The Eurovision final is nearly here. Latika Bourke, Sîan Pattenden and Georgina Godwin discuss the latest news from Malmö as well as Sîan’s eleventh consecutive charity live draw. Monocle’s resident Eurovision expert, Fernando Augusto Pacheco, speaks to the show’s production designer, Florian Wieder, and the lighting and screen-content designer, Fredrik Stormby, from the competition’s main stage. Plus: David Lammy in the US and the tourist crackdown in the Balearic Islands. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This edition of Monocle on Saturday was first broadcast on the 11th of May 2024.
Hello, I'm Georgina Godwin, broadcasting to you live from Midori House in London.
This is Monocle on Saturday.
Coming up on today's program, we'll have a browse through the week's news and culture with journalist and geopolitics specialist Latika Burke.
Then we look ahead to tonight's Eurovision final.
Author and illustrator Sian Pattenden joins us to talk about her charity Live Draw.
And we tried to do something different and something new, and as it's all about the connection between audience and talent, we thought playing it in the round would be an interesting approach.
Monaco's Fernando Augusto Pacheco speaks to Eurovision's production designer Florian Vida and the lighting and screen content designer Frederick Stormby.
First, though, here's the news.
The Biden administration says Israel's use of US supplied weapons may have violated international humanitarian law during its military operation in Gaza, in its strongest criticism to date of Israel.
But the administration stopped short of a definitive assessment, saying that due to the chaos of the war, it could not verify specific instances where use of those weapons might have been involved in alleged breaches.
Russian forces launched an armoured ground attack on Friday near Ukraine's second city of Kharkiv in the northeast of the country and made small inroads, opening a new front in a war that's long been waged in the east and south.
Ukraine chased Russian troops out of most of the Kharkiv region in 2022 following Russia's scale invasion in February of that year.
But after weathering a Ukrainian fight back last year, Russian forces are back on the offensive and slowly advancing in the Donetsk region that lies further south.
And Swedish Eurovision host Malmo is gearing up for the grand final this evening as excitement mingles with the tension of heightened security threats and political protests over Israel's participation.
The world's biggest live music event is estimated to have drawn around 100,000 visitors to Malmo, Sweden's third, third biggest city, whilst many millions more in Europe and further afield will tune in for the broadcast tonight.
And that's your Monocle Radio news.
Hello and welcome to Monocle on Saturday.
I'm joined in the studio by the journalist and geopolitics specialist Latika Burke and the author and illustrator Sian Pattenden.
Will you both be joining the millions who will be watching Eurovision round the World tonight, Latika?