KING HEROD MAY HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED

THIS IS AWESOME IN ISRAEL THEY MAY HAVE FOUND THE TOMB OF KING HEROD, PROOF HE WAS A REAL KING OF ISRAEL AT THE TIME OF JESUS, NOT NO MYTHE LIKE SKEPTICS BELIEVE. PRAISE JESUS (GOD) FOR REVEALING TRUTH TO THE WORLD.

King Herod's tomb may have been found By STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press Writer
Tue May 8, 8:38 AM ET

JERUSALEM - An Israeli archaeologist on Tuesday said he has found remnants of the tomb of King Herod, the legendary builder of ancient Jerusalem, on a flattened hilltop in the Judean Desert where the biblical monarch built a palace.

Hebrew University archaeologist Ehud Netzer said the tomb was found at Herodium, a site where he has been exploring since the 1970s.Netzer said a team of researchers found pieces of a limestone sarcophagus believed to belong to the ancient king. Although there were no bones in the container, he said the sarcophagus' location and ornate appearance indicated it is Herod's.It's a sarcophagus we don't just see anywhere, Netzer said at a news conference. It is something very special.Netzer led the team, although he said he was not on the site when the sarcophagus was found.

Stephen Pfann, an expert in the Second Temple period at the University of the Holy Land, called the find a major discovery by all means, but cautioned further research is needed.He said all signs indicate the tomb belongs to Herod, but said ruins with an inscription on it were needed for full verification.

We're moving in the right direction. It will be clinched once we have an inscription that bears his name, said Pfann, a textual scholar who did not participate in Netzer's dig.The fragments of carved limestone found at the sandy site are decorated with floral motives, but do not include any inscriptions.Herod became the ruler of the Holy Land under the Romans around 40 B.C. The wall he built around the Old City of Jerusalem during the time of the Jewish Second Temple is the one that can be seen today. He also undertook massive construction projects in Caesaria, Jericho, the hilltop fortress of Massada and other locations.

It has long been assumed that Herod was buried at Herodium, but decades of excavations failed to turn up the site until now. The first century historian Josephus Flavius described the tomb and Herod's funeral procession.Herodium was one of the last strong points held by Jewish rebels fighting against the Romans, and it was conquered and destroyed by Roman forces in A.D. 71, a year after they destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem.Hebrew University had hoped to keep the find a secret until Netzer's news conference on Tuesday. But the university announced the find in a brief statement late Monday after the Haaretz daily found out about the discovery and published an article on its Web site.

Herod's Grave Uncovered
by Hillel Fendel (INN) MAY 8,07

Prof. Ehud Netzer of Hebrew University, fulfilling a career-long goal of solving this national-historic mystery, has uncovered the grave of King Herod - at the Herodium (Herodion), east of Efrat in Gush Etzion. Prof. Netzer announced his discovery at a Tuesday morning press conference at the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He explained that a combination of the location, type of work at the tomb, the decorations, and pieces of the coffin led to the definite conclusion that this was Herod the Great's burial site. Herod was the Roman-appointed king of Judea from 37 to 4 BCE. He was renowned for his many monumental building projects, including the expansion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, the palace at Masada, and the Herodium complex, 15 kilometers south of Jerusalem. The Herodium, Herod's final resting place, is the most outstanding among his building projects. Prof. Netzer has led archaeological digs there since 1972, and the exposure of the king's tomb here becomes the climax of this sites research, Netzer said.

The coffin was found broken into pieces, and Prof. Netzer explained that it was likely broken some 70 years after the unpopular king's death, during the Jewish rebellion. Herod had also been known for his cruelty, killing his wife and children, among other perceived opponents.The Herodium is famous for the well-known mountain-top structure comprising a palace, a fortress and a monument. The excavations on the slope of that mountain, where the tomb was found, began in August 2006. The expedition, on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was conducted by Prof. Netzer, together with Yaakov Kalman and Ro'i Porat. The approach to the burial site was via a monumental flight of stairs 6.5 meters wide, leading to the hillside; the stairs were especially constructed for the funeral procession.

