Opponents of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's move to suspend parliament in the final weeks before Brexit lost the first of several legal bids to stop him on Friday.
Scottish judge Raymond Doherty rejected the request for a temporary injunction pending a full hearing in the case on September 6.
"I'm not satisfied that there's a need for an interim suspension or an interim interdict to be granted at this stage," Doherty said in his ruling.
Queen Elizabeth II has already given the go-ahead to shutter parliament between mid-September and October 14 -- just two weeks before the Brexit date of October 31.
The move was widely seen as limiting the time for parliamentarians to move against Johnson, who has said Britain must leave the EU with or without a deal.
Legal bids to halt the suspension have also been launched in Belfast and London.
Former prime minister John Major, a strong supporter of EU membership, has said he will seek to join the London legal action.
Johnson announced the surprise .

Judge rejects first bid to block UK parliament suspension

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Ex-Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn will join Bayern Munich's board in January to be groomed to replace club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the Bundesliga giants announced Friday amid a backroom upheaval.
The appointment of Kahn, who played for Bayern from 1994 until 2008, was approved by Bayern's board late Thursday, just hours after club president Uli Hoeness, 67, officially informed the club that he is stepping down in November.
Current chairman Rummenigge, 63, will eventually hand the reins to Kahn on December 31, 2021, after showing his successor the ropes, while former Adidas boss Herbert Hainer is poised to replace Hoeness as club president in the November elections.
Kahn, a former captain of both Germany and Bayern who made more than 600 appearances for the club, will sign a five-year contract and will join the club's board from January 1, 2020, serving a two-year apprenticeship before taking over from Rummenigge.
Hoeness sees Kahn as the "perfect solution" to replace ...

Oliver Kahn to replace Rummenigge as Bayern chairman

A Virginia distillery is toasting the end of a lawsuit alleging that it improperly tried to pass off American whiskey as Scotch.
The Scotch Whisky Association alleged in federal court in Delaware that Virginia Distillery Co. engaged in false and deceptive labelling of whiskey sold under the brand name "Virginia-Highland Whisky." The lawsuit claimed that the use of the term "Highland" and its spelling of "Whisky" without an "e'' falsely implied that the product was produced in Scotland.
The case was terminated earlier this month. As part of the settlement, Virginia Distillery will stop using the word "Highland" after it sells remaining stock. The distillery will continue to label all products using "whisky" without the "e," which it says is allowed under U.S. law.

Virginia whiskey maker settles with Scotch whisky group

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has claimed more than 2,000 lives, out of a total of 3,000 recorded cases since August last year, health officials said Friday.
"In total, there have been 2,006 deaths (1,901 confirmed and 105 probable)," officials said in a bulletin dated Thursday.
"Since the start of the epidemic, the number of cases is 3,004, including 2,899 confirmed and 105 probable," it added.

DR Congo Ebola death toll passes 2,000: official

Malaysian airline AirAsia X has ordered 42 Airbus aircraft worth a total catalogue price of five billion dollars, Airbus said Friday.
The Malaysian carrier has placed a firm order for 12 long-range A330neo planes and 30 medium-range A321XLR models, the European aircraft manufacturer said in a statement.
Major purchases are often finalised at a discount to the official catalogue price.

Airbus says Air AsiaX places USD 5 billion order

Filmmaker Richard Linklater is set to better his own record of one of the longest film productions in the cinema history with upcoming movie "Merrily We Roll Along".
An adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's musical of the same name, the film will be shot over the next 20 years.
Linklater's 2014 feature "Boyhood" took the director 12 years to make. It started filming in 2002 and ended in October 2013. Filming took place once or twice a year with the cast and crew getting together for a three or four days schedule.
"I first saw and fell in love with Merrily in the '80s, and I can't think of a better place to spend the next 20 years than in the world of a Sondheim musical. I don't enter this multi-year experience lightly, but it seems the best, perhaps the only way, to do this story justice on film," Linklater said in a statement.
"Merrily We Roll Along" will feature Beanie Feldstein, Blake Jenner and Ben Platt in the lead, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Sondheim's musical in itself is .

