A rare and looted crown from the 18th century was returned to Ethiopia on Thursday after it was discovered in the Netherlands two decades ago.The Dutch government facilitated the handover “with the belief that it has a duty to restitute this important artifact back to Ethiopia,” the office of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said, sharing photos of a smiling Abiy holding the ceremonial crown.“This is a historic day for us,” Hirut Kassaw, Ethiopia’s minister for culture and tourism, told The Associated Press.The religious crown went missing in 1993 and was discovered in Rotterdam in October. “I still don’t know how this crown and the other items were looted and taken out of Ethiopia,” the culture minister said, adding that several other items were stolen including a cross.Ethiopia, like many African nations, has been outspoken about seeing artifacts returned home from museums and private owners around the world. Last year the National Army Museum in Britain said it would return two locks of hair from the widely revered Ethiopian Emperor Tewodros.The Dutch government in a statement Thursday said the crown was the property of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It said the crown went missing from the Holy Trinity Church in the village of Cheleqot.For years the crown was in the hands of Sirak Asfaw, a Dutch national of Ethiopian origin, the statement said. He reached out to the foreign ministry last year “through the mediation of art detective Arthur Brand, to discuss how to return this important cultural artifact.”“He told us someone gave him to look after it. But after realizing it was of Ethiopian origin, he refused to return it back to the owner and kept it for 21 years,” the culture minister said.The crown is on display at Ethiopia’s national museum in the capital, Addis Ababa, for a few days and then will be returned to its original place in the church in Cheleqot, the minister said.The Dutch minister for foreign trade, Sigrid Kaag, attended the handover ceremony.“We’re honored and delighted to have been able to facilitate the rightful return,” Kaag said.
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У січні Україна 2020 року експортувала продукції аграрнопромислового комплексу на два мільярди доларів, повідомило Міністерство розвитку економіки, торгівлі та сільського господарства. Це на 14% більше порівняно із січнем 2019 року. Із загального експорту України частка аграрної продукції складає 48%.

«Україна забезпечує позитивну динаміку до збільшення експорту продукції АПК, зокрема, за рахунок підвищення урожайності, збільшенню виробництва сільськогосподарської продукції, попиту на українську продукції серед закордонних споживачів та відкриття нових ринків збуту. Основна частка аграрного експорту займають зернові культури (48%) та олійні (23%). Проте ми поступово збільшуємо обсяги постачання готової, нішевої та органічної продукції», – заступник міністра Тарас Висоцький.

Серед п’яти країн, які найбільше імпортували українську продукцію в січні, – Китай (10,2%), Єгипет (10,1%), Іспанія та Нідерланди (по 8%) і Туреччина (6,6%).

 
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Iran said Thursday that three more people have been infected with the new virus that originated in central China, following an announcement the day before that two people had died of the illness caused by the virus in the Iranian city of Qom.All schools and universities, including religious Shiite seminaries, were shut down in the holy city of Qom, according to the official IRNA news agency. Other news reports said Iran had recently evacuated 60 Iranian students from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicenter of the epidemic.Qom, located around 140 kilometers (86 miles) south of the capital, Tehran, is a popular religious destination and a center of learning and religious studies for Shiite Muslims from inside Iran, as well as Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan and Azerbaijan. It is also known for its cattle farms.An official in Iran’s health ministry, Kiyanoush Jahanpour said on his twitter account that the number of confirmed cases of the virus in Iran was five, including the two elderly Iranian citizens who died on Wednesday in Qom.IRNA reported that the three new cases are all Iranians residing in Qom, with one of the infected having visited the city of Arak. Mohammad Mahdi Gouya, Iran’s deputy health minister, said they did not appear to have had any contact with Chinese nationals.Iranian authorities were now investigating the origin of the disease, and its possible link with religious pilgrims from Pakistan or other countries.Iran’s health minister, Saeed Namaki said the roughly 60 Iranian students evacuated from Wuhan had been quarantined upon their return to Iran and were discharged after 14 days without any health problems.Iran once relied heavily on China to buy its oil and some Chinese companies have continued doing business with Iran in the face of U.S. sanctions. Unlike other countries — such as Saudi Arabia, which barred its citizens and residents from traveling to China — Iran has not imposed such measures on travel there.The new virus emerged in Wuhan, China in December. Since then, more than 75,000 people have been infected globally, with more than 2,000 deaths being reported, mostly in China.The new virus comes from a large family of coronaviruses, some causing nothing worse than a cold. It causes cold- and flu-like symptoms, including cough and fever, and in more severe cases, shortness of breath. It can worsen to pneumonia, which can be fatal. The World Health Organization recently named the illness it causes COVID-19, referring to both coronavirus and its origin late last year.The virus has had few cases in the Middle East so far. There has have been nine cases of the virus confirmed in the United Arab Emirates, which is a popular tourist destination, and one case in Egypt. Of the nine in the UAE, seven are Chinese nationals, one is a Filipino and another an Indian national.Meanwhile, Egypt’s national air carrier announced Thursday that it would resume flights to China as of Feb. 27 after nearly three weeks of suspension.Egypt Air said in a statement it will operate one flight a week between Cairo and two Chinese cities, Beijing and Guangzhou. Before the suspension, the carrier used to operate a daily flight to Guangzhou and three weekly ones to Beijing and Hangzhou.
