Six In The Morning Sunday 27 June 2021

 

New video of Ethiopia massacre shows soldiers passing phone around to document their executions of unarmed men

By Gianluca Mezzofiore, Katie Polglase, Nima Elbagir and Barbara Arvanitidis, CNN

Updated 1255 GMT (2055 HKT) June 27, 2021

A few scattered human bones lay on the rocky ground, along with a broken skull and several half-burned identification cards.

That is all the villagers could find, six months after Ethiopian troops rounded up their loved ones and shot them at point-blank range, throwing the bodies off a rocky hillside deep in the mountains of central Tigray in Ethiopia.

An April 2021 CNN investigation, in collaboration with Amnesty International, examined video clips of the January massacre and used geolocation techniques to verify the video was filmed on a ridge near Mahibere Dego in January 2021. The investigation revealed at the time that at least 11 unarmed men were executed, and 39 others were unaccounted for.

South Africa expected to tighten Covid rules as third wave gathers pace

Economic heartland hit by rise in infections driven by Delta variant and faltering vaccination campaign

Jason Burke in Johannesburg

Sun 27 Jun 2021 15.24 BST

Authorities in South Africa appeared set to impose new restrictions on Sunday in a belated attempt to stem a rise in Covid-19 that is ravaging the country’s economic heartland.

The wave of infections has been driven by the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant, weak countermeasures and public fatigue with existing restrictions.

South Africa’s rising cases are part of a resurgence across Africa with a peak expected to exceed that of earlier waves as the continent’s 54 countries struggle to vaccinate even a small percentage of their populations.

Migrant death in Italy spurs farm work ban in hottest hours

A governor of a southern Italian region has banned farm work under the afternoon sun on particularly hot days following the death of a migrant who felt ill while toiling in the fields

Via AP news wire

Outdoor farm work under the afternoon sun on particularly hot days has been banned in a southern Italian region following the death of a migrant who felt ill while toiling in a field and collapsed.

Gov. Michele Emiliano, who leads the Puglia region in the ’’heel” of the Italian peninsula, signed an ordinance on Saturday that forbids farm work from 12:30 pm. to 4 p.m. through August on days that are particularly torrid.

A 27-year-old migrant from Mali felt ill last week as he worked as a day laborer in a farm field, left work and collapsed and died as he was pedaling his bike on the 15-kilometer (nearly 10-mile) route to his residence.

The mRNA RevolutionHopes Are High for the Technology that Is Leading Us Out of the Pandemic

The vaccine success stories at BioNTech and Moderna may only be the beginning. Doctors and researchers want to use the revolutionary mRNA technology to fight the world's worst scourges: from cancer to dementia.

By Jörg Blech und Claus Hecking

Once the sternum is split and the heart has ceased beating, the doctors deploy the medical treatment of the future. They interrupt the bypass operation and then, using extremely fine needles, deliver 30 injections to the patient’s heart muscle, each containing 200 microliters of medicine.

They have about 10 minutes to carry out the injections before then completing the more standard open-heart procedure, and the heart resumes beating. The bypass ensures that more blood flows through the heart than before, but the heart disease itself cannot be cured using this conventional method.

Iran says it will never hand over images of nuclear sites to UN nuclear watchdog

The speaker of Iran's parliament said on Sunday Tehran will never hand over images from inside of some Iranian nuclear sites to the U.N. nuclear watchdog as a monitoring agreement with the agency had expired, Iranian state media reported.

"The agreement has expired ... any of the information recorded will never be given to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the data and images will remain in the possession of Iran," said Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.

The announcement could further complicate talks between Iran and six major powers on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal. Three years ago then U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact and reimposed crippling sanctions on Tehran; Iran reacted by violating many of the deal's restrictions on its nuclear programme.

US heatwave: Pacific Northwest sees record temperatures

Parts of the US Pacific Northwest have been hit by a sweltering heatwave, with temperatures in Portland, Oregon, at a record 108F (42C) on Saturday.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued excessive heat warnings and watches across nearly all of Washington and Oregon state. Parts of California and Idaho are also affected.

Multnomah county, in Oregon, has warned of "life-threatening" heat.

Many cities have opened cooling centres for people to take shelter.