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Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday called for efforts to gradually ease tentions in the region over the March sinking of a South Korean warship. “The pressing task for the moment is to properly handle the serious impact caused by the Cheonan incident, defuse tentions in the region, and most importantly of all, avoid possible conflicts,” said Mr Wen. He was speaking at a joint press conference following a two-day summit meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on the South Korean resort island.

Mr Wen urged the Noth-east Asian nations to help maintain regional peace and stability. “We must spare no effort to promote peace and stability in Northeast Asia. Short of this precondition, development will be out of the question, and the hardwon achievements will be lost again,” he stressed. “China will continue to enhance communication with relevant parties (over the Cheonan incident) in order to steer the situation toward a direction which is conducive to peace and stability in NorthEast Asia. This is in our best common and long-term interests,” said Mr Wen.

As the region was facing many new challenges, China, Japan and South Korea should strengthen coordination, appropriately deal with sensitive issues and increase mutual political trust, said Mr Wen. On March 26, 2010 the South Korean naval vessel, the Cheonan, with 104 crew members on board, sank off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula, killing 46 sailors. On May 20, 2010 the South Korean government released the results of a multinational investigation, which concluded that the Cheonan was torpedoed by a submarine of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The DPRK has vehemently rejected the charge and warned that any retaliation would lead to an “all-out” war.

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President Barack Obama uveiled a new national security strategy on Thursday, replacing George W. Bush’s “war on terror” doctrine with a sweeping blueprint for a world bristling with multiple threats. Mr Obama also put new constraints on the former president’s concept of pre-emptive war and cited national security implications of economic meltdowns, global warming, cyberwarfare, nuclear proliferation and ethnic conflict.

“To succeed, we must face the world as it is,” the document states, turning the page on Bush-era dreams of remaking the global order with American might and recognizing the increasing global engagement of Russia and the emergence of rising powers like China and India. The document also contains warnings for Iran and North Korea, focuses on homegrown extremists who turn to Islamic radicalism in America and says the most serious threats to Americans are posed by nuclear proliferation. The new doctrine illustrates an evolution of Obama’s pro-engagement policies after 16 months in power, a period that brought the idealism of his election campaign into conflict with the harsh realities of geopolitics. It describes a world thick with evolving threats and seeks to reframe US foreign policy after two bloody wars and a crippling global financial crisis.

It projects a tough, hardnosed assessment of American interests and the use of US power, and lays out a dizzying array of threats from cyberwarfare to health epidemics to ethnic wars to inequality. Obama commits to using the sweeping range of foreign policy tools, including diplomacy, economic renewal, development aid, military might and education. It calls for tough engagement “without illusion” with foes like Iran and North Korea, but warns they face deepening isolation if they do not bow to pressure to throw open their nuclear programmes. The document also preserves the US right to launch unilateral military action, but does so in more restrictive terms than those used by the former Bush administration.

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Insurgents firing rockets, mortars and automatic weapons launched a ground assault on Saturday against Nato’s biggest base in southern Afghanistan, wounding several coalition troops and civilian employees in the third such attack on a major military installation this week, officials said. A Canadian Press news agency report from the Kandahar Air Field said artillery and machine gun fire reverberated through the base, about 500 kilometres southwest of Kabul, several hours after the attack began.

Militants unleashed rockets and mortars about 8 pm and then tried unsuccessfully to storm the northern perimeter, officials said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assault, but the Kandahar area is a Taliban stronghold. On Tuesday, a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a Nato convoy in the capital, killing 18 people, including six Nato service members, five Americans and a Canadian. The next day, dozens of Taliban militants attacked the main US military base - Bagram Air Field - killing an American contractor in fighting that lasted more than eight hours.

Navy Commander Amanda Peterseim, a spokeswoman for Nato forces at Kandahar, said at least five rockets struck the base in the initial attack, but witnesses said explosions continued through much of the night. There were no reports of deaths and she did not have the precise number of wounded. “The alarm has been sounding for several hours, but no insurgents have penetrated the base perimeter,” Nato said. It said “a number” of military and civilian personnel were wounded “and are receiving medical treatment. There are no confirmed fatalities.”