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Federal prosecutors said Thursday they are taking charge of the investigating into a shooting in the German city of Hanau that left 11 people dead, including the suspect, amid reports that he may have had a far-right motive.The Federal Prosecutors Office in Karlsruhe, which handles serious crimes, said it planned to hold a news conference later Thursday.German news agency dpa reports that police are examining a video the suspect may have posted online several days earlier in which he details a conspiracy theory about child abuse in the United States. The authenticity of the video couldn’t immediately be verified.Nine people were killed at two hookah bars overnight. Police later said they found the suspected shooter and another person dead at a house not far from the second bar.Forensics officers investigate at the scene after a shooting in central Hanau, Germany, Feb. 20, 2020. Several people were killed in shootings in Hanau on Wednesday evening, authorities said.A spokesman for Hanau prosecutors, Markus Jung, confirmed the death toll but declined to comment on the reported video, or provide details of the suspect or victims.“We don’t believe there were further attackers,” Jung told The Associated Press.Officers sealed off and searched the apartment in Hanau’s Kesselstadt district, near the scene of one of the shootings, after following up witness statements on a getaway car. Police said work to confirm the identities of the two bodies at the home was still underway, and they couldn’t immediately give details on them or the identities of the victims of the earlier shootings.“Thoughts this morning are with the people of Hanau, in whose midst this terrible crime was committed,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said on Twitter.“Deep sympathy for the affected families, who are grieving for their dead,” the spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said. “We hope with those wounded that they will soon recover.”Earlier Thursday, police said that eight people were killed and around five wounded. They said a dark vehicle was seen leaving the location of the first attack and another shooting was reported at a scene about 2½ kilometers (1½ miles) away.Police officers swarmed central Hanau, cordoning off the area of one of the shootings as a helicopter hovered overhead. A car covered in thermal foil also could be seen, with shattered glass next to it. Forensic experts in white overalls collected evidence.Hookah lounges are places where people gather to smoke flavored tobacco from Middle Eastern water pipes.“This was a terrible evening that will certainly occupy us for a long, long time and we will remember with sadness,” Hanau Mayor Claus Kaminsky told the Bild newspaper. Lawmaker Katja Leikert, a member of Merkel’s center-right party who represents Hanau in the German parliament, tweeted that it was “a real horror scenario for us all.”Hanau is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Frankfurt. It has about 100,000 inhabitants and is in Hesse state.
