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John Key the smiling assassin - as he sacked hundreds of Merril Lynch employees



John Key well remembered as the smiling assassin who sacked hundreds of Merrill Lynch staff, in the days before he entered New Zealand politics and became prime minister. Now he is responsible for sacking thousands of kiwi public servants. Just the type of person you would invite home to meet your mother? Yeah Right!



Key's first job was in 1982, as an auditor at McCulloch Menzies, and he then moved to be a project manager at Christchurch-based clothing manufacturer Lane Walker Rudkin for two years.[7] Key began working as a foreign exchange dealer at Elders Finance in Wellington, and rose to the position of head foreign exchange trader two years later, then moved to Auckland-based Bankers Trust in 1988.

In 1995, he joined Merrill Lynch as head of Asian foreign exchange in Singapore. That same year he was promoted to Merrill's global head of foreign exchange, based in London, where he may have earned around US$2.25 million a year including bonuses, which is about NZ$5 million at 2001 exchange rates. Some co-workers called him "the smiling assassin" for maintaining his usual cheerfulness while sacking dozens (some say hundreds) of staff after heavy losses from the 1998 Russian financial crisis. He was a member of the Foreign Exchange Committee of the New York Federal Reserve Bank from 1999 to 2001.

In 1998, on learning of his interest in pursuing a political career, the National Party president John Slater began working actively to recruit him. Former party leader Jenny Shipley describes him as one of the people she "deliberately sought out and put my head on the line–either privately or publicly–to get them in there".

He doesn't appear to have changed much - now he smiles as thousands of NZ public servants lose their jobs weekly because of his Governments policy to reduce the numbers in the public service, regardless of need.

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Image via WikipediaThe problem of China stealing U.S miltary secrets...






Listen to Simon Cooper discuss the problem of China stealing sensitive military secrets on the Popular Mechanics Show. Download now.

On a hot Florida day late in 2005, Ko-Suen "Bill" Moo was preparing for the endgame of a covert operation he'd been orchestrating for nearly two years. He had arrived in Fort Lauderdale at 5 am on Nov. 7, as the city was recovering from the onslaught of Hurricane Wilma two weeks earlier. Moo checked into a $350-a-night room at the plush Harbor Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, and now, a day after arriving in town, the Korean-born businessman was ready to sign what promised to be a lucrative contract. In a few days, he'd head back to Hollywood International Airport to see off a plane, chartered for $140,000 to carry a special package. Moo would catch a commercial flight and meet up with his cargo in Shenyang, a city in northeastern China. The cargo was costing him nearly $4 million, but it was worth it. He would clear $1 million in profit once he made the delivery to his clients, senior officials in the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

Moo's package was an F110-GE-129 afterburning turbofan engine, built by General Electric to power America's latest F-16 fighter jet to speeds greater than Mach 2 (1500 mph). Over lunch in the Marriott's restaurant, 58-year-old Moo told the arms dealers who had arranged the purchase that he would soon be looking for additional engines--or even an entire F-16. But what the Chinese army wanted most of all was an AGM-129A, the U.S. Air Force's air-launched strategic nuclear-capable cruise missile. The stealth weapon, which flies at 800 miles per hour, can deliver a 150-kiloton W80 warhead to a target 1800 miles away.

Like everything else Moo was shopping for, the missile is guarded by at least three laws forbidding its sale or the transfer of its design details to foreign countries without government permission. Moo knew this quite well. In addition to working as a covert agent for China, he had a day job in the U.S. aerospace industry. For more than 10 years Moo had been an international sales consultant for Lockheed Martin and other U.S. defense companies in Taiwan. He was arguably the Taiwanese air force's most critical arms broker. 


Read more here:www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military.news/3319656

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THE KITE RUNNER...

Part I

Amir, a well-to-do Pashtun boy, and Hassan, a Hazara who is the son of Ali, Amir's father's servant, spend their days in the then peaceful city of Kabul, kite fighting and roaming through the streets. Amir’s father, a wealthy merchant, who Amir affectionately refers to as Baba, loves both the boys, but seems critical of Amir for not being manly enough. Amir secretly believes his father blames him for his mother’s death during childbirth. However, he has a kinder father figure in the form of Rahim Khan, Baba’s friend, who understands Amir better, and is supportive of his interest in writing. Amir tells us that his first word was 'Baba' and Hassan's "Amir,' suggesting that Amir looked up most to Baba, while Hassan looked up to Amir.
Assef, a notorious sociopath and violent older boy with sadistic tendencies, mocks Amir for socializing with a Hazara, which is, according to Assef, an inferior race that should only live in Hazarajat. He prepares to attack Amir with brass knuckles, but Hassan bravely stands up to him, threatening to shoot out Assef's left eye with his slingshot. Assef and his posse back off, but Assef threatens revenge.

