At Least 8 Killed In Shooting At FedEx Warehouse In Indianapolis

 At least eight people were killed in a shooting at a FedEx facility near Indianapolis late Thursday night, authorities confirmed early Friday morning.

Multiple other people were injured and either drove themselves to hospitals or were taken in ambulances, said Genea Cook, a public information officer for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. At least one person who was taken to the hospital in an ambulance was in critical condition with a gunshot wound.

In an earlier update, Cook said that authorities responded to reports of a shooting around 11 p.m. Thursday. When officers arrived on the scene, they came into contact with an active shooter.

The gunman took his own life. Cook said it was too early to know whether the gunman was an employee at the facility.

No police officers were injured in the altercation.

Video footage showed a heavy police presence at the scene, and a major highway was temporarily closed near the building in both directions due to the response.

Jeremiah Miller, who had just finished a shift and was preparing to start a second consecutive shift, said he heard about 10 gunshots, according to WISH-TV.

“I saw a man with a submachine gun of some sort, an automatic rifle, and he was firing in the open. I immediately ducked down and got scared and my friend’s mother, she came in and told us to get inside the car,” he said.

Family members of the facility’s workers have been asked to gather at a nearby Holiday Inn to await details. Some said employees were not allowed to use their phones at work which was making contacting them difficult, AP reported.

FedEx issued a statement early Friday and described the attack as “tragic.”

“We are aware of the tragic shooting at our FedEx Ground facility near the Indianapolis airport,” FedEx said in a statement. “Safety is our top priority, and our thoughts are with all those who are affected. We are working to gather more information and are cooperating with investigating authorities.”

Rep. André Carlson (D-Ind.) said in a tweet that he was “heartbroken” by the attack:

Last week, Carson publicly supported President Joe Biden’s executive orders directing the Justice Department to limit the proliferation of guns.

“I welcome his executive actions on gun safety. Congress must also continue our efforts to pass common sense reforms that save lives,” Carson tweeted.

Police plan to hold another news conference about the FedEx shooting on Friday morning.

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Iran starts enriching uranium to 60%, its highest level ever

 TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran began enriching uranium up to 60% purity Friday, its highest level ever, after an attack targeted its Natanz nuclear site, the country’s parliament speaker said.

The comment by Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, quoted by state television, did not elaborate on the amount Iran planned to enrich. However, it is likely to raise tensions even as Iran negotiates with world powers in Vienna over a way to allow the U.S. back into the agreement and lift the crushing economic sanctions it faces.

The announcement also marks a significant escalation after the sabotage that damaged centrifuges, an attack this past weekend suspected of having been carried out by Israel. While Israel has yet to claim it, the country is widely suspected of having carried out the still-unexplained sabotage at Natanz, Iran’s main enrichment site.

“The will of the Iranian nation is a miracle-maker and it will defuse any conspiracy,” state television quoted Qalibaf as saying. He said the enrichment began just after midnight Friday.

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the country’s civilian nuclear arm, later acknowledged the move to 60%, according to state TV. Ali Akbar Salehi said more details would be forthcoming and declined to further elaborate.

It wasn’t clear why the first announcement came from Qalibaf, a hard-line former leader in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard already named as a potential presidential candidate in Iran’s upcoming June election.

While 60% is higher than any level Iran previously enriched uranium, it is still lower than weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Iran had been enriching up to 20% — even that was a short technical step to weapons grade. The deal limited Iran’s enrichment to 3.67%.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors Iran’s nuclear program, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier this week, it sent its inspectors to Natanz and confirmed Iran was preparing to begin 60% enrichment at an above-ground facility at the site.

The heightened enrichment could inspire a further response from Israel amid a long-running shadow war between the nation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed never to allow Tehran to obtain a nuclear weapon and his country has twice preemptively bombed Mideast nations to stop their atomic programs.

The weekend attack at Natanz was initially described only as a blackout in the electrical grid feeding above-ground workshops and underground enrichment halls — but later Iranian officials began calling it an attack.

Alireza Zakani, the hard-line head of the Iranian parliament’s research center, referred to “several thousand centrifuges damaged and destroyed” in a state TV interview. However, no other official has offered that figure and no images of the aftermath have been released. Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc. obtained by The Associated Press show no apparent above-ground damage at the facility.