Richard Linklater to shoot next movie over 20 years

The same oceans that nourished human evolution are poised to unleash misery on a global scale unless the carbon pollution destabilising Earth's marine environment is brought to heel, warns a draft UN report obtained by AFP.
Destructive changes already set in motion -- some irreversible -- could see a steady decline in fish stocks, a hundred-fold or more increase in the damages caused by superstorms, and hundreds of millions of people displaced by rising seas, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "special report" on oceans and Earth's frozen zones, known as the cryosphere.
As the 21st century unfolds, melting glaciers will first give too much and then too little to billions who depend on them for fresh water, it finds.
Without deep cuts to manmade emissions, at least 30 percent of the northern hemisphere's surface permafrost could melt by century's end, unleashing billions of tonnes of carbon and accelerating global warming even more.
The 900-page ...

Draft UN report warns of rising seas, storm surges, melting permafrost

Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu lawmaker in the US Congress who is running for the presidency, has said that she will not contest as an independent candidate if she fails to win the Democratic presidential nomination, according to a media report.
Gabbard, 38, an Iraq war veteran who has been serving as the US Representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district since 2013, said that she will be going to focus on moving campaign forward, continuing this grassroots campaign, continuing to deliver the message to the American people and ask for their support, CNN reported.
"I will not," she told the network. "No, I have ruled that out."
Gabbard, however, was failed to qualify for the next Democratic debate in September after making it to the first two debates. She reached the fundraising threshold, but did not meet the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) polling minimum to qualify, the report said.
She claimed on Thursday that there is "no explanation or transparency around why certain 

Tulsi Gabbard rules out running as an independent presidential candidate

An Iranian tanker released after being detained for six weeks by the British overseas territory of Gibraltar is now headed for Lebanon, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday.
"This tanker is not heading actually to Eskerun (in Turkey), this tanker is heading to Lebanon," Cavusoglu said during a visit to Oslo, referring to the Adrian Darya 1 vessel.
The ship was suspected of transporting crude oil to Syria, in violation of European sanctions against the country, and the US has called for it to be seized.
The minister did not specify whether Lebanon was the tanker's final destination.
"We still buy gas from Iran, but we don't buy oil," he stressed, adding that Turkey was monitoring the vessel's progress "very closely".
A court in the British territory ordered the tanker's release on August 15 despite a last-minute legal bid by the United States to have it detained.
The Adrian Darya 1 set sail three days later for the eastern Mediterranean, carrying 2.1 million ...

Iran tanker released by Gibraltar headed to Lebanon: Turkey

A Scottish judge on Friday rejected a legal challenge to stop Prime Minister Boris Johnson suspending parliament, in a blow for opponents of the controversial move.
Judge Raymond Doherty dismissed the request from a cross-party group of parliamentarians for an interim injunction ahead of a full hearing on the case expected next week.

Judge rejects challenge by opponents of UK parliament suspension

Officials say a 9-year-old Congolese child who tested positive for Ebola in neighbouring Uganda has died.
Dr Eddy Kasenda, Ebola representative in the Congolese border town of Kasindi, said the victim will be repatriated to Congo Friday.
A Ugandan official at the hospital where the girl had been in isolation confirmed her death overnight.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to reporters.
The girl, who was travelling with her mother, was identified at a border screening Wednesday as a possible Ebola patient and isolated.
Ugandan authorities believe she didn't have contact with any Ugandan.
Ebola has killed nearly 2,000 people in eastern Congo since August 2018.
Although the highly infectious disease has proved stubborn to contain inside Congo, cross-border contamination has been rare.

