The California legislature moved this month to require members of the clergy to report to the government some of what congregants tell them during confession. The bill, introduced by state Sen. Jerry Hill, a Democrat, would make clergy subject to criminal prosecution if they didn’t report suspicions of child abuse or neglect that arise during confession or other confidential conversations. The Senate Committee on Public Safety passed the bill on to the Appropriations Committee on April 2.

Japanese Emperor Akihito announced his abdication at a palace ceremony on Tuesday. “Since ascending the throne 30 years ago, I have performed my duties as the emperor with a deep sense of trust in and respect for the people, and I consider myself most fortunate to have been able to do so,” Akihito said in his final address. “I sincerely thank the people who accepted and supported me in my role as the symbol of the state.”

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the state constitution makes abortion a right and blocked the nation’s first law protecting babies from dismemberment abortion in the second trimester of pregnancy. The ruling stops the state from enforcing a 2015 law that said abortionists could not use forceps or similar instruments on a live baby to remove it in pieces from the womb. National Right to Life crafted the model bill and said 10 other states have since enacted similar laws.

Los Angeles public health officials issued quarantine orders for more than 200 staff and students at two universities this week due to five confirmed cases of measles in the area. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), said 119 students and eight faculty members were under quarantine as of Wednesday. It was not immediately clear how many were quarantined at California State University, Los Angeles.

The number of measles cases in the United States has reached its highest level in 25 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. The count rose to 695 cases from 22 states by Wednesday, up from 626 reported Monday. This year has been the nation’s worst for measles infections since 1994, but no deaths have been reported from the disease so far.

The Treasury Department has asked for an extension to the House Ways and Means Committee’s Tuesday deadline to turn over six years of President Donald Trump’s tax returns. In a letter to committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said he would have a final decision by May 6. Mnuchin said he is consulting with the Justice Department “due to the serious constitutional questions raised by this request and the serious consequences that a resolution of those questions could have for taxpayer privacy.”

Myanmar’s Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the final appeal of two Reuters journalists who reported on the military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in the country also known as Burma. The court upheld a seven-year prison sentence for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who, along with their colleagues, won a Pulitzer Prize earlier this month for their work. Authorities arrested Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, in December 2017. They were sentenced last September over accusations of illegally possessing official documents. The journalists denied the charges and said they were framed.