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Lula clear to take on Bolsonaro as Brazil court upholds ruling

The next presidential election is set for October 2022 and the devastating toll of the pandemic is likely to be a key issue.

Brazil’s Supreme Court has upheld a ruling annulling the corruption convictions of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, clearing the way for him to run for a new presidential term next year against incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.

The majority decision, which was widely expected, came on Thursday after Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin determined in early March that the lower federal court where Lula was tried lacked jurisdiction; a ruling that was quickly appealed by Brazil’s top prosecutor.

The ruling does not find Lula innocent but in effect places prosecutors back at square one by sending the cases to a different court.

The quashing of Lula’s convictions – albeit on procedural grounds – has upended Brazilian politics as far-right President Jair Bolsonaro gears up to seek re-election as the COVID-19 pandemic ravages Latin America’s biggest country.

Bolsonaro has described a virus that has killed more than 365,000 Brazilians, the world’s second-highest death toll, as a “little flu”. After Fachin’s ruling, Lula described Bolsonaro’s approach to the pandemic as “imbecilic” and likened the situation to a genocide.

A popular but tarnished left-wing politician and former steelworker, the now 75-year-old Lula led Brazil through an economic boom from 2003 to 2010.

His lawyers called the judges’ decision “historic.”

“This is another Supreme Court ruling that reestablishes the credibility of the justice system in our country,” they said in a statement.

Bolsonaro warnings

Bolsonaro, a former army captain who is 66, said the ruling means “Lula is now a candidate” for 2022 – and ominously warned of the consequences.

“Look what Brazil’s future is going to be like with the kind of people he’d bring into the presidency,” the current president said in his weekly live address on Facebook.

“You can all draw your own conclusions.”

Lula was convicted of taking bribes from engineering firms in return for public contracts in 2018 and spent a year and a half behind bars until the Supreme Court ruled he and others could appeal their cases without serving time in prison.

Lula and his supporters blasted the anti-corruption task force that brought him down, called Operation Car Wash, which exposed enormous corruption involving state oil giant Petrobas, as a politically driven effort. Leaked conversations in 2019 raised questions about whether investigators had cut corners to secure prosecutions.

The task force was disbanded in February. Lula has always maintained he is innocent and that the cases against him were a conspiracy to sideline him politically.

The election is scheduled for October 2022.  Early polls suggest it will be a tight race.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

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US-China tech decoupling: IMF warns of global GDP crunch

 Technological fragmentation could lead to losses of about 5 percent of global GDP, IMF research shows.

A technological decoupling between the U.S. and China and potentially Europe would cut global gross domestic product by an order of magnitude greater than the recent trade war, a senior International Monetary Fund official warned.

“The world is such an integrated place,” Helge Berger, head of the fund’s China mission, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television Friday. “If you stop exchanging knowledge across countries or borders you will ultimately pay a price, and this could be fairly high.”

IMF research estimates that technological fragmentation could lead to losses of around 5% of GDP for many countries, or about 10-times the estimated costs of trade tariffs imposed by the U.S. and China.

The warning comes after the Biden administration earlier this month added seven Chinese supercomputing firms to the list of entities that U.S. businesses can’t sell to without special permission. It was an expansion of the crackdown that began under President Donald Trump with curbs on exports to companies like Huawei Technologies Co.

The Biden team is still reviewing the China policies it inherited from Trump — including tariffs on more than $300 billion in annual imports, and a partial trade deal — but has indicated that its strategy will be broadly similar.

“The tensions around the U.S.-China relationship are one of the risk factors that we look at,” Berger said. “This is a constant concern.”

Tariffs between the two countries subtracted from growth last year and will do so again this year, he said, estimating the global impact at about 0.4% of GDP.

“But things could become more difficult if we allow technological decoupling to take place between the U.S. and China, between other countries like Europe,” he said. “So it is important that these two large, very important economies that are such a large part of where the global economy goes find a way to work together.”

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG

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Pfizer CEO: Third vaccine dose ‘likely’ needed within 12 months

 Researchers currently do not know how long vaccines provide protection against the coronavirus.

The head of Pfizer has said that people will “likely” need a third dose of his company’s COVID-19 shot within six to 12 months of vaccination, while defending the relatively higher cost of the jab.