Uganda: Travelling girl from Congo dies of Ebola

Having secured his PGA Tour card for a fifth successive year, Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri will now hope to break his long title drought when he tees off at the Korn Ferry Tour Championships.
Lahiri, who hasn't been in the best of form, had to make his way back to the elite Tour via the Korn Ferry Series, like he did in 2015.
The Indian was T-7 at Nationwide Children's Hospital Open and then T-6 at the Albertsons Boise Open to ensure that he would have a PGA Tour card for 2019-20.
Lahiri registered his two best finishes of 2019 after failing to add any more Top-10s after the Mayakoba Golf Classic in late 2018.
The 32-year-old, who last won the Hero Indian Open in 2015, will be desperate to end the wait for a title. A win in the Tour Championships would take him to the top of the 'Finals 25' -- the separate list based on the three-event Korn Ferry Series Final.
That would raise his priority status and among other events, he would also secure a spot on the PLAYER Championship.
Lahiri's .

Stress-free Lahiri looking for long-awaited win in Korn Ferry finals

Newly-merged Australian company Libcoin Avass is planning to make India its key base by expanding its operations in the manufacture of buses, batteries and charging stations, top company officials said on Friday.
Libcoin, which acquired the assets of Avass, its people and customer contracts on August 27, will focus on providing fully integrated electric transport infrastructure globally, including India.
"The acquisition will greatly assist the trade relationship between Australia and India in line with the India Economic Strategy to 2035 Report recently released by Australian government," Muthuraj Guruswamy, CEO of the company, said.
It will also "help Libcoin to provide an integrated solution for batteries, electric vehicle manufacturing and charging stations," he said.
Guruswamy said that the company would now look at the opportunities of expanding operations to India, seeing India as one of its key bases to manufacture buses, batteries and charging stations, aligning closely with .

Australian company to make India a key manufacturing base

Hormone therapy to relieve menopause symptoms slightly increases the risk of breast cancer, according to a large-scale study published Friday in The Lancet.
Other research has established a similar link, but the new study is the first to show that the risk remains elevated even ten years after treatment has stopped.
It also quantifies for the first time the level of risk associated with different types of menopause hormone therapy, or MHT.
The chance that a women between 50 and 69 who has never undergone MHT will contract breast cancer is about 6.3 in a 100.
By comparison, a woman in that age bracket who takes oestrogen and, intermittently, progestagen for five years stands a 7.7 in 100 chance of getting the disease.
If -- in the same scenario -- progestagen use is daily, the risk goes up again: 8.3 in 100.
Finally, an oestrogen-only regimen is closest to the no-hormones baseline, with a 6.8 out of 100 risk.
More prolonged use carries even higher risk, said co-author Gillian Reeves ...

Hormone therapies slightly increase breast cancer risk, even a decade later: study

Roman Polanski says his bad days in Hollywood started with the murder of his wife Sharon Tate as he believes that many in the media thought that he was the one responsible for the tragedy.
Polanski, who is wanted in the US after fleeing the country decades ago to avoid jail in a case related to having sex with a minor, is currently in the news over the inclusion of his upcoming film "An Officer and a Spy" in the competition line-up of the 2019 Venice Film Festival.
According to Deadline, the film's press notes at the festival contained an interview of Polanski where he talked about Tate's murder and the movie in detail.
"The way people see me, my 'image', did indeed start to form with Sharon Tate's death," he said.
Tate was eight-and-a-half months when she was killed along with four others at her residence by the followers of cult leader Charles Manson.
Polanski said the media covered the whole tragedy in a "most despicable" way, during which they also pointed fingers at him.
"When it 

Media covered Sharon Tate's murder in most despicable way: Roman Polanski

When shots rang out last year at a high school in Parkland, Florida, leaving 17 people dead, President Donald Trump quickly turned his thoughts to creating more mental institutions.
When back-to-back mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, jolted the nation earlier this month, Trump again spoke of "building new facilities" for the mentally ill as a way to reduce mass shootings.
"We don't have those institutions anymore and people can't get proper care," Trump lamented at a New Hampshire campaign rally not long after the latest shootings.
Now, in response to Trump's concerns, White House staff members are looking for ways to incorporate the president's desire for more institutions into a long list of other measures aimed at reducing gun violence.
It's the latest example of White House policy aides scrambling to come up with concrete policies or proposals to fill out ideas tossed out by the president. And it's an idea that mental health professionals say reflects outdated ...

