Looking back: What happened this week?

Finnish broadcaster YLE announced its candidates for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest national selection. Jari Sillanpää, who represented Finland at the contest in 2004, gets a second chance. Together with 11 other contestants, Jari will have to fight for the ticket, as three semi-finals precede the grand final on the 31st of January. Check out the complete overview of Finnish national final contestant, or simply follow the tag Euroviisut to follow the news about the Finnish national selection. 

A record 3,440 songs were sent to SVT's headquarters in Stockholm, and only 32 will make it to the five semi-finals in the lead up to the final of Melodifestivalen 2009. Put the 14th of March in your agenda! Read more about the 3,440 entries and find out how the Swedish national selection process works, or simply follow the tag   Melodifestivalen for a complete overview of news related to the Swedish national selection.

The Dutch announced their plans for Moscow. Gerard, Gordon and René, together known as The Toppers, have the honour of being the Netherlands' 50th Eurovision Song Contest entry. In a spectacular press conference, they assured one thing: "Moscow has never seen anything like this. It's going to be all about glitter and glamour, combined with a great song." Follow the tag Toppers for a complete overview of news in the lead up to the Dutch national selection.

The 2008 Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which will take place in Lemesos, Cyprus, is exactly 50 days ahead of us. Earlier this week, Host Broadcaster CyBC signed with Eurovision Song Contest winner Dima Bilan to perform as guest star at the contest on the 22nd of November. To follow the news about this year's Eurovision Song Contest winner, just follow the tag Dima Bilan. 

Buzz in the fan scene of the Eurovision Song Contest! One of the leading fan websites, Oikotimes.com, has been off air for the entire week. No one knows what happened, if and when they will be back. Catastrophy, silence before the storm or an unprecendented marketing stunt? Time will tell! 

Belgovision.com reports: Tragic news from the heart of Europe... Belgian musician Marc Moulin was buried in Ixelles, Brussels, earlier this week. Moulin was the pioneer of electro music in Belgium and will always be remembered from his appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980. He represented Belgium with the song Euro-Vision with his group Telex.  

Esctoday.com reports: Though Italy is not taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest since 1997, the fever in the country keeps on raising thanks to Mrs Raffaella Carrà. In her Wednesday prime time tv show Carramba! Che Fortuna, on RAI Uno, Raffaella received Latvia's representatives at the 2008 Eurovision: The Pirates of the Sea.