Day: May 16, 2022

When he was 20 years old, Harel Hershtik planned and executed a murder, a crime that a quarter of a century later is still widely remembered for its grisly details.

Today, he is the brains behind an Israeli health-tech startup, poised to make millions of dollars with the backing of prominent public figures and deep-pocket investors.

With his company set to go public, Hershtik’s past is coming under new scrutiny, raising questions about whether someone who took a person’s life deserves to rehabilitate his own to such an extent.

“When I was young, I would say that I was stupid and arrogant,” said Hershtik, now 46. “You can be a genius and yet still be very stupid and the two don’t contradict each other.”

Today, Hershtik is the vice president of strategy and technology at Scentech Medical, a company he founded in 2018, while behind bars, which says its product can detect certain diseases through a breath test.

In a three-hour interview with The Associated Press, he repeatedly expressed remorse for his crime.

Hershtik was convicted of murdering Yaakov Sela, a charismatic snake trapper he met when he was 14. The two had a bumpy relationship.

Sela was known for having numerous girlfriends at once, one being Hershtik’s mother. Hershtik said he felt uneasy with how Sela treated some of the women, including his mother.

In early 1996, Sela discovered that Hershtik had stolen 49,000 shekels (about $15,000 at the time) from him, and the two agreed that instead of involving the police, Hershtik would pay him back double that amount. Court documents say Hershtik instead planned to murder Sela.

Pulled over during a drive to gather the money, an accomplice of Hershtik’s fired three shots at Sela, using Hershtik’s mother’s pistol. He then handed Hershtik the gun, according to the documents, and Hershtik shot Sela in the head at close range.

The pair shoved Sela’s body into the trunk and buried it in a grove in the Golan Heights, according to the documents. Weeks later, hikers saw a hand poking up from the earth, and Sela’s body was found.

The sensational crime gripped the nation.

In court documents, prosecutors say Hershtik lied repeatedly in his attempt to distance himself from the murder.

Hershtik said he was compelled to lie so that he could protect the others involved in the scheme, which included his mother.

Hershtik was sentenced to life in prison for premeditated murder and obstructing justice, among other crimes.

He would serve 25 years, during which time Hershtik earned two doctorates, in math and chemistry, and got married three separate times. He said he established 31 companies, selling six of them.

But prison was also a fraught time for Hershtik. He said he spent 11 years in quarantine because of health issues. He was punished twice for setting up internet access to his cell, in one case building a modem out of two dismantled DVD players.

Last year, a parole board determined he had been rehabilitated and no longer posed a danger to society.

As part of his early release and until 2026, he is under nightly house arrest from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. He must wear a tracking device around his ankle at all times and is barred from leaving the country.

A free man, Hershtik sat recently with the AP in his office in the central city of Rehovot, Israel.

His start-up is waiting for regulatory approval to merge with a company called NextGen Biomed, which trades on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and would make Scentech public.

Hershtik said the company’s product is being finalized for detecting COVID-19 through a patient’s breath, and it is working to add other diseases such as certain cancers as well as depression. The product is meant to provide on-the-spot results in a non-invasive way.

The company has received a patent for its technology in Israel and said it is preparing to apply for FDA approval soon.

Hershtik said the merger values the company at around $250 million and that he has raised more than $25 million in funding over the last two years through private Israeli investors. A large part of the investment is from Hershtik’s own money, although he won’t say how much. Prisoners in Israel aren’t barred from doing business, but

Hershtik’s success is rare.

His company is backed by prominent Israeli names, including Yaakov Amidror, who chairs NextGen and is a former chief of the country’s National Security Council.

“According to the rules of the country, the man is allowed to rehabilitate. He paid his price and he rehabilitated. So there is no reason not to help him rehabilitate,” Amidror, who testified to the parole board on Hershtik’s behalf, told the AP.

But Hershtik’s past is already haunting him. Hershtik was demoted from CTO earlier this year to his current position, in part because he didn’t want his crime to scare away investors.

“Harel has always said if for some reason his presence is a problem and the company would be better off without him, that he’s willing to leave the company,” said Drew Morris, a board member and investor.

As Scentech seeks to take its product to market, investors will need to decide whether Hershtik’s rap sheet influences where they put their money.

Ishak Saporta, a senior lecturer at Tel Aviv University’s Coller School of Management, said he believed investors would be drawn to the company’s potential for profit rather than deterred by Hershtik’s history.

