Whaleoil’s ‘out of sync’ video had the newzealandinc.com team wondering where we had heard David Shearer’s voice before – it is amazingly reminiscent of Colin Firth’s King George.  Speech training – or a dose of anger- might cure the stumbles. Job for Brian Edwards or maybe the stern hand of Judy Callingham? Forward to 0.54 “timing isn’t my strong suit.’

Efforts to end a week-old convulsion of Israeli-Palestinian violence drew in the world’s top diplomats with President Obama dispatching his secretary of state to the region on an emergency mission and the U.N. chief appealing from Cairo for an immediate cease-fire. Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers have staked tough, hard-to-bridge positions, and the gaps keep alive the threat of …

Jerry Seib on The News Hub looks at four ways leverage has tilted–slightly but perceptibly–toward President Obama in the current budget showdown with Congress. Seib points out any negotiator will tell you that the key in a bargaining session is knowing at the outset who has leverage, and where it comes from. “So it is in the great deficit-cutting showdown …