In the wake of rightist Jean-Marie Le Pen's unforeseen qualification for the second round of the French presidential election against conservative incumbent Jacques Chirac, French political leaders began burying their differences in order to present a united front. Le Pen immediately demonstrated a shrewd appreciation of the forces that brought him success, declaring that he was "the candidate of the French people against the candidate of the system. We are witnessing the toppling of a decadent, corrupt and ossified political system," according to The New York Times. But this speech was followed on Monday with more than 10,000 French people demonstrating against Le Pen, according to CNN.com. Le Pen, a former paratrooper who has run for president three times and has always been popular with the elderly, gained support across the country and with all age groups, particularly among low-income voters who had previously supported the Communist Party. With the highest rate of abstention France has ever seen, the election resulted in 19.67 percent of the vote to Chirac and 17.02 percent to Le Pen.
More than 200 injured in second train collision of the week
A commuter train collided head-on with a mile-long freight train yesterday morning in Orange County, Calif.. At least two people died in the collision and more than 200 were injured-with at least two still in critical condition, according to the AP. The trains collided at 8:16 a.m., according to local police. Witnesses said the grinding of metal could be heard from miles away as the front car of the Metrolink train was partially crumpled and knocked halfway off the tracks, while remaining upright. A spokesperson from Metrolink, the commuter train system that serves Southern California, said that the train was busy with approximately 300 passengers due to the morning rush hour. "This is our worst incident in our nearly 10-year history of operating the trains," said a Metrolink spokesman in a press release. It was the second serious rail crash in the United States in less than a week. On Thursday, the Amtrak Auto Train derailed in northern Florida, killing four people. Officials are still investigating the engineer's claim that he braked after seeing misaligned tracks ahead.
State begins collecting information on subject of new bridge
Local motorists expressed their opinions today on whether there was a need for the state highway department to begin planning for the construction of a second local Connecticut River crossing-most likely in the form of a new bridge, according to The Daily Hampshire Gazette. Representatives from the state were distributing survey questionnaires at the intersection of routes 116 and 47 in Sunderland and at the intersection of Route 9 and Bay Road in Hadley. Commuter responses will be used as part of the state's Connecticut River transportation study which is being conducted in an effort to reduce traffic congestion and broaden transportation options, especially given the traffic jams that have resulted from current construction on the Calvin Coolidge bridge-the only local Connecticut river crossing. An advisory group of local politicians and government officials will meet in early May to further discuss the project. In addition to a second bridge, the study will consider "a wide range of alternatives," according to The Gazette.