1. BAGHDAD: More explosions shake the city, after a temporary lull. Republican Guard positions are targeted with 800 sorties by Allied planes. Iraq claims 62 people killed, and 400 wounded, in the 24 hours up to yesterday morning.
2. KARBALA: US Apache helicopters forced to retreated after coming under what CNN describes as a "hornet's nest" of fire. Iraqi television shows footage of a downed helicopter. US Army's 3rd Infantry Division closes in on the town but is stalled by a sandstorm.
3. NASSIRIYA: US marines pound the city with heavy artillery fire, and move in a light armoured battalion. American losses in the area rise to at least 10 dead, 12 wounded and 16 missing. To the west, US troops fire artillery volleys towards the town of Samawa.
4. BASRA: British "Desert Rat" troops come under fire, and at one point are forced to retreat. Saddam claims "victory is very near" in Iraq's second city. The first British soldier to die in combat is killed between Basra and the Kuwaiti border.
5. UMM QASR: Street-fighting continues three days after US and British forces first said they had secured the port. Armed Iraqis surface in nearby Rumaila oilfields.
6. CHAMCHAMAL: Warplanes pound Iraqi bunkers on hilltops overlooking the Kurdish-held town in the first attack in the area since the war started. Explosions also hit Iraqi positions around 10 miles west in the direction of Kirkuk, and nearby city of Mosul.
7. KUWAIT: Patriot missiles shoot down an incoming missile.
8. RUTBA: Allied forces destroy a civilian bus whilst attacking a bridge. Five Syrians fleeing the war are killed and 10 are injured.
The war on the home front is getting dirty too, as illustrated by yesterday's coverage in the US press of domestic anti-war rallies. The New York Post condemned the latest demonstration in its city as a "pro-Saddam. . . Saddamfest" while the San Francisco Examiner praised its police for doing "a tough job well" as protesters closed streets in an "unprecedented day of social unrest".
In Chicago, which was also hit by traffic disruption, the Sun-Times attacked the city council for registering its "glib opposition to war" and thereby playing a "small role in making such protests fashionable". In its editorial, the paper grouped the activists with Washington Post cartoonist Ted Rall, who "referred to the President as a 'lying sack of %@#' in a cartoon last week. . . This is not dialogue and not discussion. It is childish, and though it may make those hurling abuse feel good, it helps no one and does nothing".
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has begun a column on "the latest outrageous, sometimes humorous, quotes from the liberal media" with ABC's Peter Jennings a favourite target. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Daily News published a letter yesterday from Pat Dugan, vice-president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, criticising the President for declaring war on St Patrick's Day. Noting that "world events and attacks have been postponed because of Muslim, Jewish, Arab or other ethnic or religious holidays", he told Mr Bush to "Stay off our day!" Other newspaper editorials concentrated on what they described as America's toughest day in the war. None referred to Iraqi casualties.
While the show went on, it was not the Hollywood love-in of previous years. Film-maker Michael Moore was booed for criticising George Bush in his acceptance speech, while several stars defied the Oscar Academy's directive against political expression and wore anti-war badges. The best and worst contributions included:
"We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man who's sending us to war for fictitious reasons" - Moore.
"Everybody was supportive of my hosting this year - except, of course, France and Germany" - Oscar host Steve Martin.
"There are men, women, children and soldiers being killed, right now. My job is to cheer them up . . . If we civilians can't go on properly, what on earth are we fighting for?" Irish honorary Oscar-winner Peter O'Toole.
"My experiences of making this film [The Pianist] made me very aware of the sadness and the dehumanisation of people at times of war . . ." - best actor winner Adrien Brody.
"Cut it out, cut it out. I get one shot at this " Brody, moments later, when the orchestra started playing to shut him up.
The Irish Times website contains comprehensive and freely available coverage of the war, including breaking news, features, analysis, maps, archives and online polls. Go to www.ireland.com/focus/iraq/
"The smoke columns have now encircled Baghdad. We are going to have some very dark days, literally." Thus goes the latest entry of a 29-year-old middle-class Iraqi in an Internet diary (www.dearraed.blogspot.com) on surviving the siege. The site has attracted worldwide attention. But mystery surrounds the identity of its author - known in the Internet world as a "blogger" - who uses the pseudonym Salam Pax. "I am not anybody's propaganda ploy," he assures readers. "Well, except my own."