Ukraine band auction off Eurovision trophy for £700,000 to raise funds for army

Cyndi Lauper has shared a rerecorded version of her 1993 abortion rights anthem ‘Sally’s Pigeons’ in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.In a series of tweets that accompanied the new, more stripped-back and plaintive version of ‘Sally’s Pigeons’ on June 25, Lauper wrote, “In my childhood, women didn’t have reproductive freedom and 50 years later we find ourselves in a time warp where one’s freedom to control their own body has been stripped away.”She continued, “When I wrote this song with Mary Chapin Carpenter in 1991, we wrote about two little girls who dreamt of stretching their wings like the pigeons they watched that flew above them.“They dreamt of being free.

Top Gun: Maverick has hit another big milestone, surpassing $1billion (£813million) at the global box office.The new sequel, which follows on from Tom Cruise’s 1986 blockbuster, has now overtaken Marvel‘s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness to become the highest-grossing film of the year, and is now Cruise’s first film to pass the billion mark.It is also only the second film to pass the mark since the pandemic, alongside last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.Maverick began breaking records upon its release last month, achieving the highest-grossing opening on its debut weekend for a non-superhero film since COVID-19, taking in $248million (£196million) when it opened.The film follows Cruise’s character Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell three decades after the events of the original film, as he trains up a new group of young pilots while confronting his past.Miles Teller and Jennifer Connelly also star, the former taking on the role of Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw, the son of Nick ‘Goose’ Bradshaw.Speaking recently about performing stunts for the film, Teller admitted recently that he thought he was “going to die”.“I think when there’s that much adrenaline and a healthy bit of fear, I was able to hold [vomit] down. I guess that’s a secret skill I have,” he told LADBible.“If anything I think it made me really appreciate how nice it is not to have to, you know, go 500 knots an hour all the time,” he added of his new appreciation for commercial flights.

Good Morning Britain fans have been left convinced that Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid have fallen out as he continues to miss the ITV morning show. The 66 year old presenter was absent from Monday 27 June morning’s episode after Adil Ray stood in with Susanna, 51 as co-host.

Selling Sunsets star Mary Fitzgerald has spoken out about the concerns of her increasing fame after appearing on the hit Netflix real estate series.The 41 year old stars alongside her colleagues in the streaming show, which centres most of its filming at The Oppenheim Group office in Sunset Plaza, Los Angeles, where their work base is located.Though the glamorous agents are typically seen entering the Oppenheim doors rocking the latest designer items, Mary revealed that the cast no longer wear expensive jewellery after there was a burglary near the office. “We've all stopped wearing any of our expensive watches. We've been very, very cautious.

On Monday, Alec Baldwin announced that he’ll be interviewing Woody Allen live on his Instagram account this Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Everybody remembers the first time they got into a fender bender. For Ben Affleck’s 10-year-old son Samuel, it reportedly happened on Sunday in a car worth nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

Jake Paul and Tommy Fury will finally get the chance to face off this week, with a press conference scheduled to be taking place on Wednesday. The press conference will also feature the fighters from the co-main event which is Amanda Serrano vs Brenda Carabajal.

A man has died after being hit by a train between Manchester Piccadilly and London.

A yob has been jailed after trying to steal a watch worth more than £182,000 from a man weeks after stealing thousands of pounds of cash from a G4S van making a delivery.

Scots actress Julie Graham has slammed the decision to roll back the rights of American women following the overturning of Roe v Wade. The landmark law - which guaranteed a right to abortion across the US - has been ripped up after 49 years.

With the summer holidays looming large, many holidaymakers are looking a bit closer to home for a summer getaway.

Two men have been charged with attempted murder after an alleged 'stabbing' in a Scots home, which saw a man being airlifted to hospital.

Die Zeit. “It simply isn’t right to romanticise Russia with lyrics like: ‘I follow the Moskva/ Down to Gorky Park…Let your balalaika sing’“.The band have changed the lyrics to: “Now listen to my heart/ It says Ukrainia/ Waiting for the wind to change,” which are projected on a screen behind the band as they perform.Released in 1991, the perestroika power ballad is the German hard rockers’ most famous song; it was voted song of the 20th century by viewers of the public broadcaster ZDF in 2005.Even though the song was released over a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is widely remembered as the soundtrack to the era of economic and social changes in the former Soviet Union that heralded the end of the cold war.Meine said he composed the words on September 3 and 4, 1989, a month after Scorpions performed at the Moscow Music Peace festival.Elsewhere in the interview with Die Zeit, Meine discussed his friendship with Hanoverian ex-chancellor turned Russian gas lobbyist Gerhard Schröder, whose fifth wedding party he attended in 2018.“I haven’t spoken with Gerhard Schröder for a while,” Meine said.

