Alb Micki -Time

According to the sixth chapter of Genesis in Noah’s time, after the birth of Shem, Ham and Japheth, it came to pass, “once upon a time” when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful or fair and took them for wives.   And in those days, there were giants in the land.   Could these giants symbolically serve as some type of guardians in this heavenly kingdom of God where there was great wealth and abundance of gold?    

In this same period, the sons of God encountered the daughters of men and took them for wives.   This angered God according to the Book of Genesis, for wickedness had increased in the land so severely that he raised Noah and warned the people about the coming flood. It appears that in this ancient ante diluvian time, there were several distinguished groups of people or societies inhabiting the land eastward from Eden that fit distinct characteristics of various types of civilizations.

It occurred to me while reading these passages from the Bible that there were aspects relative to Yacob’s history in the generation of the Caucasian people in the time of their seclusion or separation into the caves and hillsides of Europe.     A branch of this Race occupied the hills and regions of what is known as Central Asia today. This region was once guarded at the frontiers or borders by guards to keep them out of the East or Holy Land from whence they were exiled for making trouble among the Righteous.

Nippon Steel

Nippon Steel logo is displayed at the company's headquarters in Tokyo, Japan April 1, 2024. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo 

Nippon Steel's (5401.T), opens new tab $15 billion bid for U.S. Steel (X.N), opens new tab has been referred to U.S. President Joe Biden, a White House spokesman said, giving the president 15 days to decide on a tie up he has previously said he opposes.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reviews foreign investments in the U.S. for national security risks, referred the deal to Biden after it was unable to reach a consensus, the companies and two sources said.

That gives Biden, who has long opposed the tie-up, 15 days to block the deal. If he takes no action in that time, the merger would get an unexpected greenlight.

"We received the CFIUS evaluation and the President will review it," White House spokeswoman Saloni Sharma said.

The referral to Biden paves the way for the deal to be killed before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Trump, who will be inaugurated on Jan.20, has also opposed the deal, which was first announced last December.

Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel said on Tuesday they were informed of the referral. Both companies have previously said they had planned to close the deal before the end of 2024.

"We urge him (Biden) to reflect on the great lengths that we have gone to address any national security concerns that have been raised and the significant commitments we have made to grow U. S. Steel," Nippon Steel said in a statement.

If the deal collapses, Nippon Steel must pay a $565 million penalty to U.S. Steel. It has earlier said it could pursue legal action against the U.S. government if the deal falls apart.

Nippon Steel aims to raise its global steel production capacity with U.S. Steel to 85 million metric tons per year from 65 million tons and the deal is core to its goal of lifting production to more than 100 million tons in the long-term.

The U.S. is the only developed nation where domestic steel demand is increasing, with the highest steel prices globally due to production capacity falling short of domestic needs, SBI Securities analyst Ryunosuke Shibata said.

That makes U.S. Steel "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Nippon Steel," Shibata added.

LACK OF CONSENSUS

CFIUS said on Monday that allowing Nippon Steel to take over U.S. Steel could result in lower domestic steel production representing "a national security risk", according to the Washington Post, which first reported the referral to Biden.

Nippon Steel said it could eliminate that risk by appointing U.S. citizens to top management and board of director positions at U.S. Steel, but the committee was divided in its view of whether those remedies would be sufficient, said the newspaper.

The U.S. Treasury Department, which leads CFIUS, and the Commerce Department, declined to comment.

The proposed tie-up has faced high-level opposition within the U.S. since it was announced, with both Biden and Trump taking aim at it as they sought to woo union voters in the swing state of Pennsylvania, where U.S. Steel is headquartered. The president of the United Steelworkers Union opposes the tie-up.

"The question is, what will Biden's decision be? And I think that's still very unpredictable," said Nick Wall, M&A partner at Allen & Overy. "He's got nothing really to lose."

In August a CFIUS letter sent to the companies, seen by Reuters, which said the deal could hurt the supply of steel for critical transportation, construction and agriculture projects.

But Nippon Steel won a 90-day review by countering that its investments made by a company from an allied nation would in fact shore up U.S. Steel's output.

That gave CFIUS until after the November U.S. election to make a decision, fueling hope among supporters that a calmer political climate could underpin the deal's approval.