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Michael Bloomberg waited until November to launch his campaign to be the Democratic Party’s nominee in the 2020 presidential election.His opponents in Wednesday night’s debate in the Western state of Nevada did not wait at all to attack his political record as the former mayor of New York City, allegations of sexism and sexual harassment, and his status as a multibillionaire.Before Wednesday, people across the United States were largely aware of Bloomberg’s campaign through television ads, which have saturated airwaves since November at a cost of nearly $400 million of his own money.But the debate put him on stage with the top contenders for the Democratic nomination for the first time, meaning he had to answer questions in real time about his past and why he should be the one to oppose President Donald Trump in November.From left, Democratic presidential candidates, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., participate in a Democratic presidential primary debate, Feb. 19, 2020, in Las Vegas.The pushback began with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.“In order to beat Donald Trump, we’re going to need the largest voter turnout in the history of the United States. Mr. Bloomberg had policies in New York City of stop and frisk, which went after African American and Latino people in an outrageous way. That is not a way you’re going to grow voter turnout,” Sanders said.Bloomberg countered by casting doubt about the electability of Sanders, the front-runner in national polls.“If he goes and is the candidate, we will have Donald Trump for another four years, and we can’t stand that,” Bloomberg said.Democratic presidential candidates, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, left, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., talk during a break at a Democratic presidential primary debate, Feb. 19, 2020, in Las Vegas.Whatever momentum Bloomberg may have felt from the first exchange of the debate was immediately challenged by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who said she will support whoever is the party’s eventual nominee but that the party would “take a huge risk if we just substitute one arrogant billionaire for another.”“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against, a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse faced lesbians. And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump, I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg. Democrats are not going to win if we have a nominee who has a history of hiding his tax returns, of harassing women, and of supporting racist policies like redlining and stop and frisk,” she said.While Bloomberg was the initial focus on the debate, as the night went on he was not as involved as the other candidates who each had taken part in eight debates dating back to June of last year.Warren, Sanders, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden all spoke more than Bloomberg. Tallies of speaking time showed the gap between the leader — Warren — and Bloomberg was about three minutes.From left, Democratic presidential candidates, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., participate in a Democratic presidential primary debate, Feb. 19, 2020, in Las Vegas, hosted by NBC News and MSNBC.Bloomberg and Warren sparred several times, including pointedly about the allegations against Bloomberg and his company of sexism and sexual harassment, and the number of non-disclosure agreements people involved in those accusations have signed, agreeing not to discuss them publicly.“None of them accuse me of doing anything other than maybe they didn’t like a joke I told,” Bloomberg said. “These would be agreements between two parties that wanted to keep it quiet. And that’s up to them. They signed those agreements, and we’ll live with it.”Warren countered that Bloomberg at that moment could announce he was releasing the signatories from those agreements in the name of transparency.Bloomberg declined to do so, saying the agreements were made consensually, “and they have every right to expect that they will stay private.”WATCH: Bloomberg Targeted in Debate DebutSorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyHis campaign said the attacks against Bloomberg meant he was “a winner,” and that he “was the grownup in the room.”“He was just warming up tonight,” campaign manager Kevin Sheekey said in a statement. “We fully expect Mike will continue to build on tonight’s performance when he appears on the stage in South Carolina next Tuesday.”The same six candidates have qualified for that debate ahead of what will be the last contest Bloomberg decided to skip as he focused his first electoral efforts on the 14 states where voters will cast ballots on March 3.
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As the death toll from the novel coronavirus topped 2,000 people Tuesday, all but six of them in mainland China, the World Health Organization said Beijing had taken the right “strategic and tactical approach” to effectively curb the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.
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As international condemnation increases over the China’s crackdown of the Uighur minority in Xinjiang province, a growing number of experts and activists are criticizing Turkey over what they call Ankara’s deliberate silence influenced by China’s economic and political influence.Uighurs and Turks share a common linguistic, cultural and religious heritage with Turkey.“Turkey is the country that must be most outspoken about the persecution of Uighurs, because of the historical and cultural ties between Uighurs and Turks. And that was indeed the case until late 2010s,” according to Mustafa Akyol, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Cato Institute.Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the conflict in Syria during a meeting in Ankara, Feb. 11, 2020.Akyol said Turkey since the rise of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2003 has presented itself as the leader of oppressed Muslims in the world, particularly the Rohingya in Myanmar, Kashmiri Muslims and the Palestinians. However, the country has been “utterly silent” on Uighurs.