CEO Albert Bourla also said annual vaccinations against the coronavirus may well be required.

“We need to see what would be the sequence, and for how often we need to do that, that remains to be seen,” Bourla told broadcaster CNBC in an interview aired on Thursday.

“A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed,” he said, adding that variants will play a “key role”.

“It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus.”

Researchers currently do not know how long vaccines provide protection against the coronavirus.

Earlier this month, Pfizer published a study that said its jab is more than 91-percent effective at protecting against the coronavirus and more than 95-percent effective against severe cases of COVID-19 up to six months after the second dose.

But researchers say more data is needed to determine whether protection lasts after six months.

Rising prices

Bourla also defended the price of his company’s vaccine, saying they are saving lives and will not be sold to poor countries for a profit.

“Vaccines are very expensive,” Bourla said in an interview with several European news outlets.

“They save human lives, they allow economies to reopen but we sell them at the price of a meal,” he was quoted as saying.

According to data released several months ago by a member of the Belgian government, the Pfizer coronavirus jab has been the most expensive one for the European Union, along with the Moderna vaccine.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov explained earlier this week that the vaccine’s price was rising as sales were being negotiated, costing as much as 19.50 euros ($23), up from 12 euros ($14).

The prices are in sharp contrast to the vaccine produced by British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca, which pledged not to make a profit on its product during the pandemic and sold it to the EU for less than two euros ($2.39) a unit.

Bourla did not confirm the price of the Pfizer vaccine but admitted that it was sold at a higher price to developed countries like the US or those in the EU.

“In middle-income countries, we sell it for half the price,” he said. “In poorer countries, including in Africa, we sell it at cost.”

SOURCE: AFP

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EU warns Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire over possible ban of cocoa into EU markets

 The European Union (EU) has threatened Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire with a law that could ban Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire from exporting cocoa beans into the EU market.

This is due to the activities of illegal small-scale mining in cocoa-growing areas in the two West African countries, which produced over 60 percent of the world’s cocoa beans.

A Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) in charge of Agronomy and Quality Control, Dr Emmanuel Agyemang Dwomoh, made this known on the second day of the National Consultative Dialogue on Small-Scale Mining in Accra, on Thursday.

He noted that the activities of illegal small-scale mining were destroying the country’s forest cover and soil, therefore making it practically impossible to cultivate cocoa trees in certain parts of the country.

He said current satellite images showed red areas, which previously used to be forest areas.

Therefore, he said, the EU raised serious concerns about the growing depletion of the forest cover and could affect cocoa cultivation in the two countries.

Dr Agyemang-Dwomoh said currently, Ghana exported about 80 percent of her cocoa beans to the EU market and a ban on the commodity would not augur well for the country’s cocoa industry.

Dr Agyemang-Dwomoh said illegal mining was gradually eroding the gains made by COCOBOD’s extension programme due to the ravaging effects of illegal mining.

He said the activities of illegal mining into the country’s forest areas were of serious concern and called on participants at the Consultative Dialogue, to help address the phenomenon.

GNA

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Rotten wood is not suitable for pillars, a vile person does not fit into superiors.

This fugitive is disturbing. 

Listen, you will reply for each word and each unfair action you said and did against me. 

Keep being vile. That day is coming. I'm just telling you the nagged truth. 

Try to open your mouth to defame and give false testimony again in order to steal my achievements. 

She is the most vile human being on this planet with bad character. 

Mercy Mupavayenda didn't apologize and didn't reply for the committed crimes. 

She keeps monetizing on my programs as nothing had happened. 

I am shocked with her reckless and disrespectful behavior. We suppose that last week she once again went to ask for money or high position in the organization in order to take financial advantage for long-term. 

I don't want these individuals to keep interfering in my life. 

I know that there's a law that can forbid someone to reach you. I think that it's right time to use that law and stop with this party. 

Pig and dirty. Is getting fat by my account. Donkey. She is just an idiot in order do achieve something must steal, lie, deceive and manipulate. And this people frequent Universities? A person without moral and ethics. She is just a thief, rat🐀 I have been asking her kindly to stop putting in my affairs since too long. Unfortunately she has very big ego, just started abusing. I didn't ask her for favors and help. She is messing up with my progress, keeps coming each time. 

