With a good lead of 17 points Ruslana from the Ukraine won the 49th Eurovision Song Contest in the completely sold out Abdi Ipecki Arena. The well deserved second rank made Zelko from Serbia & Montenegro with 263 points, Sakis from Greece came third with 252 points.

After a spectacular semi-final the new starting postions are fixed. Turkey presented itself from it's sunny side: great intro, beautiful landscapes, that's all animates to visit the exotic country at the Bosporus.

Everybody who is going to the Abdi Ipeci Arena these day will have noticed the big security improvement. Since the terror attacks in November Turkey fears that it could happen again.

Today there was the first dress rehearsals of the semi-final. A lot of things went wrong, but there wasn't a big disaster. Some technical things of the normal procedure didn't work that well.

The EBU hold an additional press conference today concerning the new double-show format of the contest. The telecommunication company Digame from Cologne, Germany is responsible for the televoting-procedure.

oday Max from Germany could enter the stage. As always he was singing with closed eyes. "This voice is fantastic" was the main reaction in the audience during his first appearance on stage here in Istanbul.

Today was the beginning the rehearsals for the finalists. The Spanish press conference has been visited quite well. The interest of the Spanish in the Eurovision Song Contest is still quite high after Rosa.

This year there are several folkloristic contributions. Some of them deserve a special consideration. Serbia & Montenegro presents one of the best songs since many years "Lane Moje".