* _ Syria's foreign minister Farouk al-Sharaa told parliament that the United States was leading the American people to "catastrophe" by putting them in direct confrontation with the international community. * _ American peace activists confirmed a report last week that a hospital in Rutbah in Iraq's western desert was bombed. They said no Iraqi military presence was evident. U.S. Central Command denied knowledge of the bombing.

* _ Indonesians held their biggest demonstration against the Iraq war to date and students in China staged a rare state-sanctioned protest as hundreds of thousands around the world staged another day of rallies denouncing the conflict.

* _ As bombs pound Iraq, Arab leaders from Egypt to the Persian Gulf must cope with seething reaction from people at home who overwhelmingly oppose the war. The angry mood crystallizes over images of smashed buildings and wounded or dead civilians broadcast by news agencies around the world.

* _A mysterious Iraqi who calls himself Salam Pax, writing a Web log from the heart of Baghdad, has developed a large Internet following with his wry accounts of daily life in a city under U.S. bombardment.
* _ An explosion sparked a fire at the Information Ministry building in Baghdad. Other air strikes hit military facilities at the Abu Gharayb presidential palace, several telephone exchanges, the Karada military intelligence complex and the barracks of a paramilitary training center, the U.S. Central Command said.

* _ The 101st Airborne Division encircles the holy city of Najaf. In the expected battle there is great risks of damage to Shiite holy sites. Farther north, Army troops crept 10 miles closer to Baghdad.

PHOTO CAPTION

U.S. Marines run for cover from Iraqi fire in the port of Umm-Qasr in southern Iraq, March 23, 2003 as they met pockets of resistance from Republican Guards in a residential area beside the port