China criticises Hong Kong firm’s sale of majority stake in Panama ports | China

China has criticised the sale of the business that controls ports in Panama to US investors, saying the Hong Kong-based parent company should “think twice” and that the $22.8bn deal is “power politics” that is not in the country’s national interest. Shares in the Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison fell more than 6% on Friday … Read more

First Thing: Chuck Schumer to back Republican funding bill to avoid shutdown | US news

Good morning. The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, has announced he will vote for a Republican funding bill to avert a government shutdown, saying he believed a stoppage would carry “consequences for America that are much, much worse”. Schumer’s comments suggest his members are willing to provide sufficient votes for the bill, which would fund … Read more

US turns to Denmark as it hunts for eggs despite Trump’s threat over Greenland | Trump administration

The United States has asked Denmark and other European nations if they can export eggs as Americans face surging egg prices, the Nordic country’s egg association said on Friday. The request from the US Department of Agriculture coincides with a raft of new US tariffs on countries, including in Europe, and the threat of more. … Read more

Wyoming shields utility companies from wildfire-liability payouts | Wyoming

Wyoming’s governor has signed a bill that limits the liability for electric utility companies found guilty of starting wildfires. Legislators argued that the bill was necessary for utility companies to function in an era of massive fire-related class-action lawsuits, especially for many of the smaller, co-op utilities that are a hallmark of the mountain west. … Read more

Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte to appear in Hague accused of crimes against humanity over war on drugs – live | Philippines

Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Rebecca Ratcliffe Former president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte has previously said he will accept responsibility for his government’s so-called “war on drugs” in a video message filmed on board a plane shortly before he was taken into the custody of … Read more

Survivor who ignited US Catholic church’s reckoning with abuse killed in Louisiana | Louisiana

The clergy abuse survivor who effectively ignited the US Catholic church’s reckoning with clerical molestation when – at age 11 – he testified in the 1980s that his priest had raped him was recently beaten to death in south-west Louisiana. Scott Anthony Gastal, whose later life was marked by legal struggles after enduring child sexual … Read more

Fears for human rights as Peru passes ‘simply brutal’ anti-NGO law | Global development

Human rights groups in Peru have voiced alarm over a controversial anti-NGO law that prevents civil society organisations from taking legal action against the state for human rights abuses – a move that activists say will prevent the vulnerable from accessing justice. Peru’s deeply unpopular congress added a harsher amendment to an existing bill which … Read more