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US secretary of state Hllary Rodham Clinton said on Sunday that China needs to adopt a domestic “level playing field” for Chinese and foreign companies, adding that she would be pushing the Chinese for a “more balanced economic relationship” with the US in upcoming economic and strategic talks in Beijing. Those talks, to be cochaired by Ms Clinton and US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, are likely to be dominated by efforts to win China’s support to punish North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean warship. But the US officials will be focused on economic issues as well.

“For trade to work in any economy and for it to produce the benefits we know it can, there must be a level playing field where domestic and international companies can compete freely and openly,” she told workers at a Boeing maintenance facility at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport. Ms Clinton said the US would press for greater regulatory transparency, non-discrimination, fair access to markets and enforcement of intellectual property rights.

Mr Geithner and Ms Clinton are leading a delegation of nearly 200 officials to Beijing as part of an effort to help President Obama deliver on his pledge to double US exports within five years and create two million jobs. One issue likely to come up is the trade advantage Beijing has because of an undervalued Chinese currency. China has kept the Yuan at a rate of 6.83 per dollar for nearly two years, seeking to cushion its exporters from the global financial crisis.

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A US-born militant cleric has urged Muslims to kill US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and vowed to step up attacks against the US military, according to a video-tape released on Sunday. Anwar al-Awlaki, wanted dead or alive by US authorities, is a leading figure linked to al Qaeda’s Yemen-based wing. He is believd to be on the run in the impoverished Gulf Arab state. “Muslims should object to what’s going on either verbally or by physical action,” Awlaki said in the 45-minute interview posted on an Islamist website. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the recording.

Awlaki praised the actions of US Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan who shot dead 13 people at Fort Hood, a Texas Army base, in November. “Nidal was my student…I am proud of Nidal Hasan and this was a heroic act,”he said, adding: “Who can object to what he did? He killed soldiers on their way to Iraq and Afghanistan.” Hasan had sent emails to the cleric but they were intercepted by US intelligence agencies and examined by US joint terrorism task forces. “If the situation remains we will see new Nidal Hasans appearing,” Awlaki said in the tape. “These American soldiers on their way to Afghanistan and Iraq, we kill them.”

Asked by an interviewer if killing US soldiers would have a  negative impact of Muslims in the US, Awlaki said defending Muslims ion Iraq and Afghanistan was a larger priority. “Is protecting the reputation of Muslims in America more important than bombs dropping on millions of Muslims elsewhere?” US officials said in April that President Barack Obama’s administration had authorized operations to capture or kill Awlaki. Yemen has said it will not hand over Awlaki, whose family is well-known in Yemen, but instead put him on trial if he is arrested. Born in New Mexico, Awlaki led prayers at US mosques. He returned to Yemen in 2004 where he taught at a university before he was arrested and imprisoned in 2006 for suspected links to Al Qaeda and involvement in attacks. He was released in late 2007.

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Britain’s Duchess of York was filmed allegedly trying to sell access to her ex-husband Prince Andrew for 500,00 pounds to an undercover reporter posing as a businessman, a newspaper reported on Sunday. Buckingham Palace refused to comment on the allegation printed by the News of the World that Sarah Ferguson agreed to have the equivalent of 575,000 euros or 723,000 dollars wired to her British bank account for the favor. The weekly tabloid said Ferguson had promised to introduce the fake business man to the prince - Britain’s special representative for international trade and investment.

The paper filmed her allegedly accepting last Tuesday a down payment of 40,000 dollars in cash and it quotes her as saying: “I can open any door you want.” Despite the Duke of York - Queen Elizabeth’s II’s second son - knowing nothing about the deal, Ferguson is filmed as saying: “Andrew said to me, ‘Tell him 500,000 pounds.’ “He knows that he has had to underwrite me up to now because I have got no money. So if you want to meet him in your business, look after me and he will look after you….you will get it back tenfold.”

The paper claimed the 50-year-old Duchess met the fake businessman on two occasions - firstly at a New York hotel and then at the exclusive Mosimann’s dining club in London. It said she was then chauffeured with the reporter to a flat where she was shown on the video apparently shaking on a deal to introduce him to her former husband. The Duke and Duchess of York divorced in 1996 but have remained close friends. According to the paper, the Duchess spoke of their relationship, saying, “We are the happiest divorced couple in the world.”

