Straight from the Whitehouse – Obama faces the press on fiscal cliff, Petraeus and more

Fox News asks the hard questions.

Fox canvasses the impact of General Petraeus effective sacking on the Benghazi hearings.

Trade Minister Tim Groser will meet with his Australian counterpart at the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Forum tomorrow in Canberra. “On both sides of the Tasman there is a high level of political commitment to strengthening and deepening our relationship, and this meeting will be important in helping us progress the single economic market agenda.” Groser says ministers will …

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is in Perth for a summit to deepen defence links between Australia and the United States. The annual summit is the first since President Barack Obama visited Australia a year ago and upset  China by announcing that up to 2500 US Marines would rotate through a joint military training hub in the northern …

China’s vice president, Xi Jinping, is widely expected to take over from President Hu Jintao at the Communist Party congress under way in Beijing. The gathering ushers in a once-in-a-decade leadership change in the country. However, whether Hu will stay on as China’s military leader is still unclear. Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna reports from Beijing.

A scandalous affair has brought down a man referred to by many as one of the greatest generals in US history. But how successful have David Petraeus’ strategies really been in Iraq and Afghanistan? Until a few years ago, few people had heard of Petraeus. But in Washington DC, he has been long revered. His counter-inserguency strategies in Iraq and …

New Zealand’s next Ambassador to Spain is career diplomat Michael Swain. “As a key member of the European Union, Spain is an important partner for New Zealand and there is scope to develop our trade and economic relationships,” Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says.  “We also share political and security interests with Spain, notably through our involvement in Afghanistan. Michael’s wide …

For the most recent of their hit viral safety videos, Air New Zealand partnered with WETA Workshop for a Hobbit inspired production. Take a look at the results.

ANZ Banking Group, New Zealand’s biggest bank, increased gross loans and advances by more than any of its main banking rivals in the three months to June 30, ahead of the announcement of the demise of its National Bank of New Zealand brand. The 1.26 percent growth in its gross loans and advances was bettered only by minnow The Cooperative …