Eric Batchelor, one of NZ's most highly decorated World War II soldiers, died in Waimate, on Saturday.

Claims that more than one hundred Iraqi civilians were tortured and abused by British soldiers must be fully investigated, Britain's High Court was told yesterday.

A double-pronged aid effort is getting up a head of steam in Tuvalu this week, as more than 300 New Zealand Defence Force staff descend on the tiny nation north of Fiji and nearly 4000km from New Zealand.

NZ recently rebuffed a bid by Australia to form an Anzac training unit in Uruzgan province in Afghanistan, John Key has revealed.

David Petraeus has become Obama's third commander of the war since April last year.

Two words on journalist Michael Hasting's initial pitch to trail Stanley McChrystal appear to have tickled his PR staff's fancy: Rolling Stone.

They called it the "Death Star" because according to one source "you could just reach out with a finger and eliminate" somebody.

President Barack Obama's handling of the "Runaway General" affair was exemplary.