LONDON—Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament for several weeks has been ruled unlawful by Scotland’s highest civil court, a decision that shunts the issue to the U.K.’s Supreme Court for a final ruling.

A panel of judges ruled in favor of a group of lawmakers who said that Mr. Johnson’s decision to shut Parliament for about a month on Sept. 9 was illegal.

Lawmakers...

Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. said Wednesday it has approached the London Stock Exchange Group PLC with a £29.6 billion ($36.56 billion) cash and share offer and plans to seek a recommendation from its board.

The Hong Kong Exchange said a merger would be a “highly compelling strategic opportunity to create a global market infrastructure leader.”

If...

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Voters in a conservative congressional district picked President Trump ally Republican Dan Bishop in Tuesday’s special election instead of a Democrat who had promised to seek compromise in Washington.

Mr. Bishop, a 55-year-old state senator who campaigned on a promise to be in lockstep with Mr. Trump, defeated Democrat Dan McCready in the Ninth Congressional District based in the suburbs of Charlotte.

In...

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Apple Inc. revealed a trio of upgraded iPhones, including a lower-priced model, and detailed its plans to enter the increasingly competitive video-streaming market with an offering that is cheaper than rivals.

The announcements came Tuesday at Apple’s marquee product showcase, where this year the tech giant sought to balance its penchant for premium products with an emphasis on value. Apple is looking to offset slowing hardware sales by selling newer services, such as TV streaming, videogames and news—and...

WASHINGTON—President Trump dismissed John Bolton, his national security adviser, after a contentious debate about Afghan peace talks became the latest of many disputes over foreign policy that exposed differences so severe that the two men couldn’t even agree on how the ouster happened.

Mr. Bolton, the president’s third national security adviser, had exerted a hawkish influence in the White House, at times advocating for military action while Mr. Trump has shied away from overseas interventions. He also disagreed with the...

A Chinese insurer has agreed to sell a luxury hotel portfolio for more than $5.8 billion, overcoming an unusual stumbling block: A California individual secretly created a series of fake deeds to transfer ownership for up to a half dozen of the hotels.

Mirae Asset Global Investments, part of a South Korean financial services company, agreed this week to buy the 15-hotel portfolio from Anbang Insurance Group Co., people familiar with the matter said. Mirae prevailed in a process that began early this year and attracted widespread...

Charles Schwab Corp. is cutting about 600 jobs as it deals with the impact of lower interest rates.

Chief Executive Walt Bettinger discussed the coming layoffs, which would amount to roughly 3% of the San Francisco brokerage’s staff, in a recent town hall with some employees, according to an attendee. The cuts are part of an effort to rein in expenses as falling interest rates pinch profit at Schwab’s banking arm, said people familiar with the situation.

Russia was behind the murder last month of a former Chechen rebel in Germany, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, rekindling concerns that Moscow is ramping up an assassination campaign against the country’s perceived enemies abroad.

The victim, a 40-year-old Georgian who once commanded forces against Russia during a Chechen uprising, was gunned down in a Berlin park on Aug. 23 on his way to a local mosque. Minutes later, German police arrested a Russian man attempting to leave the scene on an electric scooter after he discarded...

The number of Americans without health insurance climbed to 27.5 million in 2018, according to new federal data that shows the first increase since the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

The increase follows years of steady declines in the number of uninsured and comes amid Trump administration efforts to curtail the Obama-era health law. The 27.5 million people without health coverage represents 8.5% of Americans, up from 7.9%, or 25.6 million people, in 2017, according to a report Tuesday from the Census Bureau.

Saudi Arabia is planning a two-part listing of Saudi Arabian Oil Co. on its domestic stock market to ensure that the exchange can easily absorb what would be the kingdom’s largest initial public offering, according to advisers familiar with the process.

Aramco, as the national oil giant is usually known, is considering a 1% offering of the company this year and another 1% next year on the local market,  the advisers said, as the government seeks to accelerate a centerpiece of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s economic reform...

A team of researchers from top medical schools is moving closer to developing a blood test that promises to quickly and accurately help diagnose combat troops with post-traumatic stress disorder, even those who try to hide the effects, the team said in a journal article released Monday.

The Pentagon-funded effort has pinpointed a handful of telltale indicators at the molecular level that the body produces when soldiers have been exposed to battlefield trauma and are likely to have problems coping with lingering stress, according...

