Rice flies in for ASEAN security talks:

With the fighting in Lebanon threatening to spin out of control, sectarian violence approaching civil war in Iraq and increased militant activity in Afghanistan, a security conference in Asia might not seem to be Rice's top priority right now.

But her decision to pass on last year's ASEAN Regional Forum - the region's premier security forum including 24 countries, including Australia and New Zealand, and the European Union - upset many Asians, leading some to argue that Washington was not interested in the continent, so she can ill afford to miss this meeting.

Asia is also home to one of the world's biggest diplomatic headaches in North Korea.