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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in China, the final stop of her first Asian tour as America's top diplomat. Rice visited Japan and South Korea in the last two days; the focus of many of her discussions has been North Korea and its nuclear research.

The United Nations appeals for more help for Sudanese refugees, who have fled into the desert in neighboring Chad to escape civil war and persecution by government-backed militias. The humanitarian crisis is severe and likely to be made far worse by the approaching rainy season. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and Dr. Jennifer Leaning, professor of international health at Harvard.

U.N. diplomats had hoped several thousand French troops would join the new peacekeeping force in Lebanon. To their disappointment, President Jacques Chirac announces that France will add only 200 troops to its 200 peacekeepers who are already part of the U.N. force in Lebanon. Diplomats fear that France's decision will have a chilling effect on the effort to put a robust force in place.

It's left over from Snowvember, the name for a massive snowstorm last fall. Trucks that plowed the streets dumped two mountains of snow in an abandoned lot near the train station.

President Bush installs John Bolton as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, making a recess appointment to circumvent the Senate, where Democrats blocked approval of the nominee. Bolton will be able to serve until a new Congress forms in 2007.

An approaching African Union summit may feature a showdown with Sudan over the crisis in its Darfur region. New U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is expected to press Sudan to let the U.N. help the African Union's beleaguered peacekeeping force.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to take disciplinary action against current and former officials involved in the oil-for-food program for Iraq. Mismanagement of the program -- designed to help Iraqis under U.N. sanctions during Saddam Hussein's rule -- has tarnished the U.N.'s reputation.

Some of the people injured from this week's attack on a United Nations training facility in Khan Younis are receiving treatment in Rafah.

Wednesday is the deadline that major powers imposed on Syria to allow aid to besieged civilians. But as it comes to pass, the air drops that were threatened if ground aid was blocked are far from a reality.

A report for the U.N. Human Rights Council says the Western-backed coalition has carried out indiscriminate airstrikes on schools, hospitals, markets and residential areas.