Herod died in Jericho, but left instructions to be buried in the area known as the Herodium. The mausoleum itself was almost totally dismantled in ancient times, but part of its well-built podium remains. Spread among the ruins are pieces of a large, unique coffin, nearly 2.5 meters (over 8 feet) made of a Jerusalemite reddish limestone, decorated by rosettes. The sarcophagus (coffin) had a triangular cover, which was decorated on its sides. Only very few similar sarcophagi are known in the country, and can be found only in elaborate tombs such as the famous one at the Kings Tomb on Salah a-Din Street in eastern Jerusalem. Although no inscriptions have been found yet at Herodium, archaeologists are hopeful that some might yet be found.

Wild Goose Chase

The search for Herods tomb, which began actively 30 years ago, focused until last year on Lower Herodium, which includes an area built especially for the king's funeral and burial. However, atop the Herod-era ruins was a large complex of Byzantine structures that took many years to dig out first. Finally, Herod's Tomb Estate was dug. Though two monumental buildings and a large ritual bath (mikveh) were found, as well as a large route (350 meters long and 30 meters wide) that had been prepared for the funeral, no sign of the burial place itself was found. The expedition then started to search for it on the slope of the hill, where it was finally found. Prof. Netzer emphasizes that there seems to be no doubt that the king's initial intention was to be buried in the estate.

Herod later changed his mind, however, asking to be buried within the artificial cone which gave the hill of Herodium its current volcano-shape.

Josephus Leaves Out Detail

The main historical source of the Second Temples days, the historian Josephus Flavius, described the site of Herodium in detail, as well as the funeral - but left out the detail of the burial having taken place on the hillside instead of in the Tomb Estate. A complex of tunnels from the days of Bar-Kokhba within the Herodium mount was opened to the public in the 1980's. The archaeological excavations at the site, which stopped in 1987, were renewed 10 years later and continued until 2000, and after a second break, were renewed at the end of 2005.

Modern-Day Implications

Residents of Gush Etzion anticipate that the find will strengthen eastern Gush Etzion. The Herodium is located along the not-yet opened Zaatra bypass road between the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa and the two Gush Etzion communities of Tekoa and Nokdim.

OTHER NEWS

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Midwest flooding could near 1993 levels. 3-The Nation's Weather. 4-Sarkozy holidays as fresh violence hits French cities. 5-Olmert Survives Three No-Confidence Motions. 6-SARKOZY WINS DRAMATIC ELECTION IN FRANCE. 7-Scientist says Putin's Russia worse than under Stalin.

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Tue May 8 12:51 PM EDT

MAY 8,07
MAP 3.7 WESTERN MONTANA
MAP 3.3 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.1 PUERTO RICO
MAP 5.2 TONGA
MAP 3.1 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 3.2 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.7 WESTERN XIZANG

MAY 8,07
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.5 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.7 FIJI REGION
MAP 2.9 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.2 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.4 OFFSHORE BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 2.9 SOUTHERN IDAHO
MAP 4.8 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
MAP 3.1 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.1 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 4.6 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA
MAP 5.6 EASTERN XIZANG
MAP 6.1 OFF THE COAST OF AISEN, CHILE
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN IDAHO
MAP 2.6 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.4 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.0 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.9 WESTERN MONTANA
MAP 5.1 MYANMAR
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN IDAHO
MAP 3.1 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.9 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 5.4 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
MAP 3.0 KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA
MAP 4.6 SOUTHERN GREECE
MAP 2.7 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.9 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.7 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.1 KYUSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.4 FIJI REGION

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Midwest flooding could near 1993 levels By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH,
Associated Press Writer MAY 8,07

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Heavy rain from an already deadly storm system sent the Missouri River and other Midwest waterways over their banks Tuesday, forcing thousands of people to evacuate and bringing warnings that the region could see flooding close to the devastation of 1993. Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt declared a state of emergency and mobilized National Guard troops to help.

At least 19 Kansas counties declared local disaster emergencies.River towns across much of Missouri were evacuating low-lying areas Tuesday or seeking help filling and stacking sandbags.We're scrambling around here, said Steve Mellis, who was volunteering near the central Missouri town of Easley as residents moved boats and equipment to higher ground.Two-thirds of the town of Mosby, 20 miles northeast of Kansas City, was already under 2 to 4 feet of water from the overflowing Fishing River, said D.C. Rogers, Clay County director of emergency services. He said the town's 242 residents began evacuating Monday morning. By evening, only one route into the community remained open.

Mosby's flooding could have been worse. Rogers said authorities managed to plug a damaged dam with sandbags. That private earthen dam holds back a 20-acre lake. If the dam broke, its water would flow into Clear Creek, which runs into the Fishing River and through Mosby.

