Before he made his new film about the death penalty, Boo Junfeng sat down to tea with some of Singapore's retired hangmen.

Ukrainian singer Jamala snatched victory from arch-rival Russia to win the Eurovision song contest Saturday, adding a touch of political drama to the annual kitsch extravaganza.

After a tense vote count, during which it seemed Australia was going to run away with the crown until the audience votes came in, Jamala was declared the winner in Stockholm after a heart-felt performance of "1944", a song about the deportations of Crimean Tatars during World War II.

Australians Sunday cheered contestant and juries' favorite Dami Im for placing second at the annual Eurovision song contest in Sweden, with the prime minister's hailing her achievement.

It was the second time that the island continent had taken part in the kitsch competition after Guy Sebastian finished in the top five following a wildcard entry last year.

The tops and flops of over three hours of music and glitz on television: a guide of memorable moments from the competition's 61st edition.

- The Crimean Tatar -

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday will see his younger daughter Sumeyye marry defence industrialist Selcuk Bayraktar at a large-scale and high security ceremony in Istanbul.

Turkish media pictures earlier showed Sumeyye, 30, wearing an Islamic headscarf, sitting in the front seat of the bridal car.

Pop diva Lady Gaga has denied she will appear in a much-publicized upcoming film about singer Dionne Warwick in which she was said to be set to play the soul legend's British "nemesis" Cilla Black.

Warwick appeared at the Cannes film festival Friday to promote the biopic, "Dionne", revealing that former Destiny's Child member LeToya Luckett would play her while Gaga would be Black, who died last year.

"When strangers are coming, they come to your house, they kill you all and say, 'we’re not guilty, not guilty'."

Those are the harrowing opening words of war-scarred Ukraine's entry for the Eurovision song contest -- an occasion that is typically flamboyant and festive and more associated with laughs than tears.

The poems that won Pablo Neruda the Nobel prize for literature may never have been seen if the writer had not been such a good horseman.

A new film, "Neruda" -- which will be shown Friday at the Cannes film festival -- tells of the period in the Chilean icon's drama-packed life when he nearly drowned in a river while fleeing on horseback from anti-communist police.

In an ideal world, the Eurovision Song Contest would be all about music and cross-border camaraderie. In reality, delicate diplomacy is essential to prevent politics from spilling into the annual glitz fest.

A cast of hopeful artists from 26 countries will compete in this year's final on Saturday in Sweden, homeland of inventor Alfred Nobel, who gave his name to the famous international peace price.

It is the legendary party house where John Lennon burned a Matisse original with a cigarette and Elvis reportedly slept with numerous models, but the Playboy Mansion is a more sedate place these days.

The only women to be seen on its verdant lawns are PR staff in smart suits while the frollicking among the bushes is left to a menagerie of peacocks and parrots kept at the $200 million Beverly Hills estate.