinese contacts at various levels, including at the highest level, is being coordinated,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “We will inform you about specific events and deadlines in a timely manner.” Mr Putin and Mr Xi have declared a “no limits” partnership between their countries. China has refused to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine directly while emphasing the importance of upholding Kyiv’s territorial integrity. In March, an arrest warrant was issued against Mr Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, for alleged war crimes committed by deporting Ukrainian children into Russia during the conflict. Human rights groups have estimated that more than 19,000 children were deported and placed with Russian families. Russian officials have claimed the children were taken in as a war-time humanitarian gesture. The Kremlin has rejected the war crime accusations. The Russian leader had earlier avoided going to South Africa, which is an ICC signatory, to attend the Brics summit last week. Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan also invited Mr Putin to visit Ankara for talks on a Black Sea grain deal, but he is now said to be considering traveling to Moscow himself. Turkey is not an ICC signatory. The flurry of announcements about the diplomatic visits come as British foreign minister James Cleverly visited China in the first such visit by a UK diplomat in five years. Mr Cleverly said he will urge China to fulfil its international commitments and show responsibility on the world stage on the Ukraine invasion. On Mr Putin’s purpoted visit to Beijing, he said, “Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine cannot be justified by Moscow or indeed anywhere else”. Read More India protests China's land claim ahead of the G20 summit President Xi Jinping is expected to attend Russia earns less from oil and spends more on war. So far, sanctions are working like a slow poison Vladimir Putin ‘too busy’ to face world leaders at G20 The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

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