Uber is launching a feature that will allow both women riders and drivers across the U.S. to be matched with other women for trips, expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its riding-hailing platform. The San Francisco-company's announcement Monday comes despite an ongoing class action lawsuit against the policy in California, filed by Uber drivers who argue that it is discriminatory against men.

U.N.-backed investigators say Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have carried out a campaign in the city of el-Fasher in the Darfur region that shows "hallmarks of genocide" against non-Arab communities. The fact-finding mission says the group inflicted mass killings and starvation-like siege conditions that targeted the Zaghawa and Fur people. U.N. officials say thousands of civilians were killed and many others disappeared after the city fell to the paramilitary forces in late October. The team's report describes executions, rape, torture, abductions and selective targeting of women and girls. It said the violence looks planned, not chaotic. It calls for accountability and stronger civilian protection as the war spreads.