Trump eyes mental institutions as answer to gun violence

Berlin from Friday eased rules allowing the descendants of people who fled Nazi Germany to reclaim citizenship.
Germany must "live up to its historical responsibility with regards to those affected," said Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.
While Germany already has rules allowing descendants of persecuted Jews to reclaim citizenship, the two decrees that came into force on Friday closed several loopholes that had previously shut others out.
The offspring of people who left Nazi Germany before their nationality was evoked by the regime can now reclaim it under the new decree.
People who previously would not have been accorded German nationality, because their father was a foreigner and whose mother lost her German citizenship under the Nazis, for example, can now also benefit from the new rules.
The ministry stressed that no one should be shut out because the Nazi-era injustice was too far back in time.
Second, third, fourth "and in some cases fifth generation" descendants can apply, ...

Berlin eases citizenship rules for Nazi victims' offspring

A Scottish judge was to decide Friday whether to issue an interim ruling on stopping the British parliament being suspended in the final weeks before Brexit.
Judge Raymond Doherty on Thursday heard a bid for an interim interdict - the Scottish legal equivalent of an injunction - that would halt Prime Minister Boris Johnson's move to suspend parliament between mid-September and October 14.
Queen Elizabeth II, the head of state who must follow the advice of her ministers, has already given the go-ahead.
A group of 75 parliamentarians are seeking a temporary injunction from Doherty pending a full hearing on September 6.
The judge will start giving his decision at 10:00am (local time) at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Scotland's highest civil court.
England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own separate legal systems within the United Kingdom.
Legal bids to halt Johnson's move have also been launched in London and Belfast.
Johnson announced the surprise decision ...

Judge to decide on British parliament suspension

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab defended Friday his government's decision to suspend parliament and rejected suggestions that the move will prevent lawmakers from debating the country's departure from the European Union as concern mounts that a costly and damaging Brexit without any agreement is now more likely.
Britain is due to leave the EU  the first country ever to do so  on Oct. 31; a move that has divided the country and shaken the European project to its foundations.
On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson got Queen Elizabeth II's approval to suspend parliament, a move widely criticized by his political opponents who see it as a maneuver to give them even less time to block a chaotic no-deal Brexit.
Johnson previously had refused to rule out such a move, but the timing of the decision took lawmakers  many of whom are on vacation  by surprise.
At talks with EU foreign ministers in Finland, Raab said that "the idea that this is some kind of constitutional ...

EU fears of a no-deal Brexit soar as UK defends its actions

Renewed hopes for trade talks boosted most Asian equities Friday after China said it would not retaliate against the latest US tariffs, setting up a positive end to a volatile week.
However, the arrest of activists in Hong Kong fuelled fresh worries about violent protests in the city and wiped out an early rally.
With huge levies on goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars due to kick in over the weekend, the long-running trade war between the world's top two economies steps up a gear, and observers are fretting the row could drag on.
But Beijing on Thursday appeared to want to dial down the tensions, saying it would hold off on responding in kind, as it has previously warned it would do.
"The escalation of the trade war is not beneficial to China, and it is not beneficial to the United States," commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng said.
Later, President Donald Trump said talks between the two were planned for later Thursday, though there was no indication any had taken place by ...

Asian markets boosted by fresh trade hopes after troubled week

India's latest Olympic quota holder, Sanjeev Rajput on Friday  said he was "under pressure and disturbed" after one of his shots was recorded as zero due to a scoring equipment malfunction in the ISSF World Cup here.
Staging a remarkable recovery, Rajput secured India's eighth Olympic quota in shooting with a silver medal in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions event of the World Cup on Thursday.
The 38-year-old shot 462 in the final to finish second on the podium behind Petar Gorsa of Croatia (462.2).
"I was a little disturbed throughout the qualification as one of my shots was recorded as a zero," the two-time Olympian said.
"We then protested and fired an extra shot, which was a 10 and I qualified comfortably.
"In fact we are still in protest and my score should be 1181 and not 1180."
Rajput could have won the gold but for an 8.8 in the last shot, which saw him miss his second World Cup yellow metal, after the one he had won in 2011, by a slender 0.2 point margin to Gorsa, who had won ..

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