State-run ORT television has filed an official request with the organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest seeking information about how the popular voting in the 24 May competition was tabulated. The Russian entry in the competition, the controversial duo t.A.T.u., finished third, just three points behind the winner, Turkish entrant Sertab Erener. Following the voting, Irish telecom operator Eircom released a statement saying that its tabulation of the voting results from Ireland did not correspond to the official results released by the Irish jury and that by its count t.A.T.u. came in first place in Ireland. As a result, ORT is seeking vote counts for Great Britain, the Netherlands, Malta, Sweden, and Norway directly from the telecom companies that coordinated the voting in those countries. (strana.ru)