Last word I got is it's holding, Rogers said. Hopefully, the waters will recede, and that guy can fix his dam.It hasn't gotten this much water since 1993, he said. Evacuations were voluntary in several western Missouri counties, but a mandatory evacuation was imposed in Parkville, just across the Missouri River from Kansas City, said Jessica Robinson, a spokeswoman for the governor.Communities across the central Plains faced flooding from the weekend-long thunderstorms that spawned the deadly tornado that wiped out Greensburg, Kan.Parts of Missouri, Iowa and Kansas received 4 to 8 inches of rain in a 24-hour period, the National Weather Service said. In some areas, Tuesday morning was the first time in several days that rain wasn't falling, but runoff was still raising streams and rivers.Flooding in
Oklahoma was blamed for the drowning death of a man whose car was swept off a county road. A Kansas man died when his vehicle overturned in a water-filled ditch near Wichita, Butler County officials said.

Nearly 1,600 people were urged to evacuate the southwest Iowa town of Red Oak on Monday as the Nishnabotna River rose out of its banks.Levees broke near Willow Creek in the western Iowa town of Missouri Valley, and some residents had to be evacuated by boat Monday, said Mayor Randy McHugh. Appliances are just floating around, he said Monday.Authorities rescued about 500 people Monday from flooding around Topeka, Kan., said Dave Bevans, a spokesman for Shawnee County emergency operations. Officials reported similar evacuations in Saline County, about 100 miles to the west, and flooding forced the evacuation of New Cambria, a town of about 150 people northeast of Salina.Since the 1993 floods in the Mississippi and Missouri river basins, only two or three other flooding episodes have been comparable to what forecasters are predicting in the next several days, weather service meteorologist Andy Bailey said.There will be differences though. The 1993 flood, one of the most costly and devastating in U.S. history, was caused by melting snow combined with heavy rain over a two-month period. After that, state buyouts of property on flood plains left fewer residences in danger of future floods.But make no mistake, Bailey added, this is a major flood.At the western Missouri town of Agency, the Platte River was forecast to reach 15 feet above flood stage Tuesday — less than a foot below its crest in 1993. At that stage, we expect the entire town of Agency to be flooded, Bailey said. On the Net: Weather Service flood reports:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps/

The Nation's Weather By WEATHER UNDERGROUND, For The Associated Press
Tue May 8, 6:58 AM ET

A storm system swirling in the Atlantic was threatening the Southeast with rain early Tuesday, while rain bands stretched from Texas to the Great Lakes. Scattered coastal showers and thunderstorms were developing from northeastern Florida to the eastern Carolinas and spreading westward. The Northeast was to be warm and calm.A large area of showers and thunderstorms spread over parts of the western Great Lakes and across the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee valleys, as well as the Southern Plains and Rockies. There was a slight risk of severe thunderstorms over southern New Mexico and western Texas.Out West, a cold front was predicted to bring light rain mainly to western Washington. The extreme warmth over California was to begin to ease and coastal regions should cool off.On the other hand, a warming trend was forecast to take place over the Desert Southwest on Tuesday, bringing temperatures to the 90s and 100s for the rest of the week.Temperatures in the Lower 48 states on Monday ranged from a low of 15 degrees at West Yellowstone, Mont., to a high of 99 degrees at Santa Ana, Calif.

Sarkozy holidays as fresh violence hits French cities by Rory Mulholland MAY 8,07

PARIS (AFP) - President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy relaxed and strategised Tuesday on a luxury yacht in the Mediterranean, while back home anti-Sarko protestors burned cars and fought police in cities across France. Sarkozy boarded the vessel in Malta with his wife Cecilia and their 10-year-old son Louis on Monday at the start of a three-day break to relax after the right-winger's weekend election victory.

