61.   The Richardson trip comes amid growing preparations for U.S. airstrikes.

62.   The trip came at a critical stage in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on an Israeli troop pullback in the West Bank town of Hebron.

63.   The trip came at a time in her life when travelling helped her focus on her priorities.

64.   The trip comes about four weeks before Mahathir is expected to travel to Washington for talks with U.S. President George W. Bush.

65.   The trip comes after a week of intense talks between Russian and Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

66.   The trip comes amid optimism that the United States might be able to restore calm and engineer an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian areas.

67.   The trip comes amid stalled efforts at more cooperation between North and South Korea.

68.   The trip comes as a follow-up to a previous visit to North Korea by a delegation of Japanese politicians last November.

69.   The trip comes as Hashimoto faces intense criticism from abroad for not doing more to help the rest of Asia.

70.   The trip comes at an important time for Central and Eastern Europe.