“I think all this is caused by Turkey’s new ruling ideology, its anti-Western perception of the world, and its affinity with non-Western powers that include both Russia and China,” Akyol said, adding that pro-China lobbying in Turkey has attempted to convince Turkish officials that concerns about Uighurs are “lies of the CIA.”When deadly clashes broke out between the Uighurs and Han Chinese in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi in 2009, Erdogan came out strongly against Chinese officials, saying the incidents were “simply put, a genocide.” However, the Turkish government last October refused to join 23 nations in joint a statement to call on China to end violations against Uighur Muslims.Changing rhetoricUighur activists say Erdogan’s government in recent years has ceased its strong rhetoric on the issue even as China’s measures in Xinjiang since 2017 have invited a global condemnation.  Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks during a meeting in Ankara, Feb. 4, 2020.During a press conference Saturday after meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the 56th Munich Security Conference, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters “we support one China,” while stressing Turkey’s wish for Uighurs to have their “full rights.”“And there are countries which are using this subject against China. We are not joining their propaganda,” Cavusoglu said, adding that the Chinese government has invited Turkey to send a delegation to the region but it was unclear if the visit was going to take place.“We don’t wish any terrorist attack against China because we suffered a lot from terrorist attacks ourselves in this country. But a terrorist can come from any ethnic group, can be a Turk, Uighur Han Chinese, or that terrorist can be Buddhist, Christian. But we are telling in every meeting with our Chinese counterpart that for one person being a terrorist, calling the whole Uighur Turks terrorist is not right,” he told reporters.Seyit Tumturk, the head of East Turkistan National Assembly based in Kayseri, Turkey, told VOA that Turkey’s policy shift toward Uighurs is the result of China’s increasing economic influence over the years. He said China has expanded its economic relations with Turkey through various infrastructure investment projects, such as high speed rails, bridges and nuclear energy plants.“Turkey’s capitulation on the Uighur issue is due to geopolitical and strategic needs of the country which is fueled by political and economic uncertainty following the coup attempt in 2016 and recent development in U.S. and Turkey relations,” Tumturk said.Gradually, these investments “are making Turkey more reliant on Chinese money,” he told VOA.FILE – In this Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, file photo, a guard tower and barbed wire fences are seen around a facility in the Kunshan Industrial Park in Artux in western China’s Xinjiang region.Economic leverageTurkey and China in 2010 signed eight strategic cooperative relationship pacts to increase their annual trade volume to $50 billion by 2015 and $100 billion by 2020. Trade volume between the two countries increased from $1.1 billion in 2001 to $23.6 billion in 2018, according to the Turkish Trade Ministry.China’s growing economic leverage over Turkey means Turkish officials are afraid that any strong position toward Xinjiang will likely cost the Turkish economy even as China escalates its campaign against Uighurs, Tumturk added.1.8 million detaineesChina since 2017 has been accused of holding some 1.8 million Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Turkic groups in detention camps in northeast China’s Xinjiang autonomous region. More recently, rights organizations say some of the camp detainees have been transferred to work in factories for minimal wage and allowed to return their home only once a week.Chinese officials have rejected those accusations, saying the camps are merely “vocational training centers” set up to “reeducate” the Uighur community members. Beijing has tied its policies in the region to fighting “the three evils of terrorism, extremism and separatism.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyThere are an estimated 12 million Uighurs in the world who are ethnically Turkic and religiously Muslim. More than 90% of them are believed to live in their ancestral home of Xinjiang in China’s northwest region. The minority group often refers to Xinjiang as “East Turkestan,” accusing China of a decades-long campaign to change the demographics of the region by forcing them out and replacing their communities by the majority Han people.Turkey has historically been a haven for those Uighurs who have fled China. In the 1950s, Turkey accepted hundreds of Uighur refugees fleeing Xinjiang with settlement aid from the U.N. and later offered them Turkish citizenship. The arrangement marked the first large Uighur mass migration from China to Turkey in the 20th century.Uighur refugeesUighur organizations say nearly 45,000 Uighurs live in Turkey now, with almost 10,000 of them as refugees. Those who do not have refugee status have been granted temporary or permanent residence status, or in some cases, Turkish citizenship.Between 2014 and 2015, despite China’s opposition, hundreds more Uighur refugees who illegally crossed China’s border to Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia were given Turkish travel documents at the Turkish Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.One of the Uighurs who fled from China to Turkey, Ihsan Karatal, told VOA that there was a growing unease among the Uighur community in Turkey over Ankara’s changing position on Xinjiang.Karatal moved to Turkey in 2018 along with his wife and three children after residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for eight years. He said his family left UAE when some of his fellow Uighurs disappeared and rumors surfaced that they were repatriated to China.“I found out that Turkey was a country I could go to easily and apply for a residence permit and more importantly the country wouldn’t deport us to China to face torture or death,” Karatal said.“With my three children and wife, I applied for permanent residence at the Immigration Bureau in Istanbul after we arrived two years ago. Now we all have Turkish permanent residence permits. The best thing is we feel much safer here than anywhere else we have lived,” he said.Kartal said the Turkish government over the months has been more reluctant to give Uighurs citizenship, making many of them feel vulnerable if Turkey-China relations further improve in the future.“Even though I have residence permit, I don’t know when Turkey gives me a pass to citizenship and right now I can’t have work permit and am struggling to find work and sustain my family. On top of that, Turkey’s closeness to China makes my life more miserable because it means Turkey is staying away from what is happening to the Uighurs in East Turkistan where the rest of my family is,” he told VOA.  
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As the number of civilians fleeing Syrian and Russian bombardments in northwestern Syria approaches the one million mark, the United Nations warned Wednesday that if fighting follows them, the result will be catastrophic.“The number of new arrivals is growing by the day,” U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said of civilians who are trying to stay ahead of the shifting frontlines. Many are moving from Idlib province towards Turkey’s closed border and camping outside in freezing temperatures.U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (OCHA) Mark Lowcock attends a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 4, 2018.“If hostilities reach these areas packed with civilians, the human cost will be instant and huge,” he warned.He told the Security Council that the United Nations has provided all relevant parties to the conflict with new maps showing the locations where there are large numbers of displaced persons. “It is incumbent on all parties to protect these people,” Lowcock said.U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pederson called for an immediate cease-fire in Idlib and for all sides to respect international humanitarian law.“I urge key international players to continue and intensify their contacts to restore calm. I urge all members of this council to put their weight firmly behind the search for a political way forward,” added Pederson.Civilians are fleeing an escalation in fighting between the Syrian military, which is backed by Russia and Iran, and Syrian armed opposition groups, some of whom have Turkish support.The Syrian regime says it is fighting terrorists.  Idlib is home to some 3 million people, a very small number of whom are terrorists. But it is one of the last major opposition strongholds in the country and the government seeks to bring it back under its control.Belgium’s U.N. Ambassador Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve addresses the United Nations Security Council, at U.N. headquarters, Jan. 22, 2019.“In no case can efforts to fight terrorism exonerate the parties from their obligations under international humanitarian law,” said Belgium’s Ambassador Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve. “The protection of civilians is a fundamental obligation for all parties.”The recent escalation has also led to some of the most dangerous confrontations between Syrian and Turkish troops since the conflict began in 2011, resulting in casualties on both sides.Turkey’s U.N. envoy said “deliberate” attacks by the Syrian forces were met with immediate retaliation by its forces, and Ankara would continue to defend itself.“Turkey will hit all targets that pose an immediate threat,” Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioğlu told the council. “We will not withdraw our forces and we will not abandon our observation posts.”He emphasized that Turkish forces are in Idlib to stabilize the situation and preserve the so-called ‘de-escalation’ zone decided between Turkey and Russia in the 2018 Sochi Agreement. “Our military presence and reinforcements are fully in line with the Sochi Memorandum of September 2018,” Sinirlioğlu said, noting Ankara is continuing its contacts with Moscow to de-escalate the situation.The U.S. envoy expressed Washington’s support for Ankara, a NATO ally.United States ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York, Feb. 11, 2020.“We unequivocally reject statements by Russian officials in Moscow that falsely blame Turkey for the escalation of violence in northwest Syria, and there is no doubt that the Assad regime and Russia — not Turkey — are responsible for orchestrating and executing this military offensive,” Ambassador Kelly Craft said.She also questioned whether a cease-fire could be established if it continued to be left to Russia and a format Moscow established with Turkey and Iran, known as the Astana process.“It was not clear before, it is certainly no longer appropriate to trust the Astana group to end the violence,” Craft said. “The clearest path we see to an immediate end to violence in northwest Syria is for the U.N. to take full charge of a new cease-fire initiative.”The U.S. ambassador’s call for the secretary-general and his special envoy to take charge of the cease-fire was echoed by several other council members, including Germany.Germany’s Ambassador Christoph Heusgen resets an hour glass between speakers at United Nations headquarters, April 29, 2019.The secretary-general must “step up to the plate,” said Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, adding “We have an immense responsibility that we face here as the United Nations, as the Security Council, to stop what is what is happening. We must spare no effort.”Russia’s ambassador dismissed accusations that Moscow is contributing to the civilian suffering and blamed other actors for protecting fighters and insurgents.Vassily Nebenzia appeared to also dismiss the severity of the humanitarian crisis.“Once again, people are trying to hype this up,” the Russian envoy said. “We know these techniques very well.”He also reiterated that Moscow would not cease its support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which he said is “conducting a legitimate fight against international terrorists.” 
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Tennessee lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a new proposal to amend the state’s legally contentious voter-registration restrictions that are currently blocked from being enforced during the 2020 elections.Last year, Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed GOP-backed legislation that made Tennessee the first state in the country to fine registration groups for turning in too many incomplete signup forms. It also criminalized intentional infractions of other new rules with misdemeanor charges.FILE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee delivers his State of the State Address in the House Chamber in Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 3, 2020.However, the law immediately prompted two lawsuits and sparked national criticism from those who argued that the law would suppress efforts to register minorities and other voters.A federal judge later blocked the implementation of the law as it awaits trial in February 2021, saying the law would have a “chilling effect” on organizations and individuals seeking to register voters.In the interim, Tennessee lawmakers on Wednesday decided to once again back new rules on how to sign up new voters.FILE – Tre Hargett, right, is sworn in as Tennessee secretary of state in Nashville, Tenn., Jan. 15, 2009.The latest version would require the state to offer voluntary training on voter registration laws and require voter registration applications be submitted within 15 days of a voter registration drive. The measure would then prohibit the retention of voter information for non-political purposes, as well as require “cybersecurity to be considered” when certifying a voter registration system.”In the face of the federal injunction, these protections are better than no protection at all,” wrote Secretary of State Tre Hargett in a recent letter to lawmakers.Hargett, who had previously argued the original 2019 voter registration law would bolster election security, is submitting a separate bill this year that will criminalize “intentional dissemination of misinformation” surrounding the qualifications to vote, voter registration requirements, voter eligibility, and polling dates, times and locations.Under that proposal, it would also be a felony to tamper with voting systems, gain unauthorized access to voter registration databases, “willfully” substitute fake election results and “intentionally deface” an election website.’Encouraging’ changesThe proposals submitted Wednesday were both approved by the House Elections and Campaign Finance Subcommittee after almost no discussion or opposition. The bills must now pass the full House Local Committee before they can head to the House floor for consideration.FILE – Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, debates a proposal on the first day of the 2020 legislative session in Nashville, Tenn., Jan. 14, 2020.If approved, the proposals would go into effect immediately — likely after Tennessee’s March 3 presidential primary, but ahead of the August state primary election.”Penalizing voter registration drives was a bad idea in the first place,” said Sen. Jeff Yarbro, a Democrat from Nashville. “It was predictably blocked in court because the legislature acted too rashly and thoughtlessly. We shouldn’t repeat the mistake by rushing through some fix without input from the civic groups affected.”However, at least one group who sued the state over the voter registration law described Wednesday’s changes as “encouraging.””It appears our litigation had an impact,” said Kristen Clarke, executive director of the National Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Preliminary review suggests the problem that led us to sue has been addressed.”2019 measureIn 2019, Tennessee lawmakers backed a measure allowing the state to fine groups if they submit 100 or more voter registration forms within a calendar year that lack a complete name, address, date of birth, declaration of eligibility and signature. Penalties can reach $10,000 per county where violations occur if more than 500 incomplete forms are submitted. The measure went on to outlaw out-of-state poll watchers.The misdemeanor penalties would kick in if groups intentionally turn in forms after new deadlines, pay people based on quotas, fail to fill out state registration, don’t undergo training, and more.Only paid groups could be penalized under the law, though the groups’ legal filings contend the distinction is murky due to their use of grant money and stipends for workers in certain cases.
 
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The new virus has killed two elderly Iranian citizens, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Wednesday.IRNA quoted Alireza Vahabzadeh, an adviser to the country’s health minister, as saying that both of the victims had been carrying the coronavirus and were located in Qom, about 140 kilometers (86 miles) south of the capital Tehran. No additional details were released.Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian authorities confirmed two cases of the new virus, the first in the country, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency. Officials later said the two patients had died.ISNA quoted an official in the country’s health ministry, Kiyanoush Jahanpour, as saying that “since last two days, some suspected cases of the new coronavirus were found.”The virus causes the illness that the World Health Organization recently named COVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the coronavirus that causes it.The new virus emerged in China in December. Since then, more than 75,000 people have been infected globally, with more than 2,000 deaths being reported, mostly in China.The new virus comes from a large family of what are known as coronaviruses, some causing nothing worse than a cold. It causes cold- and flu-like symptoms, including cough and fever, and in more severe cases, shortness of breath. It can worsen to pneumonia, which can be fatal.First detected in China, the virus is believed to have originated in a type of wild animal sold at a Chinese market to be consumed as food.Iran has applied safety measures on arrival flights at its airports to control a possible spread of the virus.Cases elsewhereElsewhere in the Middle East, nine cases have been confirmed in the United Arab Emirates, seven of them Chinese nationals, one Indian and one Filipino, while Egypt’s Health Ministry confirmed its first case last Friday.Egypt’s Health Ministry only identified its sole case as a foreigner who is carrying the virus but not showing any serious symptoms. The ministry said the person was hospitalized and in isolation. It did not specify the person’s nationality or what port of entry he or she arrived at in Egypt.The case in Egypt was also the first on the African continent. Experts and African leaders have expressed concern that should the virus spread there, it might wreak havoc among less developed countries with fewer health resources.
 
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