With the first exit polls coming out of France,The Independent looks forward to counting in the French presidential elections

Sarkozy and Royal go through as 84 per cent turnout sets new poll record

A democratic tidal wave swept France yesterday. A record turn-out of 84.5 per cent of registered voters in the first round of the presidential election propelled Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal into a fascinating - and possibly close - second round showdown in two weeks' time.
The triumph of the centre-right candidate, M. Sarkozy, who took a projected 30 per cent of the vote, was broadly expected. The success of Mme Royal - who scored an estimated 25.2 per cent, one of the highest scores of any Socialist contender in the history of the Fifth Republic - was much more startling.
Mme Royal confounded her critics, including many in her own camp. She became the first woman to reach the second round of a French presidential election. It remains to be seen whether her score will be high enough to give her the momentum she needs to overhaul M. Sarkozy in the final on 6 May.

Sarko v Ségo in French poll: France sets up battle of left and right says the Guardian

Nicolas Sarkozy, France's rightwing former interior minister, last night stormed to one of the most impressive first-round victories in French presidential history, making him favourite to beat the socialist Ségolène Royal to the Elysée in a fortnight's time.
The head of France's ruling UMP party emerged as the most popular rightwing politician in 30 years after promising to shake France out of its decline with a mixture of free-market reforms, and to restore "authority" with tough law and order measures, clamp down on immigration and instil a sense of "national pride". According to early official counts, he scored 30.5% of the vote.

It leads on the story that

Arts leaders turn on Jowell over Olympics

Some of the UK's most senior arts and sports administrators yesterday united to warn that cuts in lottery funding to pay for the Olympics would undermine the future of their institutions and actually reduce participation in sport. They spoke out as it emerged that four of the country's main voluntary organisations are demanding a Commons debate on the scale of the cuts.
At the moment, the proposals are likely to be rubber-stamped before the end of this parliamentary session by a special ad hoc committee. Tessa Jowell, the culture, secretary, insisted yesterday that the Olympics were a "once-in-a-lifetime good cause". But the government's plans to divert an additional £675m from the National Lottery to fund the event has galvanised the cultural and sporting worlds.


The Telegraph reports on another election taking place over the weekend

Nigerian election condemned as a farce

a widespread outbreak of violence was feared last night following an election that monitors said was so flawed it had to be reorganised to ensure that voting was fair following the failure to deliver ballot papers in half the country.
"You cannot use the result from half of the country to announce a new president," said Innocent Chukwuma, chairman of the Transition Monitoring Group, a respected Nigerian observer mission.
Ballot papers failed to turn up or arrived late in more than half of the country's 120,000 polling stations, outraging voters who claimed the hitches were part of a ruling party plan to stay in power.

It leads though with

Free NHS a mirage, say doctors

Patients will have to pay far more for more private health care to make up shortfalls in the NHS, a group of doctors says today in a damning report.
Faced with long waiting lists and postcode lotteries, the doctors say that patients are increasingly paying extra private payments to upgrade the treatment they receive.
Despite the Government pouring billions of pounds into the NHS to improve the quality of care, they claim that top-up payments will increase in major areas of the health service such as cancer care and heart disease.

The Times stays with the health theme

Daily pill to beat genetic diseases

A pill that can correct a wide range of faulty genes which cause crippling illnesses should be available within three years, promising a revolution in the treatment of thousands of conditions.
The drug, known as PTC124, has already had encouraging results in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis. The final phase of clinical trials is to begin this year, and it could be licensed as early as 2009.

Both the Mail and the Mirror report on a new telephone phone in allegation

Millions duped by 'fixed' TV phone-in

Viewers of Britain's most popular breakfast television show GMTV have fallen victim to the biggest phone-in scandal yet uncovered.
Millions pay £1.80 each to enter a weekday multiple-choice quiz with prizes up to £20,000. GMTV starts soliciting for calls after the beginning of the programme at 6am but according to sources was actually picking its shortlist up to 45 minutes before the supposed 9am deadline, meaning countless entrants were wasting their time and money.
The practice - which has led to accusations of fraud - is estimated to have fleeced about £45,000 a day from viewers, or £10million a year.

