1.   The asylum bids started in March, prompting the Chinese authorities to ring the main neighborhood for embassies in Beijing with barbed wire and to mount police patrols.

2.   Others lost asylum bids or crossed into Germany illegally.

3.   Organizers of the March asylum bid said they had planned to approach the German Embassy, but were put off by its high wall and security.

4.   Peruvian authorities say they do not know the whereabouts of Montesinos, who returned to Peru in September after a botched asylum bid in Panama.

5.   A rash of asylum bids by North Koreans at diplomatic missions in China plunged foreign diplomats and Chinese officials into sensitive negotiations Monday to decide their fate.

6.   A South Korean group that said it organized the asylum bid appealed to Japan to demand that China hand over the detainees.

7.   But the political crisis intensified last Monday, when Montesinos returned to Peru after a failed asylum bid in Panama and promptly went underground.

8.   But the crisis intensified a week ago when Montesinos returned to Peru after a failed asylum bid in Panama and promptly went underground.

9.   But the crisis intensified last week when Montesinos returned to Peru after a failed asylum bid in Panama and promptly went underground.

10.   China has sought to discourage further asylum bids by stringing barbed wire atop embassy walls and posting additional guards.