DAY THIRTEEN: At a glance
1. BAGHDAD: Fresh missile strikes hit one of Saddam Hussein's palaces and the Iraqi Olympic Committee, headed by Saddam's eldest son, Uday. US marines shoot dead an unarmed driver and badly wound his passenger at a roadblock. Iraq puts civilian death toll at 653. Saddam, in an address to the nation read by his information minister, calls for a jihad - holy war - against the "invaders."
2. HILLAH: Overnight raid leaves at least 11 civilians dead when US bombs hit residential area.
3. NASSIRIYA: Fierce fighting continues with Iraq claiming to have inflicted heavy losses on the coalition.
4. SAMAWA: US soldiers kill an Iraqi fighter and wound three when their pickup truck tries to crash through a checkpoint. A US marine shoots and kills an Iraqi prisoner of war who allegedly charged at him.
5. DIWANIYAH: US marines and Iraqi forces trade fire, with the coalition reportedly taking at least 44 POWs and killing 75 Iraqis.
6. SHATRA: US marines enter the town after storming it with planes, tanks and helicopter gunships.
7. KIRKUK: US warplanes drop more bombs. Iraq claims to have thwarted a landing by British troops at nearby Mosul.
8. BASRA: Iraq says its paramilitaries inflict heavy British casualties at Abul Khasib, south-east of the city. American aircraft drop bombs on ships in Basra harbour.
9. KUWAIT: An Iraqi missile fired at the country is shot down by a Patriot. US soldiers shoot at a car at a border checkpoint.
10. TURKEY: US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives today to try to persuade Ankara to let US troops cross its territory to invade Iraq.
Media watch: April Fool's Day
Most newspapers decided against making war the butt of April Fool's Day jokes yesterday. It wasn't clear whether this was in the interests of good taste or because the conflict was already too surreal for such humour to work. Either way, the spoof attempts fell below par.
They included a claim by South Africa's Afrikaans Beeld newspaper that Saddam Hussein had accepted an offer of exile in the country; a report in Greece's Eleftheros Typos saying film-maker Michael Moore had been forced to return his Oscar because of his anti-war acceptance speech; and a story in the Tokyo Shimbun that Japan planned to send robots modelled on the popular 1960s cartoon character Astro Boy to help with post-war reconstruction in Iraq.
The most credible spoof was in Germany's Tageszeitung, which said the US was protesting over plans to locate its new embassy at Berlin's Pariser-Platz (Paris Square), directly opposite the French mission. The newspaper quoted American sources saying US diplomats "could live with being next to the French, but only if the name of the square is changed".
More pointedly, Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia, which had been campaigning against the war, said it would not follow tradition by offering readers "an April Fool's lie . . . Others have served you one already - with bombs and with death."
Saddam's yacht: sunk twice
With their pace of advance on Baghdad slowing, the allied forces are keen to play up the most minor of successes as best they can. But twice sinking Saddam's luxury yacht in Basra harbour takes the biscuit. Last week the captain of the British frigate, HMS Chatham, Michael Cochrane, described the ship's destruction in an air raid as "a blow to Saddam's presidential pride". Apparently, however, the offending vessel survived the attack - or else there were some bits of it left to bomb - because yesterday the US Air Force claimed credit for sinking the yacht after dropping more than 60 missiles on the port.
Fox speaks out: If you think NBC was bad for firing Peter Arnett wait until you hear about Fox News. The Rupert Murdoch-owned cable network has attracted anti-war protests for its hawkish approach to the war, including a "die-in" outside its headquarters in the New York Rockefeller Centre late last week. Fox's response? It poked fun at those outside by posting messages on an electronic news ticker above the main entrance. "War protester auditions here today . . . thanks for coming!" read one message. "How do you keep a war protester in suspense? Ignore them," read another. "Attention protesters," read a third, "the Michael Moore Fan Club meets Thursday at a phone booth at Sixth Avenue and 50th Street."
Bush the Dictator: Comedian Robin Williams is set to join Michael Moore on an "anti-American" black-list after attacking President Bush. Quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, Williams said: "We have a President for whom English is a second language. He's like 'We have to get rid of dictators,' but he's pretty much one himself."
Bunnies for war: That great American institution, Playboy, has joined the war effort by offering the boys - and girls - on the front a new incentive for fighting. The magazine has resumed a free pen-pal programme which allows US troops, and they alone, to communicate with its models. Each e-mail sent under "Operation Playmate" will be answered with an autographed photo and a message from one of the magazine's "bunnies".
• Some 86 per cent of people say they don't trust the media's coverage of the war in Iraq, according to our poll.
For more Iraq coverage see: www.ireland.com/focus/iraq/