Law & Society

Hong Kong riot police used pepper spray on Saturday to disperse dozens of students who had stormed government headquarters, but an equal number held their ground in protests against Beijing's tightening grip on the city.

President Petro Poroshenko proclaimed reforms on Thursday spanning all aspects of life to make strife-torn Ukraine fit for European Union membership, warning his people that without reform they would face a future "alone with Russia."

California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that bans prisons from sterilizing inmates without their consent, his office said on Thursday, after media reports and a later audit showed officials failed to obtain consent from dozens of incarcerated women.