From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Condoleezza Rice on the road again in the Middle East.

Hello again, I'm Mormon Alany, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International,

a daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Secretary Rice made a surprise visit to Beirut today in what AIDS called a dramatic signal of President Bush's concern about that country.

On her way to Jerusalem, she's now talking about the urgent need for a ceasefire, but not till the right conditions have been established.

On to the point, we'll ask what those conditions might be and how long it might take before Hezbollah stops the rockets and Israel stops the bombing. We'll hear from a Beirut editor who says even some Lebanese officials are glad to see the weakening of Hezbollah and its ambitious leader. On reporter's notebook later on, Saddam Hussein fails to appear at his own trial.

We'll find out why.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica

and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine

T. MacArthur Foundation. Hello again, Mormon Alney, back with To the Point. Condoleezza Rice has

visited Beirut on her way to Jerusalem. Later, she'll go to Rome, looking for a ceasefire

under what she calls the right conditions. On To the Point, what are those conditions? How long

will they take? What about civilian casualties in the

meantime? On reporter's notebook, Saddam Hussein's hunger strike prevented him from attending his own

trial today. We'll hear what happened in his absence. First, this news update, President Bush

has announced that U.S. ships and helicopters will take humanitarian aid to Lebanon. Meantime, Condoleezza

Rice, stopped in Beirut, where she praised Prime Minister Fouaz Saniora

for courage and steadfastness.

She spoke to reporters with flashbulbs popping.

...