His radical reform programme won him 53 percent of the votes to 47 percent for his Socialist rival Segolene Royal.The new president had pre-planned the break to recover from his months of gruelling campaigning and to mentally ready himself for France's highest office.The Sarkozys escaped the heady post-election atmosphere in Paris on board a private Falcon jet belonging to a wealthy industrialist friend, Vincent Bollore.The yacht, a 60-metre (200-foot) vessel also believed to belong to Bollore, sailed along the south coast of Malta on Monday before returning in the evening to drop anchor just off the tiny capital Valletta.It left early Tuesday headed towards nearby Sicily.Sarkozy's secretive high-budget retreat was beginning to draw criticism back in France.One Socialist senator said the 52-year-old new president was living in another world.Mr Sarkozy never said he would be the president of the poor. He is the president of the CAC 40 Paris stock exchange, Jean-Luc Melenchon told France Inter radio.Sarkozy takes over from President Jacques Chirac on May 16.In his last major public ceremony as head of state, Chirac on Tuesday laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Paris to commemorate the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.Sarkozy's election triumph has sparked protests across the country, many of them violent. They began late Sunday and continued Monday night, prompting the leader of the defeated Socialists to appeal for calm.

Overnight Monday some 500 youths shouting Sarko, fascist! went on a rampage in the Bastille district of Paris, burning 10 cars, looting two stores and smashing windows, police said.More than 200 people were detained during four hours of clashes with police, one of whom was injured.

The flare-ups echoed Royal's pre-poll warning that a Sarkozy victory could see the country slide into unrest.Sarkozy, a tough-talking former interior minister, is hated in the high-immigrant suburbs after he described young delinquents as rabble and for his stance on law and order.It was under his watch that the suburbs across France exploded into riots for three weeks in late 2005, in which hundreds of buildings were burned and thousands of cars torched. Anti-Sarkozy protests turned violent overnight Monday in France's second city of Lyon, in Lille, Toulouse, Nantes and Rennes. More than 500 cars were set alight in cities nationwide. Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande appealed for calm, warning that the violence could trigger a heavy police clampdown. Those who are waging this violence are playing into the hands of those who want more order, who want to be tougher, he told RTL radio. The Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, also called for cool heads to prevail. Sarkozy will have a busy schedule when he begins his ambitious bid to overhaul France's lacklustre economy. He has vowed to cut taxes for the wealthy, trim unemployment and curb the power of the country's powerful unions. But first he must name a prime minister, with most reports saying it will be former social affairs minister Francois Fillon. He then faces parliamentary elections in June that will decide whether the new president will have the strong majority needed to push through his reform programme.

Olmert Survives Three No-Confidence Motions
By ISABEL KERSHNER (NY TIMES) May 7, 2007

JERUSALEM, May 7 — Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, survived three no-confidence motions against his government today, following a harsh report on the performance of the country’s leadership during last summer’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Mr. Olmert’s governing coalition has a large majority in the 120-seat parliament, and the no-confidence motions were all rejected by a comfortable margin. Nevertheless, the results revealed cracks in support from parliament members belonging to the coalition: at least 16 of them voted against the prime minister, abstained or were absent.

Separately, the Israeli air force struck a car in northern Gaza that army officials said was laden with explosives and on its way to launch rockets into Israel. The Islamic Jihad group, which has claimed responsibility for several rocket attacks in recent days, said that two of its members escaped from the car before it was hit. Hospital officials in Gaza said that one passerby was injured in the Israeli strike.

According to an Israeli army spokesman, 14 rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza since Friday. One rocket hit a house next to a kindergarten in the Israeli border town of Sderot this morning, but caused no injuries.The motions of no confidence were brought on the opening day of the Israeli parliament’s summer session by parties representing rightist, leftist and religious opponents of the
government. Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads the rightist Likud bloc, called for new elections and told the incumbent government, which has pledged to implement the recommendations of the war report, You are not the solution, you are the problem.

The leader of the leftist Meretz party, Yossi Beilin, said that the lack of confidence had penetrated the public, the parliament, and even Mr. Olmert’s own Kadima party. Mr. Beilin told the parliament that a government minister from the Kadima party had told him that Mr. Olmert, as prime minister, poses a national danger to Israel.

Still, there is no consensus on who, or what, should come next. Mr. Netanyahu is ranked as a favorite for the prime minister’s job in recent opinion polls. For that reason, Mr. Beilin has argued that new elections are not necessary, and that the necessary change can come about through parliamentary procedures instead.

According to the polls, at least two-thirds of the public would like to see Mr. Olmert go. The eclectic nature of the opposition to Mr. Olmert could be seen at a protest camp set up by two students near the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem. Zichri Weiner, 27, and Itai Harari, 28, walked here from Tel Aviv, pitched their tents on the sidewalk, and are calling on the Israeli public to join them in their demand for Mr. Olmert to resign. Besides a trickle of random passers-by, visitors to the camp have included Ophir Pines-Paz, the Labor lawmaker and a leading contender to replace Mr. Olmert; the Likud mayor of Sderot, Eli Moyal; and bunches of religious schoolboys who have had their buses stop off at the site on their way home. Mr. Weiner said it was short-sighted to worry about who, or what, would come next after a resignation by Mr. Olmert. Our goal is much bigger, he said.