Those hopes were dashed last weekend when CFIUS sent a 29-page letter to the companies raising allegedly unresolved national security risks, Reuters exclusively reported.

The companies countered in a follow-up letter, exclusively reported by Reuters Friday, that Biden had "impermissible influence" over the national security review process, threatening legal action if the deal is blocked.

U.S. Steel said: "It is our hope that President Biden will do the right thing and adhere to the law by approving a transaction that so clearly enhances U.S. national and economic security."

 

Israel orders troops to 'prepare to remain'

 

Israeli soldiers walk up the hill inside the so-called buffer zone, which separates the occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria, on December 9, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Minister of military affairs Israel Katz has ordered Israeli troops to "prepare to remain" throughout the winter in Syria including the strategic Jabal al-Shaykh mountain which they occupied after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. 

In an announcement on Friday, Katz said he had issued the order during an assessment the previous day with the Israeli army's chief of staff Herzi Halevi, and other officers.

"Due to the situation in Syria, it is of critical security importance to maintain our presence at the summit of Mount Hermon [Jabal al-Shaykh], and everything must be done to ensure the (army's) readiness on-site to enable the troops to stay there despite the challenging weather conditions," he said.

Israel started its push to grab more Syrian land on Sunday, after foreign-backed militants led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) announced the fall of President Assad’s government following a rapid two-week onslaught.

Israeli forces seized the so-called buffer zone, which separates the occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria, in violation of a 1974 disengagement agreement. The occupation forces have entered several towns in Quneitra, forcibly evacuating residents. 

They occupied the summit of Jabal al-Shaykh which provides an observation point for areas in Syria and Lebanon. It rises to 9,232 feet (2,814 meters) and is the highest point on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Israeli troops have advanced beyond the so-called buffer zone toward Damascus, with the regime's warplanes conducting hundreds of aerial assaults on Syria.

Katz had earlier said that the regime was planning a "sterile defense zone" in southern Syria. Several regional countries said Israel is taking advantage of the chaotic situation in Syria to expand its occupation of the Arab state.

Israeli soldiers entered the town of al-Hurriya in Quneitra province on Thursday. Local sources said Israeli forces also carried out a forced evacuation of the residents of the village of Rasem al-Ruwadi in the region. 

On Wednesday evening, Israeli forces stormed the towns of Ruwaihinah and Umm Batna in the central countryside of Quneitra as well.

Residents of the town said the occupying regime forces asked them to evacuate their homes to annex them to the so-called buffer zones. The incursion involved tanks and infantry units, during which several houses were searched. 

Many Syrians and others watching the fast-moving pace of events say Netanyahu is using this moment of change in their country to permanently seize further territory.

“They are saying they will give it back, but they are already occupying the Golan Heights which they haven’t given back. What would make you believe they will give this back?” Haid Haid, a senior consulting associate fellow at Chatham House, told Middle East Eye. 

srael has wiped out Syrian naval vessels, sea-to-sea missiles, helicopters and planes, including the entire fleet of MiG-29 fighter jets and stockpiles of ammunition in attacks on at least five air bases.

Reports say Israel and militant groups in Syria have previously come to successful arrangements whereby Israel provided emergency aid and medical care to militants so long as the groups did not attack the Zionist regime.

In a note to correspondents issued on Thursday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he is "deeply concerned" over "extensive violations" of Syrian sovereignty.

The UN chief also said he is "particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria." 

He further stressed that the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement between Israel and Syria “remains in force” and that it must be upheld by "ending all unauthorized presence in the area of separation and refraining from any action that would undermine the ceasefire and stability in Golan.”

Oxfam says only 12 trucks delivered aid in North Gaza amid Israeli siege since October

 

Humanitarian aid from the German Red Cross, which entered Gaza by truck through the Karm Abu Salem border crossing in the southern part of the Palestinian territory on February 17, 2024, waits to be unloaded in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)

The charity group Oxfam says only 12 trucks were able to distribute aid to trapped people in the besieged North Gaza governorate in the past two and a half months, amid Israel’s “deliberate delays and systematic obstructions.”

“Of the meager 34 trucks of food and water given permission to enter the North Gaza Governorate over the last 2.5 months, deliberate delays and systematic obstructions by the Israeli military meant that just twelve managed to distribute aid to starving Palestinian civilians,” Oxfam said Sunday.

