At The Bowery Mission, Songs Of Faith And Redemption
When they arrived at the Bowery Mission, the six members of Annointed Voices were all struggling with homelessness and addiction....
Read Full Article

Film: Horror Auteur Is Unfinished With The Undead
Over five films and four decades the director George A. Romero’s slack-jawed undead have been our tour guides through a brainless, barbaric America....
Read Full Article

Hedge Fund Founder Given 20 Years For Investor Fraud
Samuel Israel III, the founder of the hedge fund Bayou Group, was sentenced for his role in a scheme that cheated investors out of more than $400 million....
Read Full Article

Gazans? Passage To Mecca Seen As An Insult To Abbas
Egypt and Saudi Arabia’s cooperation with Hamas to allow 2,000 people to leave Gaza last week for a pilgrimage to Mecca is causing local and international friction....
Read Full Article

Cadbury To Cut Jobs And Sell Beverage Unit
Cadbury Schweppes, the biggest candy maker in the world, said it planned to cut 7,500 jobs and sell the United States beverage unit that made Dr Pepper, Snapple and 7-Up to become more profitable....
Read Full Article

Poll Frontrunner Accused Of Le Pen Pact

FRENCH presidential frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy has been accused of plotting to make a secret pact with Jean-Marie Le Pen, the far-right leader.

With the first round of presidential polls just one week away, Socialist candidate Segolene Royal said the former interior minister was negotiating a deal with Mr Le Pens National Front, after a Sarkozy aide called for a measure of proportional representation in June National Assembly elections.

Mr Sarkozy has been accused of seeking the votes of Mr Le Pens supporters in the second round of the presidential poll next month. The veteran National Front leader is not expected to get beyond the first round and his supporters could rally behind Mr Sarkozy.

His most likely second round opponent is either Ms Royal or Francois Bayrou, the centrist leader, who on Friday accused Mr Sarkozy of cosying up to Mr Le Pen.

The attacks came after a key aide to Mr Sarkozy announced a plan to add an element of proportional representation into the separate June parliamentary elections — something Mr Le Pen has been demanding for years.

The aide, Brice Hortefeux, said the proposal would make parliament better reflect French society. Despite regularly garnering several million votes, the National Front has no parliamentary deputies under Frances first-past-the-post system.

Mr Sarkozys rivals said this abrupt about-turn was evidence that he wanted to make a pact with the far right.

Ms Royal accused Mr Sarkozy of "starting to negotiate in secret with the National Front", and of risking "civil war" in the countrys volatile suburbs.

Outgoing President Jacques Chirac refused to have any dealings with Mr Le Pen, whom he beat with 82 per cent in a 2002 run-off ballot. But Mr Sarkozy has campaigned loudly to draw National Front supporters back into the mainstream and attacked the left for stigmatising Le Pen voters.

The latest polls put Mr Sarkozy still firmly in the lead with 30 per cent, Ms Royal second with 24 per cent, Mr Bayrou third with 18.5 per cent and Mr Le Pen in fourth place with 13.5 per cent. However, 42 per cent of the electorate remain undecided.

TELEGRAPH, REUTERS

Elections, French-style ■Voters go to the polls for the first round of presidential elections next Sunday.

■If no candidate wins 50 per cent or more of the vote, there is a second round between the two leading candidates on May 6.

■Far from being a mere figurehead, the French president chooses the prime minister, can dissolve parliament and can pardon convicted criminals.

■The president is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

■Parliamentary elections will be held on June 10 and 17.

Source: BBC