First 10 Eurovision finalists named

The first Eurovision Semi Final took place tonight for the first set of 10 places to qualify up for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, taking place in Oslo. Albania (number 15 at the final stage of the contest), Bosnia-Herzegovina (number 6), Moldavia (number 4), Russia (number 20), Greece (number 11), Portugal (number 23), Belarus (number 9), Serbia (number 8), Belgium (number 7), and Iceland (number 16) are the first ten Eurovision finalists to those five countries which had already been picked for Saturday's final. These five are Britain (number 12), France (number 18), Germany (number 22), Spain (number two), and Norway (number 3), which is hosting the event after winning last year's contest in Moscow.

During Friday’s second Semi-Final other 10 finalists from a shortlist of 17 countries will be chosen. Among them are Lithuania, Armenia, Israel, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, Ireland, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Georgia, and Turkey.