“What concerns me here is that he became a millionaire. He paid his debt to society in jail. But does he have a commitment to the victim’s family,” Saporta asked.

Tovia Bat-Leah, who had a child with Sela, suggested he help fund her daughter’s education or create a reptile museum in Sela’s name.

“He served his time but he should also make some kind of reparation,” she said.

Hershtik sees the good that could come about from the company as the ultimate form of repentance. He said he could have used his smarts to create any sort of company with no benefit to society but chose health tech instead.

“Trust me, this is not for the money,” he said.

Source: Voice of America

Uber said Monday it is revving up to be a “go anywhere and get anything” service, testing delivery robots, weaving in Google voice commands and more as people shed their pandemic lifestyles.

The San Francisco-based tech firm unveiled enhancements to its platform as it navigates tough economic conditions but looks to ride a busy travel season.

“After two years of pandemic living, 2022 is looking like a sea change,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

“One of the busiest travel seasons is upon us, a record-breaking number of weddings will be held this year, and climate is at the center of the global conversation.”

The suite of products unveiled by Uber was intended to help users “go anywhere and get anything,” he added, building on Uber’s goal of being an app used for far more than simply summoning rides.

“Today, we’re talking a lot about travel and reconnecting with places and people you care about,” Uber Rides head of product Jen You told AFP. “But broadly speaking, we want to be your daily one-stop shop for anything, whether it’s for travel, work, social, even personal errands.”

Uber is testing autonomous, electric delivery robots in Los Angeles to shuttle orders from local merchants to customers in neighborhoods, Khosrowshahi said.

The delivery bots are part of an Uber goal for every ride in North America and Europe to be electric-powered by the year 2030.

Uber laid out how it is further meshing its food delivery and ride services by letting riders use the app to have orders waiting at airport or sports stadium restaurants upon arrival in a smattering of locations.

Uber said it is also weaving in the ability to let users connect Google mail, calendar and digital assistant features into the app to enable voice commands or get help with arranging travel.

“These are all part of the ultimate vision to have more touch points with consumers across their daily activities,” You said.

Along with its rides service, Uber has an Eats food delivery arm that boomed during the pandemic and a Freight platform that matches truckers with shipments in a way similar to how it pairs passengers with drivers.

Source: Voice of America

According to the minister of State for Social Affairs, Carolina Cerqueira, patients with renal disorders, cardiac problems and with cancer, as well as those suffering from orthopaedic and ophthalmic issues are already benefitting from adequate medical assistance in the country.

The government official mentioned as example the good results being obtained, since its inauguration this year, at the Dom Alexandre do Nascimento Cardiopulmonary Diseases Hospital, in Luanda.

She also highlighted the positive work being done in four integrated centres of blood transfusion, among other medical interventions of reference.

Carolina Cerqueira was speaking this Monday at the First Conference on Medical Board Assistance in Angola which is happening in the capital of the country.

The State minister also gave data on the government’s on-going bet on the quality of medical services through the frequent recruitment of physicians and nurses, as well as the inauguration of new health units.

Carolina Cerqueira seized the occasion to inform that at least 2,620 physicians have recently started specialized training courses in the whole country.

She went on to stress that the Angolan Executive is ever committed to strengthening Primary Health Care and increase people’s access to family doctors in the municipalities, plus the investments in the equipping of health units.

Meanwhile, according to data collected by ANGOP, the country had 245 Medical Board patients and 150 accompanying mates in Portugal. Each patient, according to the data, was benefiting from a state (medical board) annual assistance of about five million kwanzas.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – The president of the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), Diamantino Azevedo, said that local content is a major challenge of the extractive industry of this body, which plans to review its policies and progress of implementation by member countries.

Local Content is the proportion of investments made in goods and/or services directed to the exploration and development phases of production in the oil and gas sector, in concession, onerous assignment or production sharing contracts.

According to Diamantino Azevedo, who was speaking at the opening ceremony of the VIII African Petroleum Congress and Exhibition and the APPO Council of Ministers, recognizes that the level of development of this process in oil and gas producing countries varies significantly.

“Even the most advanced countries, in terms of this matter, cannot claim to have already reached the desired levels of satisfaction,” considered Diamantino Azevedo, who was speaking in the presence of the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, entities from the diplomatic corps in Angola, APPO ministers of the oil and gas sector and oil operators.