The group noted that the aid distributed by three of the trucks was destroyed by the Israeli forces.

“For three of these, once the food and water had been delivered to the school where people were sheltering, it was then cleared and shelled within hours.” 

Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid for the North Gaza governorate have escalated since October when Israel imposed a siege on the area.

North Gaza has been under an all-out siege since October 6 and people there have been ordered to evacuate. Despite evacuation orders, the Palestinians trying to go south have been targeted by Israeli snipers and drones.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a set of standard tools that provides common global scales for classifying the severity and magnitude of food insecurity, has warned that there is a strong likelihood that famine is already occurring in the north and the risk of famine persists across the whole of Gaza.

 “The situation in Gaza is apocalyptic and people are trapped, unable to find any kind of safety. The absolute desperation of having no food or shelter for your family in the biting cold of winter,” Sally Abi-Khalil, Oxfam’s Middle East and North Africa Director, said.

“It is abhorrent that despite international law being so publicly violated by Israel and starvation being used relentlessly as a weapon of war, world leaders continue to do nothing."

Oxfam has called for “an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire” and “an unhindered access for all lifesaving aid to the Gaza Strip, including the North Gaza governorate.”

“Palestinians must be given the freedom to move home, rebuild, and live in peace and dignity, free of occupation or blockade,” it added.

Abi-Khalil warned that “every day that passes without a ceasefire is a death sentence for hundreds more civilians.”

Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 45,259 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 107,627 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

Israeli forces will remain

 

Israeli occupation forces stand on the so-called “buffer zone” inside the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on December 10, 2024. (Photo by Reuters)

The Israeli regime reportedly informed Syria’s new administration that the occupation troops will remain stationed at a so-called “buffer zone” inside the occupied Syrian Golan Heights "for now."

Israeli officials conveyed the message to Syria’s new leadership that their forces will not pull out from the usurped regions, according to the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

“We will not accept any attempt by the militants to reach southern Syria. Once it appears that a responsible party is in office in Syria, we will consider transferring the buffer zone to it. But as long as there is not such a thing, we will continue to worry about our own security,” read the message.

This comes while the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant group and Syria’s de facto ruler, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, asserted about a week ago that his group “will not engage” in a conflict with Tel Aviv.

Israeli military forces captured the buffer zone in the Golan Heights hours after armed groups took control of the Syrian capital of Damascus on December 8, which was led to the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The Israeli army occupied the Syrian Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel refused to withdraw its forces or return the territory amid demands by the UN Security Council Resolution 242.

he Tel Aviv regime set up about 30 illegal settlements in the occupied Golan over the past decades, accommodating more than 25,000 settlers.

The buffer zone in the Israeli-occupied Golan region was created by the United Nations after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.  A UN force of about 1,100 troops – the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) - had patrolled the area since then.

Earlier, Julani said Syria’s new administration would abide by the terms of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement with Israel even after the fall of Assad’s government, calling on the international community to ensure that Israel would uphold it.

Israeli troops have now occupied the summit of Jabal al-Shaykh which provides an observation point for areas in Syria and Lebanon. It rises to 9,232 feet (2,814 meters) and is the highest point on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

They have advanced beyond the so-called buffer zone toward Damascus, while the regime’s warplanes have conducted hundreds of aerial assaults on Syria.

Since the downfall of Assad, Israel has wiped out Syrian naval vessels, sea-to-sea missiles, helicopters and planes, including the entire fleet of MiG-29 fighter jets, and stockpiles of ammunition in attacks on at least five air bases.

New generative AI models

Amazon introduced Amazon Nova on Tuesday, a new generation of foundation model that is expected to lower the cost and improve the speed of tasks involving generative AI.

Amazon claimed that the new Amazon Nova model will enable users to “analyze complex documents and videos, understand charts and diagrams, generate engaging video content, and build sophisticated AI agents.”

According to the e-commerce giant, users will now be able to input texts, images, or videos for textual output, meaning the new technology can analyze more than words.

The three understanding models

The technology is based on three understanding models, although Amazon insisted that a fourth is expected soon. 

The first of the three is Amazon Nova Micro, which Amazon claimed allows for a low-cost and low-latency textual output. The model processes inputs up to 300,000 tokens in length and can analyze multiple images or up to 30 minutes of video in a single request, Amazon claimed, noting that it was also capable of using techniques like model distillation. 