At a dinner two years ago, held in the wine cellar of real-estate executive Jeffrey Hines, managers of the office-building company he heads voiced growing suspicions about WeWork.

WeWork started off as a great customer of Hines Interests LP and other landlords, leasing unused space and renting it to businesses too tiny to be ordinary tenants, Hines executive Charlie Kuntz said in a presentation after dessert, according to several people present.

I’m 63 years old and approaching retirement. I would like to cut back on my hours at work and leave my job in stages. My company, though, doesn’t offer that option. Have you talked with people who retired from work gradually? How did they do it? Any suggestions?

You certainly aren’t alone. Most employers don’t have a “phased retirement” option for older workers, which, frankly, is shortsighted. Companies that offer such an arrangement often find that it can help with succession planning, make it easier to pass on institutional...

Boeing Co. delivered 18 jetliners in August, leaving the aerospace giant on track for its lowest annual total in eight years.

The plane maker said Tuesday that it delivered 276 planes through August compared with 481 at the same point in 2018, trailing analysts’ revised estimates for around 500 deliveries in 2019. It handed over 64 planes in August 2018.

Deliveries...

While the iPhone remains the star in Apple’s annual showcase, the company is turning the spotlight toward a younger cast of products like the Apple Watch in its hunt for growth. Follow our live coverage.

NEW YORK—The world’s major central banks still have the ability to respond to a normal economic downturn, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said Tuesday, but added they would likely need some help from government spending and taxation policies if trouble did happen.

The possibility of a slowdown “has gone up” around the world and downside risks to the outlook have increased, Mr. Carney said at an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Should such a slowdown turn into something so significant that the...

SEOUL—Seven months after the U.S. and North Korea walked out of nuclear talks at a summit in Vietnam, the two sides appear ready again to work toward a deal that trades Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons for a loosening of U.S.-led economic sanctions.

But the chessboard looks very different now.

North Korea appears to have reshuffled its negotiating...

BRASÍLIA—Homicides in Brazil have declined by a fifth this year after falling in 2018 at the fastest rate in at least a decade, reversing a violent trend that has haunted Latin America’s biggest nation and propelled a law-and-order politician to the presidency.

Brazilian Justice Minister Sergio Moro told The Wall Street Journal that murders dropped about 20% this year through June, compared with the same period a year earlier. His comments come as the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, a nongovernmental research group, on Tuesday...

After a year of painstaking negotiations, the U.S. seemed close to a deal with the Taliban. Now President Trump says the talks are dead, and prospects for ending America’s longest war are dimming again.

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California Democrats are poised to pass landmark employment legislation over the objections of two of the companies that would be most affected: Silicon Valley ride-sharing giants Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc.

The bill already passed the State Assembly 59-15 and is expected to be voted on in the state Senate before the legislative session ends on Friday, possibly as soon as Monday night.

Democratic...

More than two months after President Trump agreed to ease export restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co., the U.S. has yet to green-light any sales to the Chinese telecom giant—frustrating U.S. chip makers that stand to lose billions of dollars in revenue.

The Huawei blacklist, which went into force May 16, cut U.S. chip makers off from a pipeline that enabled them to send $11 billion worth of components to Huawei last year.

President...

WASHINGTON—Joe Biden is facing a test from Democratic primary rivals who are trying to put him on the defensive while they press for a next-generation candidate who could energize the party and defeat President Trump.

Mr. Biden enters Thursday’s third Democratic debate round in Houston maintaining his lead over more liberal rivals Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in recent polls. But the debate—the first during which only the top 10 candidates will appear on a single stage—will follow a period...

JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga.—Coast Guard rescuers pulled four trapped men alive from a capsized cargo ship Monday, drilling into the hull’s steel plates to extract the crew members more than a day after their vessel overturned while leaving a Georgia port.

All four were described as alert and in relatively good condition and were taken to a hospital for further evaluation.

A...

Travel and exploration website Atlas Obscura has built its brand by shining a light on little-known things. Now, the company is looking to up that wattage with a major investment from home-sharing juggernaut Airbnb Inc.

Airbnb is leading a $20 million Series B funding round into the Brooklyn-based media and experiences company. Atlas Obscura said it plans to use the money to vastly expand its trips and local experience offerings, which the company says make up more than half its business.

As part of the deal, Airbnb will offer users the ability to book Atlas Obscura trips and events through Airbnb’s site and mobile app, alongside its traditional accommodation offering, for which Airbnb will take a cut.