Hassan is a successful "kite runner" for Amir, knowing where the kite will land without even watching it. One triumphant day, Amir wins the local tournament, and finally Baba's praise. Hassan runs for the last cut kite, a great trophy, saying to Amir, "For you, a thousand times over." Unfortunately, Hassan runs into Assef and his two friends. Hassan refuses to give up Amir's kite. Amir searches for Hassan but hides when he hears Assef's voice. Assef decides to teach Hassan a lesson by raping him. Amir witnesses the act but is too scared to intervene, and returns home ashamed, guilty for not being able to help his best friend. He feels that his cowardice in Hassan's rape would destroy any hopes for Baba's affections, so he says nothing. Afterwards, Hassan and Amir keep a distance from each other. Amir reacts indifferently because he feels ashamed, and is frustrated by Hassan's saint-like behavior. Already jealous of Baba's love for Hassan, he worries that if Baba knew of Hassan's bravery and his own cowardice, that Baba's love for Hassan would grow even more.
Amir, filled with guilt on his birthday, cannot enjoy his gifts.[2] The only present that does not feel like "blood" money is the notebook to write his stories in given to him by Rahim Khan, his father's friend and the only one Amir felt really understood him.

Amir felt that life would be easier if Hassan was not around, so he planted a watch and some money from his birthday party under Hassan's mattress in hopes that Baba would force him to leave; Hassan falsely confesses when confronted by Baba about the watch and the money. Baba forgives him, despite the fact that, as he explained earlier, he believes that "there is no act more wretched than stealing." Hassan and his father Ali, to Baba's extreme sorrow, leave anyway. Hassan's departure frees Amir of the daily reminder of his cowardice and betrayal, but he still lives in their shadow and his guilt.

Part II and Part 111
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kite_Runner

www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi955580697

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Breakthrough raises possibility of genetic children 

for same-sex couples

...

Same-sex couples may soon be able to have their own genetic children (Image: See-ming Lee via Flickr)

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Considering an E-Bike? - Answers-About-.ElectricBikes.co.nz
Answers to Your Electric Bike FAQs. + Great Range of NZ Electric Bikes!

In what could be the first step towards same-sex couples having their own genetic children, reproductive scientists have produced male and female mice from two fathers using stem cell technology. The achievement of two-father offspring in a species of mammal could also be a step toward preserving endangered species, improving livestock breeds, and advancing human assisted reproductive technology (ART).

A team of reproductive scientists in Texas, led by Dr. Richard R. Berhringer at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, manipulated fibroblasts - a type of cell that are the most common cells of connective tissue in animals - from a male (XY) mouse fetus to produce an induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell line. About one percent of iPS cell colonies grown from this XY cell line spontaneously lost the Y chromosome, resulting in XO cells.

These XO iPS cells were injected into blastocysts from donor female mice before being transplanted into surrogate mothers, which gave birth to female XO/XX chimeras having one X chromosome from the original male mouse fibroblast.

The female chimeras, carrying oocytes - which are immature ovum or egg cells - derived from the XO cells, were mated with normal male mice. Some of the offspring were male and female mice that had genetic contributions from two fathers
.
The technique, which is described in a study posted on Wednesday at the online site of the journal Biology of Reproduction, could be applied to livestock breeding to combine desirable genetic traits from two males without having to outcross to females with diverse traits
.
The scientists also point out that this "new form of mammalian reproduction" could also be valuable for preserving species when no females remain as it would be possible for one male to produce both oocytes and sperm for self-fertilization to generate male and female progeny.

They add that, in the future, it may also be possible to generate human oocytes from male iPS cell in vitro. Used in conjunction with in vitro fertilization, this would eliminate the need for female XO/XX chimeras, although a surrogate mother would still be needed to carry the two-father pregnancy to term.