In order to achieve satisfaction, he said that the APPO has set up a “Local Content Roundtable for Africa,” which aims to review policies and progress in the implementation of Local Content in member countries, especially in light of the world energy transition.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – The second commander-general of the National Police (PN) António Candela has reiterated Angola’s commitment to maintaining stability on the common border.

The official, who was speaking during the opening ceremony of the expert session between the countries held on Monday in Pointe Noire(Republic of the Congo), underlined Angola’s commitment to keeping the common border safe and stable.

“The cooperation relations between Angola and Congo date back to the beginnings of the national liberation struggle, of the colonial yoke of the two countries, strengthened by the ties of fraternity, brotherhood, solidarity and good neighbourhood”, said the official.

António Candela recalled the advantages of such meetings, adding that they serve “to smooth out rough edges in terms of security”.

In his speech, António Candela said that the institutions integrating the Angolan delegation remain determined to work with their Congolese counterparts.

The intention is to promote and carry out actions aimed at security and stability on the common border, the exchange of information for the benefit of the two neighbouring countries.

In February of this year, a memorandum of intent on the Protocol on the Fight against Cross-border Crime and Terrorism was signed in Luanda.

The document will be appreciated at the meeting taking place in Pointe Noire, with the focus on creation of a joint and permanent defence and security commission.

The meeting’s agenda also provides for an analysis on the feasibility of signing a cooperation agreement in terms of mutual assistance in customs.

The Angolan delegation includes, among other officials, the Secretary of State for National Defence José de Lima, and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Esmeralda Mendonça.

Angola and the Republic of Congo share a common border of 201 kilometres.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – The volume and reserves of the declared marginal fields of Angola are estimated at four billion barrels of oil, said Monday the chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Agency of Oil, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), Paulino Jerónimo.

Paulino Jerónimo, who did not disclose goals or deadlines, said the quantity means that there is a lot to be developed to allow the stabilization of Angola’s crude output.

Speaking at the high-level panel of the VIII African Petroleum Congress and Exposition opened Monday, he mentioned that the challenge for this legislature is to boost and intensify the replacement of reserves with the aim to mitigate the sharp production decline.

“This is in fact what we are doing,” said Paulino Jerónimo, adding that Angola has about 820,000 square kilometers of Sedimentary Basin lacking exploration strategy in order to evaluate its entire extension.

The strategy for exploration concessions has been approved, which foresees the delivery of about 50 concessions from 2019 to 2025, Mr Jeronimo said, adding that about 25 have already been awarded representing 50 percent of job done in just three years.

In 2023 the ANPG says it will run its fourth bidding, something that has not happened for a long time, Paulino Jerónimo disclosed.

“The bidding strategy, besides looking at the offshore, in deep and shallow waters, and the onshore on the coast, is also looking at the inland basins, with about 520 square kilometers of Sedimentary Basins, in which we already recognize the existence of asphalt on the surface,” he said.

Betting on gas with nine consortiums

Another investment factor is gas, which until a recent past belonged to the State, which did not give exploration rights, however, the State decided to give the rights to investors, which allowed the constitution of two large projects and the creation of nine gas consortiums.

The constitution of the consortiums was possible due to the granting of rights by the State.

The ANGP’s CEO added that the decline in production is worrying, which will be reversed with the strategies underway.

Angola’s peak oil production was reached in 2008, with 1.9 million barrels of oil/day.

Since this period, oil production has been in a slight decline resulting from 2009 to 2015, at 1.6 million barrels of crude oil. Now, there is a more steep decline in the order of 1.2 million barrels per day.

Among the causes for the lack of exploration and the non-development of marginal fields were identified.

Over the past 20 to 30 years, several fields were discovered that were not economically viable in light of existing contracts.

As a result of the efforts undertaken, Paulino Jerónimo announced that the multinationals Esso and TotalEnergies, are preparing to drill exploration wells within the developing areas, which if discovered will make a big change.

As for the marginal fields, he said contractual tax incentives have been given to marginal plants to allow them to develop.

In 2021 the first marginal field production was recorded, in one well, in Cabinda Province, and another one is expected to be under development this year, as well as in 2023.

As for energy transition, he argued that it should firstly go through a cleaner oil production, with less carbon emissions, which harm the environment.

Source: Angola Press News Agency