The person who originated all this mess is this old wizard Francis Mdlongwa. This veteran should retire. He must be isolated from the society, comes only to steal and destroy. Uses to open his dirty mouth to give false testimony and steal money. Mdlongwa you are vile and undesi person without moral, people like you must not be among good people. You must be jailed. Try to use your influence to cause harm and open your dirty mouth to steal my achievements again. You regret for the rest of your life. 

I can't peacefully continue my work just because of the two of you. Criminals. 

You are thief and you don't pay debts. I don't want any kind of partnership with you. Return everything that you stole and move. You are bringing only disaster for my life. You have been repeating such things since too long, for years. 

Stop putting your fingers in my life. You don't know who you are dealing with. I'm not kidding. Rat

Dishonest person. All the fake proposals you present is only to steal money. Gangster. You never do it to me again, your days are counted. You are going to jail. 

Francis Mdlongwa you are advised. If you once again will open your dirty mouth to defame and cause me harm you will regret for the rest of your life. 

Dear all, I need help! 

My name is Sofonie Dala, I am the header and the exclusive owner of this blog.

Please note that the contents (including any attachments, videos, translations) are my hard work and I do not have any sponsors and partners that contributes or gives me money to keep my work going.

Any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of my contents is strictly prohibited, and you should please notify the author immediately and then report it to the police.

The thief that made my blood boil! 

When I discovered that this woman since last year have been stealing all my contents and hard work, particularly 

1. Africa Educates Her Campaign seasons 1,2, 3 and 

2. Corona Voice Angola.

She have been claiming it as her own business, the message that I received from her just  made my blood boil. I just knew I had to take action. 

She never lived with me, never supported me morally, nor financially nor professionally. 

 But what does she want? Money from illicities activities. She has been working with my money even so has the courage to cause me harm.

From Friday to Sunday was designing a crime and on Monday she committed a crime. After that went to create a new partnerships with her colleague Mr. Mdlongwa and other many people with the stolen money that she recently received, just to cause drama and trouble.

I'm done with her meddling interferences in my life.

Can someone tell her that the money she uses to do her duties is mine? 

Covers herself behind Mr. Udom another corrupt from Togo who thinks that money can solve everything, does things without thinking on the consequences and keeps all these dishonest people near to him. Works closely with Mdlongwa and  a very hertless thief who designs a snister plot to cause fatalities.

Keeps telling beautiful lies to people's ears, presenting attractive projects involving scholarships organized by a group of  pastors with the main objective of taking financial advantages and steal money, giving fake and very high prices. 

Puts pressure and emotionally blackmails people to in order to earn pity.

She dreams to receive a large amount of money that does not belong to her. Thieves. Keeps coming again and again. 

She tries to reach the laurels of victory in an illegal, dishonest and dirty way, stepping on somebody else. Lies and manipulates people to take financial advantage.

She is not the only one, there is a network of malicious and criminal people who do this, some are in South Africa with few collaborators in Togo. Group of vipers and snakes.

Specially her colleague Mr. Mdlongwa highly dangerous criminal, a hacker that have been stealing and keeping a lot of money, does not pay debts and sends fraudulent scams containing very dangerous virus. Fed up with this scamer and his staff , DEMON. I DON'T KNOW WHAT I CAN DO FOR THESE PEOPLE TO LEAVE ME ALONE.

They are so deceiptiful people, manipulators and speak a lot of rubbish.

Is there anyone powerful to eliminate these people from my path? They are delaying my progress.

THIS WOMAN HAS BEEN STEALING MY CONTENT AND MY HARD WORK, MAKES MONEY BEHIND MY BACK (EATS AND DRINKS BY MY ACCOUNT), AFTER LIES TO PEOPLE THAT SHE IS THE ORGANIZER. SHE IS IN SOUTH AFRICA IF YOU SEE HER PLEASE CALL THE POLICE 🚨 ⚠️⛔

To those people that have been doing such nasty work:

I hereby ask you on this day, February 16, 2021, to cease and desist use of any and all text, videos, graphics, and phrases that were taken from my website. 

 If you do not make such a response, don't stop stealing my property and claiming it as yours, I will be forced to take legal action against you.”