The trophy, which took the shape of a crystal microphone, was auctioned on Facebook.It was done with the aim of buying drones for the Ukrainian military amid the ongoing conflict with Russia.The sale of the trophy coincided with the band’s appearance at a charity concert at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.It also aimed to raise money for medical care and supplies.Band member Oleh Psiuk appealed for people to not get used to the war."I think it should be on the front pages always, until peace comes," said Psiuk, whose Eurovision win had been tipped in the run-up to the event.The war has left more than 4,000 civilians dead and nearly 5,000 injured according to the UN.It has also forced more than 14 million people to flee their homes since Russia invaded on February 24, with towns and cities reduced to rubble.Reuters news agency reported that Ukrainian TV presenter Serhiy Prytula announced that the money raised from the trophy would specifically be used to purchase three Ukrainian-made PD-2 drones.Drones are popularly used by Ukraine and Russia, both as weapons and reconnaissance.While the war was going on, the Eurovision song contest gave the world an opportunity to support and uplift the struggling nation.Ukraine topped the board with a total of 631 points.Following their win, Kalush Orchestra's lead singer said: "Thank you so much."Thank you for supporting Ukraine.This victory is for every Ukrainian.""What an emotional night," commentator Graham Norton said at the time of the result."Not just emotional because Ukraine won, but look at us, there we are."In the nosebleed, dizzying heights of second place on the leaderboard."That is our highest position in over 20 years, ladies and gentlemen."Praising the SpaceMan singer, he

Platinum Jubilee bank holiday as storms threaten to put a dampener on the Queen's special weekend.The warning from the Met Office comes as predictions suggest a low-pressure front from the North Atlantic could bring heavy downpours throughout the four-day celebration.

The Ukrainian winners of the Eurovision Song Contest have sold their trophy to raise almost $1M for the war effort.

Glastonbury 2022’s Pyramid Stage line-up.The band will play the festival’s main stage on the festival’s Sunday morning (June 26) to deliver an anti-war message.They’ve called themselves “ambassadors of free Ukraine” and have punctuated concerts with cries of “Stop Putin!” and “No war!” (via BBC News).DakhaBrakha are currently donating proceeds from their shows to help the Ukrainian army.Meanwhile, Kalush Orchestra‘s Eurovision trophy has been auctioned off online to raise funds to buy drones for Ukraine’s ongoing war against Russia.The Ukrainian rap group triumphed over the UK’s Sam Ryder at the Turin, Italy ceremony earlier this month, receiving a massive portion of the public vote.As BBC News reports, the winning trophy – a crystal microphone – has now been auctioned off on Facebook with the aim of buying drones for Ukraine’s armed forces with the proceeds.Coinciding with a performance from the band at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate – a building often symbolising peace and unity within Europe – for a charity event, the trophy was sold for $900,000 (£712,000).Kalush Orchestra were the bookies’ favourites for Eurovision glory with their rousing folk-rap song ‘Stefania’ before they went on to take the top spot by scoring a massive 631 points – largely from the public vote – to overhaul the UK who were winning after the jury votes at the grand final in Turin.It’s tradition for the winning nation of Eurovision to host the competition the following year.Due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine at the hands of Russia, much doubt has been cast over whether the country will be in a position to be able to do so.

Naman Ramachandran Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra, popular winners of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, have raised $900,000 for their country’s military by auctioning their winners’ trophy.The auction for the crystal microphone trophy was conducted on Facebook on Sunday by Ukrainian TV presenter Serhiy Prytula.“You guys are amazing! We appreciate each and every one of you who donated to this auction and a special thanks to Team WhiteBIT who purchased the trophy for $900,000 and are now the rightful owners of our trophy. Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Kalush Orchestra posted on Facebook on Monday.

Russia.Oleh Psiuk, Ihor Didenchu, Vlad Kurochka, Vitalii Duzhyk, Tymofii Muzychuk and Oleksandr Slobodianyk auctioned off the glass microphone they won with their performance of Stefania in Turin earlier this month.They raised a further $370,000 (£293,000) by raffling off the pink bucket hat frontman Oleh wore during the performance.The winning bid for the trophy was attributed to Whitebit, a cryptocurrency exchange, and came in the form of 500 Ethereum.Addressing the huge amount of money raised, the band wrote on Facebook: ‘You guys are amazing!‘We appreciate each and everyone of you who donated to this auction and a special thanks to the team Whitebit who purchased the trophy for $900,000 and are now the rightful owners of our trophy.’The money will go to a charitable fund which raises money for Ukrainian forces against the Russian army.Ukrainian TV presenter Serhiy Prytula, who hosted the auction, said there were 31,088 entries into the hat raffle, and that the winner was in the Czech Republic.Kalush Orchestra won the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest after a landslide in the public televote.According to those present at Eurovision, at the end of their performance Kalush asked the audience to help Ukraine and Mariupol amid the ongoing Russian invasion.The band had been granted special permission to leave Ukraine, where men aged 18 to 60 could be called up to fight and are not allowed to leave the country during the conflict.Speaking on a press conference live stream following their win, Oleh said: ‘I’m going back home as I run a volunteering organisation that helps refugees with food, accommodation, and medication.‘I will keep doing that.

This year’s Eurovision Song Contest winners Kalush Orchestra have auctioned off their trophy from the competition in order to raise money for the Ukrainian army. The winning bid of 500 Ethereums – roughly $900,000 – was placed by Ukraine-based cryptocurrency exchange WhiteBit.Announced last week, the auction took place on Sunday, hosted by TV presenter Serhiy Prytula, with the band also announcing the winner of a raffle to win the pink bucket hat frontman Oleh Psiuk wore on stage at this month’s Eurovision show.Tickets for the raffle cost five euros a pop, and raised a further $370,000.

Kalush Orchestra‘s Eurovision trophy has been auctioned off online to raise funds to buy drones for Ukraine’s ongoing war against Russia.The Ukrainian rap group triumphed over the UK’s Sam Ryder at the Turin ceremony earlier this month, receiving a massive portion of the public vote.As BBC News report, the winning trophy – a crystal microphone – has now been auctioned off on Facebook with the aim of buying drones for Ukraine’s armed forces with the proceeds.It is tradition for the winning nation of Eurovision to host the competition the following year. Due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine at the hands of Russia, much doubt has been cast over whether the country will be in a position to be able to do so.