In the news:

Hizbullah Accelerates Preparations for War

According the the Israel Defense Forces, Hizbullah has bunkers and underground weapons depots in most southern Lebanese villages, the Associated Press reports.

A memo from the IDF brass to Israeli embassies on Thursday to Israel details the acceleration of Hizbullah's fortification of the volatile border region since the end of the 2006 Lebanon war.

The memo says, "Hezbollah has built as many as 550 bunkers in the southern Lebanon region, holding various weapons. In addition, the organization has built 300 underground facilities and 100 storage units for munitions including rockets, missiles and other weapons."

And we also see how they are already planning for their "political statements" to be used during the next war - readily willing to sacrifice human life to score political points:

"Many of these terror centers are located near hospitals, private homes and schools, Hezbollah's way of taking advantage of the civilian population of Lebanon," the memo said, citing Hizbullah's well-established tactic of placing fighters and munitions among civilians - a war crime - in order to create bad press for Israel when civilians become collateral damage in strikes on such targets.

Gaza Fires Rocket as Ashkelon

After two days of relative quiet on the Gaza front, Gaza terrorists fired a short range missile into Israel Thursday. It exploded south of Ashkelon, but caused no casualties or damage. Israeli security forces are looking for the remains of the rocket.

The Iron Dome system, which is supposed to protect against missile strikes, is currently only stationed near Be'er Sheva. It did not go into action.

EU crisis deepens on Portugal deficit, Irish banks

Portugal revealed that its budget deficit had ballooned above target and Ireland said its banks needed 24-billion euros in extra capital, shaking euro zone markets and deepening the bloc’s sovereign debt crisis.

Portugal had been under intense pressure to seek financial assistance from the EU and IMF even before the resignation of Prime Minister Jose Socrates last week following the rejection of his latest budget cuts by parliament.

Now the country is in political limbo, with only a caretaker administration in place that would find it hard to commit to a near-term rescue.

Earthquake cluster spurs questions of another quake soon

All the huge earthquakes in recent years have sparked debate. Are they related? Are we seeing an unusual cluster of earthquakes and does it mean another is likely to happen soon in the Pacific Basin that could send a tsunami to Hawaii?

"People have asked," said Greg Moore, Chairman of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Hawaii. "Now that we've had this magnitude 9 earthquake in Japan, is that earthquake itself going to cause other big earthquakes to occur say other places around the pacific?"

The experts tell us it is very possible the quake along the Japan Trench off Northern Honshu March 11 will increase tension and contribute to another large quake, but only along that same trench within about 250 miles of the March 11 quake

175 tons of dead sardines scooped from CA marina

Three weeks after a huge fish die-off in Southern California, officials said Thursday they have a body count but still can't say what drove 175 tons of sardines into the marina where they died.

As many as 2.5 million sardines created a silvery blanket on the surface and floor of King Harbor Marina on March 8, said Dave Caron, professor of biological sciences at the University of Southern California.

That left scientist struggling to explain the strange behavior in other ways.

"The only question that remains is why the fish jammed themselves into such a little spot?" Caron said.

Syria tightens security ahead of 'Friday of Martyrs' demonstrations

Syrian security forces stepped up their presence in the capital and across Syrian provinces Friday ahead of planned demonstrations to honor those killed in two weeks of protests demanding reforms.

Syrian activists have called through social network sites for massive demonstrations following Friday midday prayers across the nation. They have dubbed the protests "Friday of Martyrs" in reference to more than 70 people who died in the government crackdown on protesters.

As people began leaving the mosque Friday, a crowd of about 300 people carrying Syrian flags and pictures of Assad broke out into clapping and chants of "Allah, Syria, Bashar!"

Security forces made no attempt to stop them.

An eyewitness in the restive southern city of Daraa, the center of the clashes last week, said troops were surrounding the city in an effort to head off planned protests.

This story should be evolving during the course of this day and updates will be provided. This will be a very interesting story to follow, and potentially an important development in the Middle East.