We are about giving the public its confidence back, and redefining the relationship between the elected and those who elect them.

SARKOZY WINS DRAMATIC ELECTION IN FRANCE
So who is he really and will he be good for the U.S.?
By Joel C. Rosenberg

(Washington, D.C., May 8, 2007) This is a year of dramatic political changes in Europe that bear close watching. Britain's Tony Blair will soon step down, making way for Labour leader Gordon Brown, currently the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to take over as Prime Minister on July 2. Brown will eventually face conservative Tory leader David Cameron in a battle for Britain's future. On July 22, Turkey will hold major elections that could end in pro-Iranian and pro-Russian Islamic fundamentalists in charge of what has been a U.S.-friendly secular government. But the biggest news so far comes from France, where center-right presidential candidate Nicholas Sarkozy has just defeated the socialist Segolene Royal, 53% to 47% in a fiercely-contested runoff. So who is Nicolas Sarkozy and what kind of President will he be? At a youthful and energetic 52, he is widely seen as more pro-American than his predecessor, the out-going 74-year old Jacques Chirac. Royal last week accused Sarkozy of being a dangerous choice who would threaten democracy and could spark a civil war. Worse, Royal compared Sarkozy to President Bush, the ultimate insult in France these days.

Nevertheless, the French elected him anyway and upon hearing the news of his victory, Sarkozy immediately reached out to the American people as friends and said he looked forward to working with Washington.

My dedication to our relationship with America if well known and has earned me substantial criticism in France, he told the Wall Street Journal. But let me tell you something, I'm not a coward. I embrace that friendship. I'm proud of the friendship...and I proclaim it proudly.On national security, Sarkozy could emerge as tougher than Chirac. He has vowed not to cut French defense spending. He has promised to build a new French aircraft carrier, capable of projecting French military power well into in the 21st century. What's more, while he opposed the war in Iraq, he now warns that a premature U.S. troop withdrawal would lead to chaos.Sarkozy has taken a hardline against Islamic radicals operating inside France. He served as the country's Interior Minister during the Paris riots by Muslim
radicals in 2005 and was responsible for ordering the severe police crackdown on such radicals.

There are now fears the Muslims will launch a new wave of violent protests because Sarkozy has been elected. Worth noting: polls showed that voters in the Muslim neighborhoods where the worst of the violence took place in 2005 overwhelming backed the socialist candidiate, Segelone Royal. Sarkozy is deeply unpopular in housing estates where the residents are mostly second- and third-generation immigrants, many of them Muslims from former colonies in North Africa, reported Reuters. If Sarkozy wins there will certainly be riots here in Clichy and all over France, said Moroccan-born Mohammed Saidi, 43, a first-time voter in Clichy-sous-Bois, one of the neighborhoods where the worst rioting took place.

On other foreign policy issues, Sarkozy is strongly opposed to allowing Turkey to join the European Union, warning of the threat of allowing 100 million more Muslims free reign through the European continent. He is generally perceived to be pro-Israel, telling the Jerusalem Post that Israel has the right to defend herself against radical Islamic attacks.He has said that he supports a Palestinian state but
only after Israel's security is assured. Sarkozy warns that the Iran is the number one threat in the Middle East and that an Iranian nuclear bomb would be absolutely unacceptable, yet he opposes a war with Iran, just as he opposed the U.S.-led liberation of Iraq. I want to be clear on Iran, he told the Jerusalem Post. It is unacceptable and dangerous that Iran pursues a militarily nuclear capability. Iran
has the opportunity to reestablish confidence concerning the nature of its nuclear activities....With regard to Mr. Ahmadinejad, I remind you of what I have already said about his attitudes and positions. His call for the destruction of Israel and denial of the reality of the Shoah [Holocaust] are totally inadmissible and irresponsible. I am actually not even sure these views are shared by a majority of Iranians, far from it.Sarkozy is a big believer in tax cuts and privatization to reinvigorate the sluggish French economy. A 2004 Time magazine profile described him as a believer in free markets, noting that as Finance Minister, on Sept. 1 Sarkozy decided to sell off a €4.6-billion chunk of France Telecom, reducing the government's stake to under 50% for the first time; on Sept. 2 it was finished.

