Warning: This report contains details of sexual assaults. Reader discretion is advised. Armed forces in Sudan’s ongoing civil war are perpetrating systematic sexual violence against young children, with one-year-olds the youngest survivors of rape, according to a new report from UNICEF, the United Nations’ (UN) children’s agency. The UNICEF report, released Tuesday, said that at least 221 cases of child ...

Japan is fighting a forest fire that has damaged dozens of homes and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate in a northeastern coastal city. The fire has burned about 2,100 hectares (5,190 acres) of forest in Ofunato since it started Wednesday, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. The agency said at least 84 homes have been damaged, and ...

Japan’s Prince Hisahito, the second in line to the throne, held a debut news conference on Monday, telling reporters he would try to balance official duties and his university studies and research about the dragonfly. Hisahito turned 18 last September, becoming the first male royal family member to reach adulthood in almost four decades in Japan. It marked a significant ...

As President Donald Trump unleashes sweeping changes across the US government and overturns decades of American foreign policy, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is preparing to hold a major political gathering designed to project something else: tightly-controlled stability. Thousands of delegates are arriving in the Chinese capital this week for the country’s “two sessions” annual meeting, a highly choreographed spectacle where ...

Dozens of construction workers have been pulled alive from metal containers after they were trapped by a deadly Himalayan avalanche for around 36 hours, according to authorities in northern India. The Indian Army launched a rescue operation after heavy snowfall triggered the avalanche last Friday near a construction site in the village of Mana, Uttarakhand state, about 10,500 feet (3,200 ...

The U.S. Treasury Department announced it will not enforce a Biden-era small business rule intended to curb money laundering and shell company formation. In a Sunday evening announcement, Treasury said in a news release that it will not impose penalties now or in the future if companies fail to register for the agency’s beneficial ownership information database that was created during the Biden administration. ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Trump-appointed leadership plans to fire nearly all its 1,700 employees while “winding down” the agency, according to testimony from employees. In a trove of statements released late Thursday, federal employees said that the mass layoff was discussed in meetings they attended this month with senior CFPB leaders and members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. “My team was ...

Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen has resigned after an internal investigation into his personal conduct. Kroger, the nation’s largest grocery chain, said Monday that the investigation into McMullen’s personal conduct was unrelated to the business, but was found to be inconsistent with its business ethics policy. Board member Ronald Sargent will serve as chairman and interim CEO, effective immediately. ...

The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Sunday announced it won’t enforce the penalties or fines associated with the Biden-era “beneficial ownership information,” or BOI, reporting requirements for millions of domestic businesses.  Enacted via the Corporate Transparency Act in 2021 to fight illicit finance and shell company formation, BOI reporting requires small businesses to identify who directly or indirectly owns or controls the company to the ...

When the Los Angeles wildfires swept through Southern California in January, Barbara Shay lost much more than the building housing the cafe she owned. Gone were the ingredients for menu items like grits or pancakes. Gone were the photos of icons ranging from former President Barack Obama to actor Richard Pryor that had lined the walls. Gone, too, were the ...