This summer, PeaceTones is going to Haiti to hold a contest for Haitian musicians to showcase their talent!

We want to give Haitian
musicians of every walk of life a chance to sing you their songs, tell you their stories and show you their lives. Through this contest, 15-20 Haitian contestants will be selected to record video clips of their performances for you to vote on. Contest finalists will be included in a studio recording session producing a Peacetones compilation… Continue

COVENTRY, R.I. – A stream of water pumping from the basement of St. Vincent De Paul Church to the parking lot outside welcomed parishioners arriving for Easter services on Sunday, a lingering reminder of the flooding that devastated this town and others in the Northeast in the past week.
Hundreds of people across Rhode Island, including many in Coventry, were evacuated as deep floodwaters overtook homes and businesses and added to the difficulties of a state mired in a prolonged recession. Resid… Continue

LOS ANGELES – The head of a Roman Catholic order that specialized in the treatment of pedophile priests visited with then-Pope Paul VI nearly 50 years ago and followed up with a letter recommending the removal of pedophile priests from ministry, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.
In the Aug. 27, 1963, letter, the head of the New Mexico-based Servants of the Holy Paraclete tells the pope he recommends removing pedophile priests from active ministry an… Continue

NEW ORLEANS – A third New Orleans police officer is expected to plead guilty in a federal probe of the cover-up of a deadly shooting by police in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
A person familiar with the case said a bill of information is expected to be filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court against officer Michael Hunter Jr. The person was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Hunter is expected to be charged with one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice… Continue

MOSCOW – Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up Monday in twin attacks on Moscow subway stations jam-packed with rush-hour passengers, killing at least 37 people and wounding 65, officials said. They blamed the carnage on rebels from the Caucasus region.
The blasts come six years after Caucasus Islamic separatists carried out a pair of deadly Moscow subway strikes and raise concerns that the war has once again come to Russia's capital, amid militants' warnings of a renewed determination t… Continue

MOSCOW – After the white-shelled roof of the Sydney Opera House fell dark, after Taiwan's skyscrapers dimmed and Beijing's Forbidden City became, well, a little more forbidding — Moscow took its turn in switching off the lights as Saturday's global Earth Hour event rolled around to Europe.
Millions of people worldwide were turning off lights and appliances for an hour from 8:30 p.m. in a gesture to highlight environmental concerns and to call for a binding pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions. T… Continue

BAGHDAD – A jubilant Ayad Allawi claimed victory for his secular, anti-Iranian coalition as final parliamentary returns Friday showed him edging out the bloc of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who angrily vowed to fight the results.
The results, if they stand, will give Allawi the first opportunity to form a parliamentary majority and Iraq's next government. But they do not automatically mean that he will become prime minister, and the narrow margin sets the stage for months of political wrangli… Continue

NEW YORK – A 67-year-old man on Thursday admitted hijacking a plane four decades ago and forcing it to land in Cuba, telling a judge how he threatened to cut a flight attendant's throat to get access to the cockpit, where another man held a gun to the back of the co-pilot.
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein forced Luis Armando Pena Soltren to reveal the details of the hijacking, highlighting the violence and frightening nature of an encounter that otherwise might be lost in the stilted lan… Continue

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. – An announcement at a Walmart store in New Jersey ordering black people to leave brought chagrin and apologies Wednesday from leaders of the company, which has built a fragile trust among minority communities.
A male voice came over the public-address system Sunday evening at a store in Washington Township in southern New Jersey and calmly announced: "Attention Walmart customers: All black people leave the store now."
Shoppers in the store at the time said a manager qu… Continue

PHOENIX – It's not every day you see a horse fly.
But with the greatest of ease, a heavy-duty helicopter plucked a mustang named Colorado off a western Arizona river sandbar Tuesday morning, reuniting him with his owner.
Colorado spent five days stranded on the sandbar along the Gila River about 36 miles southwest of Phoenix.
The Gila's swift-moving current prevented an earlier rescue and the horse was trapped on the sandbar with a few bushes and trees to munch on. His rider was one of three peo… Continue