In the news:

1. Earthquakes

"We may be witnessing New Zealand's 'darkest day': PM says 65 killed in quake

This article contains some incredible pictures which reveal the devastation.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key says 65 people died in the earthquake that devastated Christchurch today.

''The death toll I have at the moment is 65 and that may rise. So it's an absolute tragedy for this city, for New Zealand, for the people that we care so much about,'' Mr Key told TVNZ. ''It's a terrifying time for the people of Canterbury.''

As thousands of shocked people wandered the rubble-strewn streets of Christchurch after today's devastating and deadly earthquake, emergency workers were searching for survivors.

Christchurch earthquake: 'Dead bodies lying around'

Police said fatalities had been reported at several locations and that two buses had been crushed by falling buildings. Christchurch mayor Bob Parker has declared a state of emergency.

"Buildings are half-collapsed everywhere.

"It smells horrible. The roads are packed with cars. There aren't enough police or ambulances. Houses are all collapsing. It's pretty shocking; a total warzone."

Indiana Experts Wary of Earthquake Swarm

Indiana scientists are keeping a wary eye on a series of earthquakes that has been rattling Arkansas for days.
More than 60 tremors struck the state last week, a phenomenon that's almost becoming a daily routing for residents there, 6News' Stacia Matthews reported.

A half-dozen quakes shook one Arkansas community on Monday morning, with more than 700 recorded in Faulkner County, Arkansas within the past six months. Although most of the tremors are too small to be felt by humans, experts across the Midwest are trying to find out why they are occurring.

"This is absolutely a phenomenon, an interest to seismologists in this part of the country," said Michael Hamburger, a professor of geological sciences at Indiana University. "We're all trying to make sense of it."

Strong earthquake hits the South Pacific

2. The Middle East:

Look at who is back in the news:

Soros fingerprints on Morocco Riots

One of the main groups organizing protests against the pro-Western king of Morocco is funded by philanthropist George Soros and the U.S. State Department.

Soros' Open Society Institute also has funded opposition groups across the Middle East and North Africa, including organizations involved in the current chaos.

It marks the latest connection of the philanthropist activist to protests sweeping the Middle East and North Africa.

Soros' Open Society Institute's Middle East and North Africa Initiative has provided numerous grants to a wide range of projects that promote so-called democratic issues across the region, including in Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood stands to gain from any future election.

The Open Society also funded the main opposition voice in Tunisia, Radio Kalima, which championed the riots there that led to the ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Iranian Vessels Enter Suez Canal

Iran claimed that the warships were headed to Syria "for training." Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and others called the move a "provocation".

Israel has yet to issue a formal response to the Iranian ships' entry into Suez, but senior sources in Jerusalem told Voice of Israel state-run radio Tuesday that they are "following the developments."

Oil shock fears as Libya erupts

The spectre of full civil war in oil-rich Libya and reports of the creation of an Islamic emirate in the country's "Barqa" region has moved the Mid-East crisis into a more dangerous phase, setting off an explosive rise in US crude prices.

"This is potentially worse for oil than the Iran crisis in 1979," said Paul Horsnell, head of oil research at Barclays Capital. "That was a revolution in one country, here there are so many countries at once. The world has only 4.5m barrels-per-day (bpd) of spare capacity, which is not comfortable."

Top Sunni cleric says army should kill Kadhafi

Influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi issued a fatwa on Monday that any Libyan soldier who can shoot dead embattled leader Moamer Kadhafi should do so "to rid Libya of him."

Famous in the Middle East for his at times controversial fatwas, or religious edicts, the octogenarian Qaradawi has celebrity status in the Arab world thanks to his religious broadcasts on Al-Jazeera.

3. Mysterious Animal Deaths Continue

107 Pilot Whales Dead on New Zealand Beach

More than a hundred whales have died on a remote New Zealand Island.

All members of a pod of 107 pilot whales died after they were stranded on the beach near Cavalier Creek on Stewart Island off of the southern tip of New Zealand's South Island. Officials had to euthanize 48of the 107 whales.

The whales were found by hikers on Sunday.

Last month, 24 pilot whales died after stranding on the North Island.

Pilot whales are about 13 to 20 feet long and are the most common species of whale in New Zealand waters. Whale strandings are common in New Zealand.

Does it have anything to do with this?

Shift in Magnetic North

Magnetic north, the point at the top of the Earth that determines compass headings, is shifting its position at a rate of about 40 miles per year. In geologic terms, it's racing from the Arctic Ocean near Canada toward Russia.

Over the past century, the shift has been increasing in speed. It went from creeping as slow as nine miles per year in the early 1900s to more than 35 miles per year in the 2000s

Humans aren't the only ones affected by magnetic north. Birds that fly south for the winter and some sea turtles that migrate from Africa to South America must learn to adjust their senses so they end up migrating in the right direction, Love said.

"Some sea turtles live for a long period of time, up to 100 years," he said. "They have to accommodate the change in the magnetic field, because it changes substantially over 100 years."

Birth pains. Jesus' description of the signs served as a perfect description of everything that we are watching on a daily basis.

We have a roadmap for these end times events - a roadmap which describes in graphic detail exactly what would be happening on earth before His coming. And we are seeing these signs increasing in frequency and severity exactly as He informed us, and as the ancient prophets described.

There is absolutely no doubt. He will return to gather up His bride. And that return appears to be approaching rapidly.

Maranatha!