Artificial intelligence (credit: INGIMAGE)

The second, Amazon Nova Pro, is capable of processing up to 300K input tokens. Amazon claims it efficiently utilizes multimodal intelligence and agentic workflows that require calling APIs and tools to complete complex workflows. This model understands visual questions, and its capabilities include visual question answering and video understanding.

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Amazon Nova Premier, the third model, is described by Amazon as the “most capable for complex reasoning tasks” and “teacher for distilling custom models.” Little is known about the model, but the company announced its expected release in early 2025.

All three models were said to have advanced skills in Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), function calling, and agentic applications. 

Amazon stressed the technology’s customization capabilities as a key selling point, noting that a user could “start with a high-quality foundation and adjust it to fit your exact needs. You can fine-tune the models with text, image, and video to understand your industry’s terminology, align with your brand voice, and optimize for your specific use cases.”

Adding to Nova's creative capabilities, the company explained that with Amazon Nova Canvas, users could generate “studio-quality” images with precision control over style and content. With Amazon Nova Reel, a second model, users would be able to generate short videos through text prompts and images.

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326 days into genocidal war: Israeli strikes claim dozens of civilian lives in Gaza

 

A man transports a wounded child to the Nasser hospital following Israeli bombardment on Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on August 27, 2024

Israel’s incessant strikes on the Gaza Strip claim dozens of civilian lives, including women and children, as 326 days have passed since the regime waged the genocidal war on the besieged territory in October.

In the Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip, an Israel’s attack on a home killed three people, including a child, and injured several others on Monday night.

In Gaza City, an Israeli bombing that targeted a home on Yermouk Street left several casualties. According to the civil defense crews, three bodies and several wounded people were recovered from the site.

More casualties were also reported when an Israeli air raid targeted a residential building in Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City.

Earlier on Monday, Wafa News Agency cited medical sources as saying that the bodies of 14 people, who were killed in Israel’s strikes on Khan Yunis and Rafah in southern Gaza, were transported to the Nasser Medical Complex.

The news agency also cited local sources as saying that four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a vehicle, west of Khan Yunis, shortly after four bodies and several people who were wounded in an Israeli attack on al-Nasser Street in the area of Mawasi, west of Rafah, were brought to the Kuwait Field Hospital.

According to the report, journalist sources confirmed that Ali Taima, a journalist, was killed in an Israeli attack on a civilian vehicle in Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis.

Two civilians were also killed in an Israeli attack on the coastal area of al-Qarara, northwest of Khan Yunis, medical sources said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli fighter jets bombed the vicinity of the Nasser Hospital and an area close to Abu Hamid square in Khan Yunis, causing at least two injuries.

In northern Gaza, paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society said they transported three bodies as well as a number of wounded people to the Kamal Adwan hospital after an Israeli missile attack hit a food stall in the Jabalia refugee camp.

Five civilians were also killed and several others were injured in an Israeli strike on Gaza City's beach on Monday afternoon.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed 40,476 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured  93,647 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

Namibia denies stopover to ship carrying military cargo for Israel amid war on Gaza

 

File photo of Namibia's Walvis Bay port

Namibia has refused to allow an explosive-laden ship destined for the occupied Palestinian territories to dock at its ports after suspecting that the vessel’s consignments were to be used in the Israeli regime’s ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Portuguese-flagged MV Kathrin had requested permission to dock at the country’s Walvis Bay port on Monday. Namibian authorities, however, intervened and prevented the vessel from entering the country’s waters.

Commenting on the matter, Justice Minister Yvonne Dausab said, "Upon receiving reports that a vessel may be carrying weapons intended” for the occupied territories, she had reminded the relevant authorities “of our international obligations," including under the Genocide Convention.

She said a subsequent police investigation had revealed that the ship was "indeed carrying explosive material” destined for the territories.

"Namibia complies with our obligation not to support or be complicit in Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, as well as its unlawful occupation of Palestine," the minister noted.

At least 40,534 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed since October last year, when the Israeli regime launched the war on Gaza in response to a retaliatory operation staged by the territory’s resistance groups. The brutal military onslaught has also wounded another 93,778 people.