Last month he moved to waive inheritance taxes on sums below €100,000 per estate, suspended a 3% corporate tax, and withstood stiff protests from unions to lay the groundwork for the partial privatization of Electricité de France. He also deplores France's 35-hour workweek, and says it must be changed to allow those who want to work more to do so.

By backing Sarkozy, voters showed they wanted a strong leader to resolve France's many problems, including high unemployment of at least 8.3 percent, falling living standards, job insecurity and declining industrial might, noted a Reuters analysis. He has promised a clean break with the policies of Chirac, once his political mentor, and says he will curb the powers of the unions and toughen sentencing for criminals.

On foreign policy, Sarkozy is more pro-American than Chirac, but has made clear he opposes the war in Iraq and will find it hard to ally himself too closely to Washington because of anti-U.S. sentiment at home.Segolene Royal's campaign stumbled over a number of gaffes she made, particularly those revealing her lack of knowledge of foreign and defense policy issues. My favorite example: Royal [was] trapped during a radio interview into revealing her ignorance of defence issues. She was asked how many nuclear-missile-carrying submarines France possessed. One, she
suggested. When the interviewer said seven, she agreed that it was seven, only to be told that it was actually four.

BOTTOM LINE:
1) the French socialists have suffered a huge defeat, always a good thing
2) the U.S. now has a more pro-American leader to work with in Paris
3) the E.U. suddenly has a new leader who seems to understand just how serious the threat of radical Islam and has a history of being tough on extremists
4) French Jews and Israel believe Sarkozy may be more sympathetic to the threats and challenges they face from the Islamic world
5) Big Questions: Is Nicolas Sarkozy a man the Bush administration can work with on the biggest issues in the Mideast, namely Iraq and Iran, and does Sarkozy recognize the dangerous direction. Vladimir Putin is taking Russia?
6) Only time will tell just what kind of leader Nicolas Sarkozy will be, but French voters appear to have taken an important step in the right direction at a critical time in U.S.-French relations.

EZEKIEL 38:10-19
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLISH SPEAKING
shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

GREED THIS IS THE MOTIVE FOR THE RUSSIA MUSLIM MARCH IN THE FUTURE JUST LIKE THIS VITALY SAYS, THE BIBLE SAYS THE SAME THING. BUT THE DIFFERENCE IS GOD FORCES THESE RUSSIA MUSLIM HORDE TO MARCH SO HE CAN DESTROY THE GREEDY RUSSIAN LEADER.

Scientist says Putin's Russia worse than under Stalin Sun May 6, 6:27 AM ET

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The pursuit of science in President Vladimir Putin's Russia is driven by profit alone and there was less government interference even under Josef Stalin, a Russian Nobel Prize winner said in a interview.

Vitaly Ginzburg's comments to the Sunday Telegraph newspaper are likely to put Russia's scientists back on a collision course with the Kremlin.In March, Russia's Academy of Sciences, founded by Tsar Peter the Great, spurned a government plan to establish a new supervisory council that would control the body's finances and include officials from the presidential administration.The government says the reform of the Academy is desperately needed to reverse the continuing brain drain from Russia, make research work lucrative for a generation of young scientists and help build the hi-tech economy Putin has set as his goal.Of course, in Stalin's times the Academy was under the control of the central committee of the Communist Party, Ginzburg told the paper.

But in those days you could come up with an idea and create that's how we put the first Sputnik satellite into space. Now the government thinks science must bring only income and profit, which is absurd.Of course it is about Putin. Our democracy is far from ideal, said Ginzburg, 90, who shared the 2003 Nobel Prize for physics with fellow countryman Alexei Abrikosov.

Putin, whose second and last four-year term ends next year, enjoys vast popularity nationwide while the economy is fast growing, people's incomes are rising and state coffers groan from windfall revenues from booming oil exports.But critics at home and abroad accuse the Russian leader of backtracking on democratic reforms and establishing tight control over the bureaucracy and the economy.They say he is trying to bring the academy under his sway as well. Supporters of the reforms say too many institutions are run by cliques of elderly academics who resist change while promising young scientists are tempted abroad for better pay and opportunities.The Academy has boasted dozens of Nobel prize winners in its near 300-year history.