Compiled by Joe Humphreys.
AT A GLANCE:
1. BAGHDAD: Explosions rock the outskirts of the city. As coalition troops advance, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers says: "We think the toughest fighting is ahead of us."
2. KARBALA: US armoured columns thrust into the area supported by heavy air attacks on Republican Guards. Coalition troops en route to the capital pause to "consolidate" and allow sandstorms to pass.
3. NASSIRIYA: US Marines finally punch past Iraqi resistance to cross the Euphrates river but meet a fresh ambush on the road north. A separate military column crosses the river along the Basra-Baghdad highway, while US paratroopers seize a nearby desert landing strip and Iraqi jamming systems. Dust storms cut visibility to five metres in places and bring US convoys to a halt at times.
4. BASRA: British forces outside the city say a violent uprising against Saddam Hussein's regime has erupted and that Iraqi troops opened fire to put down the revolt. "The Iraqis are firing their own artillery at their own people," one British officer says. Iraqi Information Minister denies the reports. Earlier, UK forces south of the city block an attempted breakout by up to 50 Iraqi tanks. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan demands action to improve the humanitarian situation in Basra. "A city of that size cannot afford to go without electricity or water for long," he says.
5. UMM QASR: British and US commanders say they have finally snuffed out resistance by armed Iraqis in the deep-water port, which is to be opened to aid supplies.
6. MOSUL: Coalition aircraft carry out raids on targets in or around the city in the heaviest bombing there yet.
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MEDIA WATCH: AUSTRALIAN JITTERS
"Being seen as the world's best is an honour worth celebrating. It is also a responsibility," declares the Melbourne Age. Citing Australia's triumph in the Cricket World Cup and the Oscars (courtesy of Nicole Kidman), the newspaper said such success is a reminder that "human potential is stifled in many countries". In a reference to the ongoing war, it adds somewhat cryptically: "In celebrating our achievements, we ought also to consider our good fortune, and how we might share it around." While confident about Australia, the Age is less so about the war. "In southern Iraq," it notes, "a humanitarian crisis is looming that will test the coalition's resolve." The Melbourne Herald-Sun warns of "tougher days ahead", while the Australian says the challenge facing allied commanders is "not just to win, but to do it with the minimum death and suffering among ordinary Iraqis". This plan can be undone if the Republican Guard withdraws into Baghdad "to continue the war using civilians as cover". In Sydney, Muslims and Jews complain of "a wave of harassment and abuse" since the US-led invasion of Iraq began. Australia's Jewish community writes an open letter reporting acts of vandalism and anti-Semitism.
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DOLPHINS: JOIN WAR EFFORT
For all its precision weaponry, the US military still hasn't found a better means of mine-clearance than the humble dolphin. Its natural sonar abilities have been called upon to seek out explosives which the Iraqi forces may have planted on the seabed around the port of Uum Qasr ahead of the arrival of humanitarian aid shipments.
A team of Atlantic bottle-nosed California-reared dolphins - known to the military as Mark 7 and 8 Mammal Marine Systems - arrived in the Gulf yesterday having travelled by air in fleece-lined slings, partially submerged in water tanks. Working with Mark 5 Systems (sea lions) and navy divers, they are trained not to swim up to mines, but to place a marker a small distance away, thus minimising any risk to themselves. Or as US Navy Lieut J.G. Frey puts it: "Forward deployment of the dolphins allows for immediate tasking in theatre."
"EMBEDDING": BACKFIRING?
Despite talk of the US military orchestrating coverage of the war, there is increasing evidence that its "embedding" strategy, under which 500 American journalists are working alongside troops in Iraq, may be backfiring. The military command is reportedly worried about the disproportionately high number of images of US casualties being beamed home, while field commanders have claimed TV reports of street skirmishes exaggerate their severity.
The presence of embedded journalists, moreover, has arguably contributed to command decisions to veto certain targets. Whether or not this is the case, such journalists have, as the Washington Post remarks, been able to report "frustration among troops restrained from using heavy weapons in civilian areas".
The result may be tighter controls on TV crew movements and broadcast content-controls, which some reporters seem all too eager to accept. Take, for example, the CBS man embedded with the 3rd US Infantry who, when discussing a recent intelligence briefing he sat in on, declared: "We've been given orders." Realising what he'd said, he revised himself: "Soldiers have been given orders."
NO TO PEACE:
"It's a bit late in the game to be floating peace plans" - a US official reacts to a Saudi proposal to end the war.