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Updated May 14, 2017 11:07:33

A Ukrainian media personality notorious for ambushing celebrities like Kim Kardashian has streaked at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Ukraine while wearing an Australian flag.

With Isaiah Firebrace coming in 9th place, and Portugal taking the Eurovision crown, it is possible Australia will be better remembered this year for the presence of its national flag on the back of a naked man.

During reigning winner Jamala's performance, a man draped in an Australian flag invaded the stage and pulled down his pants to expose his bottom on live TV.

It was initially thought the streaker was an Australian but it was later confirmed the man was Vitalii Sediuk, a self-described prankster known for accosting celebrities on red carpets.

Sediuk posted photos of himself wearing the Australian flag in an Instagram story.

He has a long list of celebrity victims including Kim Kardashian, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith and supermodel Gigi Hadid.

At the 2013 Grammy Awards, Sekuik stormed the stage and accepted an award on Adele's behalf.

Sekuik was promptly removed from the Eurovision stage by security and the show's three presenters made no mention of the incident.

But it did not go unnoticed on Twitter, where viewers praised it as the best part of the show.

Topics: events, world, ukraine

First posted May 14, 2017 10:32:54

Link:
Ukrainian prankster Vitalii Sediuk moons Eurovision wearing Australian flag - ABC Online

Tensions Between Russia And Ukraine Blend Into Eurovision Contest NPR The finals of the Eurovision Song Contest are being held on Saturday in Kiev. This year's event is in Ukraine, but tensions with neighboring Russia threaten to overshadow the festivities. Facebook; Twitter. Google+. Email ...

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Tensions Between Russia And Ukraine Blend Into Eurovision Contest - NPR

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrives at the White House ahead of Oval Office talks with President Donald Trump, a rare honor bestowed on a non-head of government. Newslook

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President Trump, right, talks to Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin as Vice President Pence listens at the Oval Office in the White House, May 10, 2017. Trump said the U.S. supports Ukraine, Klimkin told USA TODAY.(Photo: Embassy of Ukraine)

WASHINGTON Ukraine's foreign minister said he receivedassurances from President Trump and Vice President Pence of support from the United States, as Russia expands its influence in separatist-held eastern Ukraine.

In an interview with USA TODAY, Pavlo Klimkin said, "Without U.S. engagement, it's not possible to sort this out, because Russia has respect for the United States."

Klimkins visit to the White House Wednesday was overshadowed by Trumps meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Trump expressed his desire to work with Ukraine to peacefully resolve the conflict, theWhite House said in a statement.Pence emphasized that the negotiated cease-fire agreements remain the most viable path towardpeace."

"It was very important to hear," Klimkin said.Russia'sactions in eastern Ukraine are makingpeace harder to achieve, headded.

For example, Russian rubles must now be used as currency in the Donbas region, instead of Ukrainian hryvnas,for all transactions, including payingemployees ofUkrainian companies. That mandate, in place since March 1, required transferringlarge amounts of currency from Russia, which Klimkin said could not have happened without Russian approval and involvement.

In addition,Russian President Vladimir Putinissued a decree Feb. 18 recognizingpassports and other documents issued by the self-described Peoples Republic of Donetsk and Peoples Republic of Luhansk.

On March 17, separatist authoritiesseized private and Ukrainian state-owned factories and mines, he said. One result is that owners in Ukraine have no legal way to communicate with Ukrainian companies in the Donbas, Klimkin said. Commodities, such as coal and iron ore produced in the separatist-held areas, are being illegally transferred and sold in Russia, he said.

And, Klimkin said, Russian state-owned mediaand the separatist-held region also started talking about the nation of Donbas, which never existed.

Its not a random sequence of actions, hesaid. Its an intentional sequence to bring the occupied Donbas far, far away from Ukraine.

Read more:

Russia downplays President Trump's firing of FBI Director Comey

Eastern Ukraine city in crosshairs of renewed fighting

At least 12 Ukrainian soldiers killed in disputed east

The fighting in eastern Ukraine, which started after demonstrators ousted a pro-Russian government in February 2014, has escalated in recent months, despite cease-fire agreements negotiated with Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany in Minsk, Belarus. While Russia denies arming the separatists, Ukrainian, U.S. and other Western authorities have documented Russian military support and direct involvement in the conflict that has resulted in10,000 Ukrainian deaths.

The U.S. and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia for its actions in Ukraine. Secretary of State Rex Tillersontold Lavrov on Wednesday that U.S. sanctions won't be lifted until Russia reverses its actions.

The Minsk agreement requires the withdrawal of heavy weapons and the restoration of Ukrainian law in the separatist-held regions. The deal also calls for Ukraine to establisha "special status" for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that includes self-governance andcross-border cooperation with Russia. While fighting continues, that special status provision will not be accepted or adopted by Ukraine,according to Oksana Syroid, deputy speaker of the Ukrainian parliament.

Ukrainians"will not allow it," Syroid said last week in Washington. "It's against human dignity."

Klimkin said Russia maintains 6,000 military troops,2,000 tanks and other heavy weapons in the separatist-held area of Ukraine. Unless the recent changes are reversed, he warned that the situation there will become permanent.

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'US supports Ukraine' against Russia, Trump tells foreign minister - USA TODAY

KIEV Ukraine said on Thursday a visit to Russian-annexed Crimea by Bulgaria's Eurovision song contest entrant was apparently not illegal, avoiding a row that might have led to his disqualification and tainted the popular competition with fresh political controversy.

A video widely shared on social networks and in Ukrainian media appears to show Bulgarian Kristian Kostov singing at a concert on Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula in June 2014, three months after it was seized by Russia.

Ukraine has already barred Russia's contestant from entering the country because she had performed in Crimea without permission from Kiev after the annexation.