Additionally, using a variation of the iPS technique, the researchers say, "it may be possible to generate sperm from a female donor and produce viable male and female progeny with two mothers."
However, the authors caution that the generation of human iPS cells still requires significant refinements prior to their use for therapeutic purposes, so there's still some time to explore the moral and ethical questions such technology will no doubt raise.

Acknowledgements: Gizmag.com

http://huttriver.blog.co.uk

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Tangaroa  -  God of the Sea      New Zealand and Rarotonga

Image via CrunchBase

Overseas technology companies will have to find Kiwi directors within New Zealand...

Google, Microsoft, TelstraClear, Cisco and Dell are among technology companies that would have to find Kiwi directors for their New Zealand businesses if moves to tighten up company registration processes are approved.

Commerce Minister Simon Power is considering whether all New Zealand-registered businesses should be required to have at least one New Zealand-resident director after receiving a report from officials which engaged in "targeted consultations".

The rule change is one of a package of measures floated by Mr Power in January, after it was discovered an Auckland-registered shell company, SP Trading, had been implicated in shipping arms to Iran.

Mr Power said it would be consistent with requirements in other countries, including Australia, Canada and Singapore.

A spokesman for the minister says that if the Government decides to press ahead, that would probably require a change to the Companies Act and interested parties would be able to have their say at a select committee.

Mr Power said there had been an increase in the number of businesses registering with the Companies Office that had only overseas shareholders and directors. They comprised about 5 per cent of more than 1125 firms that were newly registered in January.

Microsoft, Cisco and Google's New Zealand subsidiaries all have just two directors – the minimum number allowed – all based in the United States.

Google and Dell refused to comment.

Microsoft New Zealand managing director Kevin Ackhurst says it would comply with any requirements and didn't see any particular upside or downside "but I haven't seen the full details of the proposed changes, so it is hard to comment on what might come in place".

Cisco New Zealand managing director Geoff Lawrie says the company would not shirk from legal responsibilities but he is unsure what having a New Zealand director would mean.

"We don't have a board structure. That is consistent with just about every international organisation represented here I would think."

Mr Lawrie says that from the point of view of preventing undesirable activities by shell companies, it might be more important that companies had a "responsible officer" in New Zealand rather than a resident director.

TelstraClear believes efforts to harmonise regulations between Australia and New Zealand could mean that having only Australian directors may remain allowable, even if the law is changed.

"The governments of New Zealand and Australia are working toward a single economic market framework to ensure transparent and ethical business practices," says spokesman Chris Mirams. "The initiative is designed to form a seamless trans-Tasman environment for established, credible businesses such as TelstraClear, that operate on both sides of the Tasman."

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Institute of Directors chief executive Nicki Crauford forecasts some overseas firms might seek to appoint a "token" local director if caught by the rule change. But she would not recommend anyone take on a company directorship without proper payment as a board seat comes with the risk of "huge liabilities".

The practicalities for overseas-owned firms were unclear. "If they currently hold their board meetings in the United States, then are they going to fly a New Zealand resident to those once a month and is it going to be practical for that person to be legitimately involved in the business?

"I suppose they could dial-in, but I guess if they never physically go to a board meeting they would not be terribly effective in the role."

NEW ZEALAND SIGNS FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WITH CHINA TODAY - AUSTRALIA NEXT?

The free trade deal with China has been signed in Beijing today; It's estimated to be worth $300 million to NZ.

New Zealand has scored a significant coup in China, becoming the first western nation to sign a free trade deal with the world's fastest growing economy.

Prime Minister Helen Clark says the deal is much more comprehensive than anticipated when negotiations began three years ago.

The FTA comes into force in October and will conservatively be worth around $300 million to New Zealand and just $90 million to the Chinese.

It covers everything from agriculture to services, like tourism, education, construction and transport where New Zealand will compete on a level playing field. Free trade will be phased in over the next 12 years.

The Chinese Premier has without explanation pulled out of a scheduled news conference with Miss Clark. However it is expected he does not want to face questions on Tibet.

Miss Clark believes the deal with China will be used by other countries as an example of how far the Chinese are prepared to go.

"The Chinese have negotiated hard, as we have, but I think they will be seeing this as a template - they want a deal with other western economies. So this agreement has to be high quality, it has to be comprehensive and it has to be balanced."

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is due to arrive in Beijing in a few days when trade deals are expected to be on the table. Next to sign?




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