BANGKOK (AP) — The music spectacle Eurovision is holding its first Asian edition in Bangkok later this year.
The Eurovision Song Contest Asia 2026 has confirmed artists from at least 10 countries across Asia competing: Thailand, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. More are expected to join before the finale in November.
“As we mark the 70th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest, it feels especially meaningful to open this next chapter with Asia, a region rich in culture, creativity and talent,” Martin Green, the director of the contest, said in the announcement Tuesday.
Bangkok is the perfect city to host the contest because it “has always been a place where cultures come together, where music fills the air, and where celebration is part of everyday life,” said Chuwit Sirivajjakul, a representative of the Thailand Tourism Authority.
The main gala, run by the European Broadcasting Union, draws more than 100 million viewers every year.
This year's main competition with 35 competing countries is scheduled to be held in Vienna in May. Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain are boycotting due to discord over Israel’s participation.
The contest strives to put pop music before politics but has repeatedly been embroiled in world events. Russia was expelled in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
It also has been roiled by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, stirring protests outside the venues and forcing organizers to clamp down on political flag-waving.
Similar tensions could emerge in Asia. Thailand and Cambodia engaged in deadly border clashes twice last year.
FILE - JJ from Austria stands on the stage with the trophy after winning the Grand Final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, in Basel, Switzerland, May 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)
BERLIN (AP) — A humpback whale that got stranded in shallow coastal waters in the Baltic Sea has swum free again, and experts hope that they won't have to make another rescue attempt.
The whale, which is 12-15 meters (39-49 feet) long, swam free late Monday from the spot near the German port of Wismar where it had been stuck since the weekend, regional officials said. It initially headed toward the harbor but then turned toward the open sea. There were no new sightings of the animal on Tuesday morning.
An effort last week to rescue the whale from an underwater sandbank at Timmendorfer Strand, a nearby resort town, eventually succeeded with the help of an excavator. But the apparently exhausted whale was soon in trouble again, albeit in somewhat deeper water, and officials banked on giving it peace and quiet to gather enough strength to swim away.
The drama captivated Germans, with crowds gathering on shore while media have sent detailed updates on its progress and streamed live video from the scene.
But the whale is still far from its natural habitat, and faces a huge effort to find its way to the Atlantic Ocean through the North Sea.
“The whale swimming free yesterday is a first very good sign, but the way to the North Sea is still long and we can only keep our fingers crossed that it makes it there,” Burkard Baschek, the scientific director of the Ocean Museum Germany and the scientific coordinator of the rescue effort, told ZDF television.
He said it wouldn't be practical to try to escort the whale on that journey of several hundred kilometers (miles), pointing to whales' ability to dive. “That means that in principle we can only hope that it will make it under its own steam,” he added.
No tracker has been attached to the whale because its skin is in a poor state after long exposure to the relatively low salt concentration of the Baltic.
The whale was first spotted swimming in the region on March 3.
It is not clear why the whale swam into the Baltic Sea. Some experts say the animal may have lost its way when it swam after a shoal of herring, or during migration.
Three water birds sit on a humpback whale in the Wismar Bay near Wismar, Germany, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (Philip Dulian/dpa via AP)
A police inflatable boat approaches a humpback whale lying in the Bay of Wismar, Germany, Monday, March 30, 2026. (Philip Dulian/dpa via AP)
