MOSCOW: Russian lawmakers on Sunday lashed out at arch-rival Ukraine’s “political” victory in the Eurovision song contest, as one pro-Kremlin paper insisted Moscow’s entrant was robbed.
Ukrainian performer Jamala won the glitzy contest Saturday with her ballad “1944” about the deportation of the Crimean Tatars by Soviet authorities during World War II in a performance widely seen as a swipe at Moscow over its annexation of the peninsula in 2014.
Russian singer Sergei Lazarev — the clear favorite with bookmakers before the contest — was beaten into third place after losing out on the national jury tallies despite claiming the most points from viewers in the public vote.
“It was not the Ukrainian singer Jamala and her song 1944 that won the Eurovision 2016, it was politics that beat art,” Russian senator Frants Klintsevich told Russian newswires, calling for Russia to possibly skip next year’s tournament in Ukraine.
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter feud since Moscow annexed Crimea in February 2014 and was then accused of fueling a bloody separatist uprising in the east of the country.
The crisis in Ukraine has pushed ties between Russia and the West to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.
The head of the foreign affairs committee in Russia’s upper chamber Konstantin Kochachev insisted that “according to the tally of points it was geopolitics that gained the upperhand.”
Kochachev said that the Eurovision victory could embolden Ukraine’s pro-Western leadership and see an already stuttering peace process to end the conflict in the east jeopardized even further.
“For that reason Ukraine lost. And not only its long-suffering budget,” he wrote on Facebook.
“The thing the country needs now as much as air is peace. But war won.”
Sore Russian officials bash Ukraine Eurovision win
Sore Russian officials bash Ukraine Eurovision win
Hello Kitty designer bows out after 40 years in charge
- Hello Kitty started life as an illustration on a vinyl coin purse
- The cute Japanese character has become a global mega brand
TOKYO: The flamboyant designer behind Hello Kitty – the cute Japanese character that became a global mega brand – is stepping down after more than four decades in charge of her look.
Yuko Yamaguchi has been responsible since 1980 for the design of Kitty, who is officially not a cat but a little girl from London, overseeing her rise to the epitome of Japan’s “kawaii” – cute – soft power.
But now Yamaguchi, who often wore Kitty-style dresses in public and piled her hair in buns – has “passed the baton to the next generation,” Sanrio, the company behind the character, said on its website Tuesday.
The company said new designer “Aya” – a pseudonym – was due to start by the end of 2026.
Yamaguchi “listened to the voices of fans, actively collaborated with artists and designers from Japan and abroad and has grown Hello Kitty into a character loved by everyone,” Sanrio said, as it thanked her for her work.
Hello Kitty started life as an illustration on a vinyl coin purse.
It has since appeared on tens of thousands of products – everything from handbags to rice cookers – and has secured lucrative tie-ups with Adidas, Balenciaga and other top brands.
The phenomenon shows no sign of slowing, with a Warner Bros movie in the pipeline and a new Hello Kitty theme park due to open next year on China’s tropical Hainan island.
Unlike other Japanese cultural exports such as Pokemon or Dragon Ball, there is minimal narrative around the character, whose full name is Kitty White.
She has a twin sister Mimmy, a boyfriend called Dear Daniel, and a pet cat of her own, Sanrio says. She loves her mother’s apple pie and dreams of becoming a pianist or poet.