The Independent reports that

Goldsmith refuses to stand aside over 'cash-for-honours'

Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, is under pressure to stand aside from the decision on whether prosecutions are brought in the cash-for-honours affair.
Opposition parties criticised him after he refused to give up his power to have the final say on charges. They said there could be a potential conflict of interest because he was a former Labour donor, was appointed to the House of Lords by Tony Blair and attends cabinet meetings.
Sir Ken Macdonald, the Director of Public Prosecutions, has already stood aside because he was a member of Matrix Chambers for three years along with Cherie Blair.

Meanwhile the Mail reports that

Levy was glad-handing donors before he even got to No 10

A secret strategy to "sell" Downing Street access to wealthy party donors from the very beginning of the Blair years has been revealed.
An explosive leaked internal memo places Tony Blair, his chief of staff Jonathan Powell and Labour's leading fundraiser Lord Levy at the centre of a "cash-for-access" policy to raise millions

According to the Guardian

Brown may still face a Blairite challenger

Senior Blairites are refusing to concede Gordon Brown a coronation as the next Labour leader, despite David Miliband ruling himself out of the contest definitively and promising to back the chancellor.
The environment secretary, who was widely regarded as the only MP with a chance of defeating Mr Brown, had come under sustained pressure to stand.
The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, a Blairite, said yesterday that he was "sure" the chancellor was the next prime minister. But John Reid, the home secretary, and his predecessor Charles Clarke, are refusing to rule themselves out as potential candidates, leaving the door open for a challenge. Few believe either could win, but Mr Clarke has said that the chancellor could face as many as three other candidates. Mr Brown's allies say they have already signed up 217 Labour MPs. Only 35 have refused, and a further 93 are apparently undecided.

All the papers report on the sewage spill in Scotland

Health alert as vast tide of sewage spills into the sea says the Times

Engineers were fighting to stem the flow of millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh last night as a health alert was issued for ten miles of coastline.
A pump failure on Friday triggered an emergency overspill from a treatment works and it is estimated that as many as 22 million gallons (100 million litres) of sewage have been discharged from a pipe into the seabed near the Seafield waste-water treatment plant. At one stage 1,000 litres of raw sewage from up to 800,000 homes in the Scottish capital were being pumped out every second.
Although Thames Water, which operates the Seafield plant at Leith on behalf of Scottish Water, said yesterday that the sewage had been “screened” for solids, there were reports of human waste being washed up. Environmental health officials gave warning last night that it was likely to be several days before the waste had dispersed.

The Sun leads with the news that the Queen is an Arsenal supporter,the paper reporting that

THE Queen has been a keen Arsenal supporter for more than 50 YEARS, royal sources say.
And she followed in the footsteps of her late mum the Queen Mother, who was a Gunners fanatic too.
Although the Queen has presented a string of soccer trophies, her club allegiance has never been revealed before.
Her Majesty, 81, is said to have confessed her love of Arsenal at a February reception at Buckingham Palace, attended by players and officials from the club.
Midfielder Cesc Fabregas, 19, said she made a beeline for him after spotting him across the room — then chatted about her pal King Juan Carlos of Spain.

The same paper reveals that

Jail throws £10k down the pan

A PRISON is spending £10,000 on “hole in the ground” toilets because some foreign lags hate sitting down when they go.
The jail — where 90 per cent of inmates are from abroad — has been flooded with complaints from crooks who want to squat like they do at home.
So a new toilet facility is being built at HMP Canterbury, Kent, at taxpayers’ expense.
Each loo has a hole and a ceramic tray with no seat and non-slip flooring — like those found in continental




Finally the Telegraph reports on

The Caribbean cruise with ice skating on board

When people go on a Caribbean cruise, most remember to pack their towel and swimming costume, but very few take ice skates.
That, however, is exactly what they will need on the world's largest cruise liner, which sailed into Britain yesterday.Weighing 160,000 tons and boasting more facilities than a small town, the 1,112ft Liberty of the Seas not only has an ice rink on board, but a nine-hole miniature golf course, a 43ft rock-climbing wall and a regulation sized boxing ring.
And if the sea becomes a bit too rough, guests can take a dip in the full-sized water park, which has its very own wave generator for surfing, or relax in whirlpools in a pool-side solarium, 112ft above the ocean. For those who like to take their entertainment sitting down, there is a theatre and casino.