Namibia’s neighbor, South Africa, filed a genocide case against the regime at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), otherwise known as the World Court, in December. The lawsuit prompted the tribunal to issue an initial ruling ordering Tel Aviv to refrain from acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention.

Windhoek expressed its support for the lawsuit during a United Nations General Assembly session in January.

Also in January, it criticized Germany for its support for the regime in the ongoing ICJ case after Berlin became the first country to legally intervene on Tel Aviv's behalf at the Hague-based court and defend the war.

Chad gives German ambassador 48 hours to leave country

Jan Christian Gordon Kricke, German Ambassador to Chad

 

Germany's ambassador to Chad will be expelled within 48 hours for his "impolite attitude" and "non-respect of diplomatic practices", the government in N'Djamena said in a statement Friday.

The ambassador, Jan Christian Gordon Kricke, has been in the role since July 2021, and the government gave no official explanation for his expulsion.
Government spokesman Aziz Mahamat Saleh urged him to "leave Chadian territory within 48 hours."

"We have not been officially contacted," a source at the German Embassy told AFP on condition of anonymity, who said he had heard the news via social media.

Kricke has previously served as a diplomat in Niger, Angola and the Philippines. He was also a special representative for Germany in the unstable Sahel.

A government source told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that Kricke was seen as "interfering too much" in the governance of the country and making divisive remarks.

He had been warned on several occasions, the source added.

General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno took power after his father, President Idriss Deby Itno, who ruled the country for 30 years, died during an operation against rebels in April 2021.

The military junta initially promised to hand power to civilians, however, in October, Deby's rule was extended for two years.

The German embassy joined others, such as France, Spain, and The Netherlands, in expressing its concern over the delayed return to democracy.

US to pull out troops from Chad in second African state withdrawal

 The United States says it plans to withdraw part of its troops from Chad days after announcing the pullout of forces from neighboring Niger.

The United States will withdraw some troops from Chad, the Pentagon has said, days after Washington agreed to move forces out of neighboring Niger.

The withdrawal of about 75 US special forces is reportedly scheduled to begin this weekend and will be completed within days.

The US keeps approximately 100 troops in Chad, under the pretext of fighting extremism.

"USAFRICOM is currently planning to reposition some US military forces from Chad, a portion of which were already scheduled to depart," Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder told a news conference on Thursday, referring to the US Africa Command.

"This is a temporary step as part of an ongoing review of our security cooperation, which will resume after Chad's May 6 presidential election."

However, Sahel area countries have started to question the legality of the US military presence.

In March, Niger’s government also said it was ending a military cooperation agreement with Washington, saying US military presence was illegally imposed on Niger.

The country has also launched discussions with the US on ending its military presence in the African country.

This month Chad's air force chief had ordered the US military to halt activities at an air base near the capital N'Djamena, according to a letter sent to the transitional government.

He said he had asked the US military to provide documents "justifying its presence at the Adji Kossei Air Base" but had not received any.

General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno took power after his father, President Idriss Deby Itno, who ruled the country for 30 years, died during an operation against rebels in April 2021.

The military junta initially promised to hand power to civilians, however, in October, Deby's rule was extended for two years.

French troops begin departure from Chad

 

France began withdrawing soldiers on Friday from Chad, the Chadian Defense Ministry said.

A contingent of 120 French soldiers has left Chad following the country’s decision to end its defense cooperation pact with Paris.

French troops were seen boarding their plane on Friday and departing from N'Djamena airport.

The withdrawal process formally began earlier this month with the departure of two French Mirage warplanes.

France still has about 1000 troops stationed in Chad, with the full drawdown expected to take several weeks.

The terms and conditions of the complete withdrawal, including whether any French troops will remain in Chad, are yet to be finalized between the two countries.

Chad announced on November 28 its decision to end a defense accord with Paris mainly dating from independence in 1960.

"At midday, 120 French soldiers took off from the military airport of N'Djamena on board an Airbus A330 Phoenix MRTT, headed for France," the ministry said in a statement on Facebook.

The departure of French soldiers took place in the presence of Chadian military authorities, the statement said.

The move comes after France had already pulled its forces out of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger in recent years.

This departure signals the end of decades of French military presence in the Sahel region as the anti-French sentiment continues to grow.

