News Headlines - 28 August 2019

▽Boris Johnson asks Queen to suspend parliament | The Guardian

Boris Johnson has set up an extraordinary confrontation with MPs when they return to Westminster next week by announcing that he has asked the Queen to suspend parliament for five weeks from mid-September.
The prime minister claimed there would be “ample time” to debate Brexit, as he wrote to MPs on Wednesday, saying he had spoken to the Queen and asked her to suspend parliament from “the second sitting week in September”. Later on Wednesday the Queen approved the order.
MPs will then not return to Westminster until 14 October, when he said there would be a new Queen’s speech, setting out what he called a “bold and ambitious domestic legislative agenda for the renewal of our country after Brexit”.

▽Jeffrey Epstein accuser urges Prince Andrew to 'come clean' - BBC News

A woman who accused the late financier Jeffrey Epstein of sex abuse and alleged she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew as a 17-year-old has urged the UK royal to "come clean".
Speaking after a hearing for alleged victims in the wake of Epstein's death, Virginia Giuffre told reporters the prince "knows what he's done".
The Duke of York denies the accusation.

▽About 160,000 People in New York to See Their Marijuana Convictions Disappear - The New York Times

New York began the process of expunging many of those records, as part of a new state law to reduce penalties associated with marijuana-related crimes, a spokesman for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo confirmed... Under the new law, which was passed in June and took effect on Wednesday, about 160,000 people with marijuana convictions in the state will have those convictions cleared from their record, according to a spokeswoman for the State Division of Criminal Justice Services.

▽Toyota pulls Suzuki firmly into its orbit through stake deal - Reuters

Toyota Motor Corp and Suzuki Motor Corp will take small equity stakes in each other, the Japanese car makers said on Wednesday, as they seek to develop newer technologies and meet sweeping changes upending the global auto industry... Toyota will pay around 96 billion yen ($910 million) for a 4.94% stake in Suzuki, while Suzuki will acquire in the market around 48 billion yen worth of shares in Toyota. That is equivalent to 0.2% of Toyota’s shares as of Wednesday’s closing price, before the announcement.

▽French investigators focus on Dentsu partner in sports corruption probe - Reuters

French authorities investigating corruption in international sports believe a Swiss partner of Japanese advertising giant Dentsu Inc played a “central and essential role” in deals used to embezzle sponsorship money and have asked Switzerland to raid its office and seize evidence, according to a person with knowledge of the probe and documents related to the case reviewed by Reuters.