Forty-two countries are competing this year in Eurovision, an annual pageant of the colorful, the camp and the cheesy that in recent years has increasingly been drawn into politics. Ukraine's Jamala won last year with a song about war-time deportations of Crimean Tatars by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

Kostov, who at 17 is the youngest competitor this year, was taking part in the second semi-final on Thursday with his song 'Beautiful Mess.' The final takes place in Kiev on Saturday in front of a television audience of millions.

Ukraine's border service said it and other state security agencies had not known about any visit by Kostov to Crimea when he entered Ukraine to take part in the competition. "We will study the information," spokesman Oleh Slobodyan said.

In a later statement, the border service said: "We do not currently have information from our sources or any other law enforcement agencies that he may have visited the occupied peninsula contrary to the legislation of this country."

It said Kostov would not have broken Ukrainian law if he visited Crimea as a minor and before legislation came into force banning foreigners from visiting the annexed territory without permission from Ukrainian authorities.

In a statement, the BulgarianEurovision delegation confirmed that Kostov had visited Crimea "for just a few hours" when he was 14 years old as part of a children's musical group.

There was no immediate comment from Eurovision organisers.

The annexation of Crimea contributed to a collapse in relations between Russia and Ukraine in 2014.

Russian singer Dima Bilan, who won Eurovision in 2008, urged his 1.9 million Instagram followers on Thursday to vote for Kostov. "He represents Bulgaria, but he is our hero!" he said in a post.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Additional reporting by Margaryta Chornokondratenko; Tsvetelia Tsolova in Sofia; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

LOS ANGELES Fringed capes, pleated skirts and bolero hats peppered the runway at the Dior Cruise 2018 collection on Thursday as the luxury Parisian label spun its own twist on music festival fashion.

MEXICO CITY Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto wrote to Leonardo DiCaprio on Twitter on Thursday in a bid to reassure the Hollywood actor his government was taking steps to protect a rare porpoise in Mexican waters teetering on the brink of extinction.

GHENT, Belgium Belgian conductor Philippe Herreweghe, who turned 70 this month, says he has no intention of retiring as he continues to discover new nuances in the music of the composer who marked his career like no other: Johan Sebastian Bach.

Read the original here:
Ukraine says Crimea visit by Bulgaria's Eurovision singer not illegal - Reuters

Children in Ukraine are being given a chance to realise there are many cultures in the world. Photograph: Anna Voitenko

In February 2014, 100 people now known as the heavenly hundred were shot dead by riot police during protests in Independence Square, Kiev. The revolution of dignity began as an outcry against the then-president Viktor Yanukovychs rejection of a trade deal with the EU, but it quickly spiralled into violence. The revolution became symbolic of a shift that has turned Ukraine away from Russia and towards Europe.

The three years since then have been among the most difficult in the recent history of Ukraine, with Russian military aggression and enormous economic losses aggravated by corruption. The country needs reform and it needs solidarity with its neighbours more than ever.

Mustafa Nayem was at the heart of those protests, having posted the original call on Facebook for people to come to the square. Now an MP, he has launched a non-government initiative, GoGlobal, to improve Ukrainians English language skills, and GoCamp a series of residential camps where volunteers from all over the world come to Ukraine to teach children how to speak English.

Take 12-year-old Maksym, who joined GoCamp last summer having never seen a foreigner before in his life. He is from the town of Kostopil, 360km west of Ukraines capital Kiev, and was learning English at school but struggled to use it in conversation. After just three weeks at GoCamp, Maksym could chatter away quite happily with Eril, an Indonesian volunteer, while they played football.

GoCamp is as much about cultural awareness and exchange as learning a new language. Spanish volunteers cook paella with the children. Chinese volunteers make paper lanterns. Last year the British staged plays by Shakespeare. Meanwhile every volunteer lives with a host family, to learn more about daily life in Ukraine.

In summer 2017, GoGlobal is planning to bring 1,000 foreign volunteers to more than 600 schools, to teach 100,000 pupils all over the country. It is our aim that by 2020 all children aged 10 to 15 will speak English.

It doesn't matter where you're from or what language you speak: the kids are all happy studying and playing together

Volunteers not only work in big cities but also in small villages, where parents cannot afford to enrol their children in language courses. After spending three days in Kiev learning how to work with kids, volunteers set off for their camp destinations all over Ukraine. And along with this training, we encourage volunteers to share activities they enjoy. Camps focus on one of four areas: Steam (science, technology, engineering, art and maths); civic education; leadership and careers; sports and fitness. We want our volunteers to teach children how to become leaders, how to think critically and how to be tolerant and compassionate towards others.

GoCamp plays an even more important role for the children of families resettled after the conflict in the east of the country. Schools located close to the frontline take part in GoCamp East, which takes place between July and August, and brings children from the conflict zone to camps in Kiev. They are children of war and over the last three years, their lives have been lived to a background of shots and explosions. Almost all of them will have lost a relative.

We bring these children together with other kids from around Ukraine to show them that it does not matter where you are from, or what language you speak they are all happy studying and playing together. Were giving these children the chance to realise that there is another life in Ukraine that there are many cultures and that the world is global.

It is the next generation of Ukrainians who will have to overhaul the country. If we want to change the world, we have to inspire the kids.

Tetiana Kyrylenko is head of communications for GlobalOffice, which runs GoGlobal and GoCamp.

Talk to us on Twitter via @Gdnvoluntary and join our community for your free fortnightly Guardian Voluntary Sector newsletter, with analysis and opinion sent direct to you on the first and third Thursday of the month.

Read more:
Volunteering in Ukraine: 'If we want change, we have to inspire kids' - The Guardian