Briton, Americans among 37 sentenced to death in Congo over coup attempt

 

Benjamin Zalman-Polun (L), Marcel Malanga (C), and Tyler Thompson Jr. are seen in this picture awaiting verdicts at their court trial in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on September 13, 2024. (Photo by Reuters)

A Briton and three Americans have been sentenced to death for their participation in an attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A military court in the DRC handed down “the harshest penalty, that of death” sentences to 37 people after convicting them on charges of taking part in an abortive coup attempt in May.

The three American citizens, along with about fifty others, are suspected of involvement in the failed coup that left six people dead.

The sentences were delivered by the presiding judge Maj. Freddy Ehuma at an open-air military court trial which opened in June and was broadcast on live TV.

Three Americans, one Briton, one Belgian and a Canadian are among the defendants who were sentenced to death. The mostly Congolese defendants have five days to appeal the death penalty which Congo had reinstated earlier this year.

“We will challenge this decision on appeal,” the six foreigners’ lawyer has confirmed. 

Fourteen of the defendants were acquitted during the trial over the attempt to overthrow the president that included terrorism, murder and criminal association.

The son of a little-known US-based Congolese businessman, military officer and political opposition figure, Christian Malanga, the coup leader, is one of the three Americans sentenced to death.

On May 19, Malanga and his armed men targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi. Parliamentary speaker Vital Kamerhe’s home in Kinshasa was also attacked.

After briefly occupying an office of the presidency, Malanga was killed by security forces. He reportedly live-streamed the attack on his social media account.

His American son Marcel, 21, had told the court that his father, from whom he had been estranged, threatened to kill him unless he participated in the coup.

The other two Americans, Benjamin Zalman-Polun and Tyler Thompson Jr. are a business associate of Christian Malanga and a high school football teammate of Marcel Malanga, respectively.

Zalman-Polun reportedly knew Christian Malanga through a gold mining company set up in Mozambique in 2022.

Thompson’s family has said they had no knowledge of the elder Malanga’s intentions, or his plans for political activism or even to enter the DRC. They claimed they believed Thompson was traveling to South Africa.

The US government said it was aware of the death verdict and was following the developments closely.

There is no official information about the Briton defendant, who was reported to be a naturalized Congolese citizen.

The death penalty was reinstated in the DRC in March, lifting a 21-year-old moratorium, as authorities struggle to curb violence and militant attacks in the country.

Elite of The Elite

 

For hundreds of years, medical students became hospital interns, passed tests, received approval from senior physicians, graduated – with some studying specialties as residents at home and going on to fellowships abroad – and were thrown into the clinical “pond” and told to swim on their own.

Today, with medicine becoming so complicated and the need for many physicians to conduct in-depth research on diseases, this is not enough. They need a great deal of guidance from the best teachers – even for a decade after they get their MDs and are allowed to treat patients.

All major medical centers in this country and abroad have begun to establish programs to provide guidance to their interns and even residents to improve the quality of treatment and research and to compete with other hospitals, given the shortage of doctors here and elsewhere.

Management knows that to succeed, they must invest large sums and a commitment from leading physicians to provide intensive guidance over long periods.

A year and nine months ago, management at the Hadassah Medical Organization noted that Prof. Arie Ben-Yehuda, director of the Internal Medicine C department, had reached retirement age.

They begged him to continue in another position – at the newly established Hadassah Elite Residency and Training Center for the 107 residents accepted for learning a specialty at the hospital each year and those who have already been studying in the previous three years. He agreed, and the chairmanship fit him perfectly.

“We have taken upon ourselves the mission of making learning innovative and experiential and turning Hadassah’s residency programs into the best in Israel,” said Ben-Yehuda. “The center accompanies young doctors from their internship entry until they become leading specialists at Hadassah, working closely with department heads and fostering a spirit of innovation and action.

“A leading medical center is always a reflection of the quality of its human resources, and therefore we see residents as a valuable asset and believe that investing in them today will bear fruit in the future, both for the Hadassah Medical Organization and for the entire Israeli healthcare system.”

He now works with Dr. Shiri Tenenbaum, Elite’s director and an oncologist who joined Hadassah only three years ago.

“We provide comprehensive support, including a generous research grant, professional mentorship, and personalized guidance for each resident,” explained Tenenbaum, who is deputy director of Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem and head of the residency and learning directorate at the hospital.