* About 1,000 U.S. troops parachute into northern Iraq,
seize airfield in Kurdish-controlled territory
* More than thirty blasts rock Baghdad overnight
* At least 15 killed in Baghdad street; Pentagon leaves open
possibility of an errant bomb or missile hitting the district
* Huge column of Republican Guard streams out of Baghdad
towards U.S. forces near Najaf
* Iraqi armoured column heads south out of Basra, attacked
by U.S.-led forces, British spokesman says
* Iraqi envoy demands the U.N. Security Council crack down
on U.S., British "naked aggression"

EVENTS (TIMES IN GMT)
Wednesday -
* Bush/Blair dinner at Camp David

Thursday -
* Bush/Blair war talks at Camp David. News conference (1600)
* Blair meets Kofi Annan in New York (1745)
* Umm Qasr should open for aid ships - Britain, Australia

QUOTES
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa: "Arab people must
trust whoever is speaking to them, but how can this be
possible...after everything we have seen in Iraq?"
Iraqi envoy Mohammed Aldouri: "Iraq...is being subjected to
criminal, barbaric American-British military aggression... This
has led to thousands of casualties among whom are children,
women and elderly."
British Defence Secretary Hoon: "The focus of our effort
will now shift towards close air support of coalition ground
forces advancing on Baghdad... The regime has effectively lost
control of southern Iraq."

CASUALTIES
* U.S.: 22 killed, two missing
* UK: 20 killed, two missing
* Iraqi military - no reliable figures
* Iraqi civilians (Iraqi estimates) - At least 175 killed

MILITARY ACTION
BAGHDAD: More huge explosions rock the centre of Baghdad
overnight after a day of heavy air raids aimed primarily at the
outskirts of the Iraqi capital.
Western aircraft attacked nine Iraqi missile launch sites
but it was not known if any of the weapons struck a busy street
where at least 15 civilians were killed.
SOUTHERN IRAQ:
A column of Iraqi tanks and armoured personnel carriers
poured south out of Basra, attacked by U.S.-led forces.
U.S. troops fought a fierce battle with Iraqi forces for
control of a bridge over the Euphrates river close to Najaf.
U.S. Marines also fought bloody skirmishes as their surge
north towards Baghdad came under sporadic Iraqi attack. U.S.
artillery fired back, allowing the Marines to get through Shatra
after a two-hour delay and reach Qal'at Sukkar, about 100 km (60
miles) north of Nassiriya.
NORTHERN IRAQ: Warplanes pounded frontline Iraqi positions
in the Kurdish-controlled north of the country, some 35 km (20
miles) east of the key northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk.