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DHAKA, Bangladesh — The United Nations Human Rights Office on Friday said it will dispatch a fact-finding mission to Bangladesh, as requested by the interim government, to investigate alleged human rights violations during recent deadly violence in the country. Last month's anti-government protests, which began as a student-led movement against public sector job quotas, escalated into the deadliest violence since the country's independence in 1971. The unrest left more than 1,000 people dead and prompted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to India on August 5. Violence continued for some days after she fled. An interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus replaced Hasina's administration, helping quell the violence as security forces also cracked down on protests. "The office will deploy a fact-finding team to Bangladesh in the coming weeks, with a view to reporting on violations and abuses perpetrated during the protests, analyzing root causes, and making recommendations to advance justice and accountability and for longer-term reforms," Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the U.N. Human Rights Office, said in a statement. This decision follows a visit by a UN team from Aug. 22-29, during which they engaged with various stakeholders, including members of the interim government. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk welcomed Bangladesh’s recent accession to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. He praised the establishment of a national commission to investigate cases of enforced disappearances, a longstanding issue in Bangladesh. "We stand ready to support the Commission in its work, which should be in close consultation with victims and their families," Shamdasani said.

The U.S. conducts drone strikes in Somalia to protect civilians from terrorists. Groups such as al-Shabab terrorize communities and entire regions, systematically targeting, killing and harming scores of civilians.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Lusaka, Zambia — Authorities in Zambia have announced measures to tighten enforcement of cybersecurity laws, saying the move is aimed at curbing online hate speech, propaganda, defamation and child abuse. But critics say the change is aimed at clamping down on freedom of expression. Zambian Home Affairs and Internal Security Minister Jack Mwiimbu told journalists this week that the government has activated section 54 of the 2021 Cybersecurity and Cybercrimes Act. “A person who with intent to compromise the safety of another person publishes information or data presented in a picture, image, symbol or voice or any other form in a computer system commits an offense and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years,” Mwiimbu said. “The public is urged to adhere to the law and avoid social media posts that may make them come into conflict with the law," he said. Mwiimbu also warned administrators of social media platform WhatsApp to remove what he called illegal posts made in bad faith, saying they will be held responsible for any publication of such information. Analysts say whatever the stated intentions of the cybersecurity crackdown may be, the wording of the law is broad, vague and could be used to stifle media freedom. Lorraine Mwanza, chair of the Zambia chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, said she dislikes the section of the cybersecurity law authorities say they will tightly enforce. “This section is inimical to freedom, to freedom of expression, media freedom and meaningful accountability, especially on public officials who can easily invoke this section of the act,” she said. In a statement on social media platform X, Musa Mwenye, the former attorney general and president of the Law Association of Zambia, joined the many who have spoken out against the Zambian government's move. Human rights activist Juliet Chibuta said the new measures are a violation of digital rights. “Digital and other online platforms must be left open to allow citizens to participate,” she said. “Digital rights entail the ability for citizens to enjoy their rights of freedom of expression [and] access to information online without hindrance.” The Southern Africa Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes, a human rights organization, criticized the online restrictions. Arthur Muyunda, acting executive director of the group, said, “For them to invoke the section, it shows that they are also determined to shrink the civic space, which has already been shrinking using other laws. We appeal that they should reverse that invocation as it will suppress the voices of the people.” During her visit to Zambia in 2022, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard urged authorities to repeal legislation that can be used to clamp down on public dissent, including the Public Order Act and the Cybersecurity and Cybercrimes Act. Callamard said the two laws have been used to suppress human rights, especially freedom of assembly and expression in Zambia.

Critics of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris are claiming she lacks the qualifications and skills to be president, saying she is a beneficiary of policies that aim to boost diversity, equity and inclusion in the American workplace. But supporters of policies that aim to include previously marginalized groups say Harris has earned her place. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington.

Media rights are at risk in Georgia as the country once seen as a safe haven for journalists implements a new law. For VOA News, Liam Scott has the story. Camera: Cristina Caicedo Smit, Krystof Maixner, Martin Bubenik, Michael Eckels

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Beijing continues to stonewall efforts to address its well-documented abuse of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Russian shelling has destroyed 50% of Ukraine's electricity generation capacity since late March, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. To make up for the power shortage, the country has turned to U.S. energy giant Westinghouse for help developing next-generation nuclear reactor units. Tetiana Kukurika has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Videographer: Sergiy Rybchynski

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

FRANKFURT/TALLINN — Inflation in the euro zone fell to its lowest level in three years in August, setting the stage for a further cut in the European Central Bank's interest rates next month despite an Olympics-driven surge in the price of services. The ECB has started winding down a two-year campaign against high inflation that followed the brisk reopening of the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Inflation in the 20 countries sharing the euro currency fell to 2.2% this month, the slowest pace since July 2021 and closing in on the ECB's 2% target, according to a flash reading by the European Union statistics office, Eurostat. While the fall was mostly driven by lower energy prices and may even reverse later this year, it was still likely to seal the deal on a second ECB rate cut on Sept 12 after a first move in June. "The significant drop in headline inflation in August makes the September cut a foregone conclusion," said Tomas Dvorak, a senior economist at Oxford Economics. Even ECB board member and prominent policy 'hawk' Isabel Schnabel appeared to open the door to more easing on Friday, saying further gradual rate cuts might not derail the disinflation process as some policymakers had feared. Still, the report showed price growth in the services sector - which is closely watched by policymakers because it better reflects domestic demand rather than external conditions - accelerated to 4.2% from an already high 4.0%. This was the probable result of a boost from the Olympic Games in Paris, but also greater spending power by workers after some recent pay increases. "This likely reflects a relatively tight job market, as the decrease in the unemployment rate in July shows," said Gian Luigi Mandruzzato, senior economist at EFG Asset Management. For now, markets see about six rate cuts before the end of next year, roughly one more cut than is baked into the ECB's own economic projections, indicating that markets are more optimistic about the price outlook than the ECB. This is partly because market economists see a bigger dip than the ECB's own staff in inflation this autumn. Policymakers say they will not be confident in the inflation outlook until wage growth slows, with Germany's central bank especially vocal about this risk. Still, with inflation now within a whisker of the ECB's target, the euro zone's central bankers were likely to broaden their debate from the single-minded focus on inflation to take into account signs of economic weakness. Wage growth has slowed sharply and unemployment is already rising in around a quarter of the euro zone's 20 countries. Survey data among firms and households suggest there is further labour market deterioration in store. Lending has dwindled to a trickle since the ECB jacked up rates last year, causing investment to dry up and hampering sectors that rely on it, such as construction and manufacturing. This has left euro zone economic growth barely humming along for over a year, with weakness in industrial powerhouse Germany only partly offset by strength in services-oriented countries such as Spain. "We think the ECB is already behind the curve, fixated too much on current and narrow measures of inflation while not paying enough attention to weak growth, with potential long-term damaging impacts," Oxford Economics' Dvorak said.

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Brussels — With less than three months until this year's COP29 U.N. climate negotiations, countries remain far from agreement on the summit's biggest task: to agree a new funding target to help developing countries cope with climate change. A negotiations document published by the U.N. climate body on Thursday set out the splits between nations, ahead of a meeting in Baku next month, where negotiators will attempt to inch forward some of the stickiest issues. The document suggests seven options, reflecting countries' competing positions, for a possible COP29 deal. The new target will replace wealthy nations' current commitment to provide $100 billion each year in climate finance to developing countries. Vulnerable and developing countries want a far larger funding goal than $100 billion. Donor countries like Canada and the 27-nation European Union say stretched national budgets mean a huge jump in public funding is unrealistic. The COP29 summit will be held in Azerbaijan in November. One option in the document sets out a target for developed countries to provide $441 billion each year in grants, combined with an aim to mobilize a total $1.1 trillion in funding from all sources, including private finance, each year from 2025 to 2029. That option reflects the position of Arab countries. Another option, reflecting the EU's negotiating stance, sets a global climate funding target of more than $1 trillion each year — including countries' domestic investments and private funding — inside which would be a smaller amount provided by countries "with high greenhouse gas emissions and economic capabilities." The EU has demanded that China — today, the world's biggest polluter and second-biggest economy — contribute to the new climate funding goal. China is classed as a developing country by the U.N., under a system developed in the 1990s which is still used today. Beijing rejects the idea that it should be on the hook to pay climate finance Negotiators expect the issue of who should pay to be one of the biggest hurdles to agreeing a finance deal at COP29. Another option in the document, reflecting Canada's position, suggests changing the list of the countries that contribute to the target, to be based on their per-capita emissions and income — a measure that could also add the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and others to the contributor list.