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The Mangalore plane crash was widely covered by the US media with several television channels airing live images from the site and news papers posting lead stories on their website. Leading televsion channels in the US like CNN, Fox News and newspapers such as the Washington Post, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal covered the tragic incident extensively with a number of stories. Most televsion news channels flashed the plane crash near the Mangalore airport as Breaking News and were almost giving minute-to-minute updates from India. They also flashed live images from ground zero.

“CNN has confirmed that 160 people are dead after an Air India plane crash in Southern India, this accordig to an Indian official. The plane burst into flames after overshooting the runway. Offials also say six or seven passengers may have survived,” CNN news anchor said. “The plane had departed Dubai and landed in Mangalore, India at 6:30 am local time. Smoke from the plane and the rough terrain in hampering rescue efforts, were told, though 25 to 3o ambulances are on the scene,” the anchor said. The Washington Post carried it as the lead story on its website as the headline read: Plane crash in India kills nearly 160 people, 8 survive.

“Television images showed charred bodies being pulled out of the wreckage as fireflight workers worked to douse the flames. In one case, a childs limp, burned body was extricated from the smoldering plane by a policeman, who carried the child up a hill as other rescuers offered to pull him up,” the daily said. “Scores Feared Dead in Southern India Plane Crash”, read The New York Times headline. “Rescue workers scrambled over the smoldering crash site, looking for more survivors among the charred remains, but there was little hope of finding anyone else alive,” it said.

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Former England captain David Beckham has spoken of the bravery of British service personnel in Afghanistan after visiting Helmand province on Saturday. The 35-year old - who is to travel to South Africa with England’s World Cup squad despite missing the tournament through injury - met numerous troops in Helmand, posing for pictures and signing autographs as well as taking part in a question and answer session.

Later, speaking to British Forces News, Beckham said the troops were “the bravest people that I have ever met and it really is, it truly is, an honor to be here.” The former Manchester United player continued: “To see morale of the troops is really incredible. It first kind of hit me on the way over when we were on the military plane flying in to Afghanistan. “You can see the faces, you can see obviously they know they are leaving their families, but they are so focused and they have got this look in their eyes that they are just so confident and just ready.

It is scary, it really is scary, you feel it. Just yesterday one of the troops was killed and you feel it and you see the flags at half-mast and you feel the tension there.” He added: “I have been wanting to come for years, but with my playing schedule I have never had the time. But obviously being injured now it’s given me the chance to do things I have always wanted to do and never been able to. I would love to come back.” Beckham, one of the most capped players in English history, said the troops’ representation of their country was “really amazing”.

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A 1932 Pablo Picasso painting of his mistress has sold for $106.5 million, a world record price for any work of art at auction. “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust,” which had a pre-sale estimate of $90 million, was sold at Christie’s auction house on Tuesday evening to an unidentified telephone bidder. There were nine minutes of bidding involving eight clients in the sale room and on the phone, Christie’s said. At $88 million, two bidders remained. The final bid was $95 million, but the buyer’s premium took the sale price to $106.5 million.

Conor Jordan, head of impressionist and modern art for Christie’s New York, said he was “ecstatic with results”. “Tonight’s spectacular results showedthe great confidence in the marketplace and the enthusiasm with which it welcomes top quality works,” he said. The striking work of Picasso’s muse and mistress Marie-Therase Walter has been exhibited in the United States only once, in 1961 in Los Angeles to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Picasso’s birth. The painting, which measures more than 5 feet by 4 feet, shows a reclining nude figure with an image of Picasso in the background looking over her.

The painting had belonged to the late California art patron Frances Lasker Brody, who bought it in the 1950s. It had been kept in her family since then. Part of the sale proceeds will benefit the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, Calif, where Brody was on the board. The previous record for a work of art at auction was sold at $104.3 million for “Walking Man I”, a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti sold on February 3 at Sotheby’s in London. The previous high price for a Picasso work was $104.2 million for “Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprentice
),attained in 2004 at Sotheby’s New York.

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