US lawmakers ask Mandelson to testify to Congress over Epstein relationship

A picture


Peter Mandelson has been asked to testify to the US Congress over his relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein,Robert Garcia, ranking member of the committee on oversight and government reform, and congressman Suhas Subramanyam have written to Mandelson requesting he be questioned as part of the investigation into Epstein,The letter said: “While you no longer serve as British ambassador to the United States and have stepped down from the House of Lords, it is clear that you possessed extensive social and business ties to Jeffrey Epstein and hold critical information pertaining to our investigation of Epstein’s operations,“Given the appalling allegations regarding Epstein’s conduct, we request that you make yourself available for a transcribed interview with Committee staff regarding the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators,”In the letter, the members point out instances where Mandelson was photographed or mentioned in the 3.

5m Epstein files released in the past fortnight,The former UK ambassador to the US has been given until the end of the month to respond,Mandelson is also being investigated by the Metropolitan police for alleged misconduct in a public office after allegations that he passed market-sensitive information to Epstein when he was business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government in 2009,Officers have searched two properties connected to the former member of the House of Lords as part of its investigation,Mandelson has denied any criminal wrongdoing.

Garcia and Subramanyam made a similar request to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to testify last year.Andrew has consistently denied any wrongdoing.The former prince failed to respond to an interview request from the committee in November, prompting Keir Starmer to say those with “relevant information” should share it.Mandelson resigned from the House of Lords and relinquished his membership of the Labour party earlier this month over his links to the late convicted child sex offender Epstein.The former cabinet minister was sacked as US ambassador in September because of his past connections to the disgraced financier.

trendingSee all
A picture

Trump ‘plans to roll back’ some metal tariffs; US inflation weaker than expected in January - business live

Time to wrap up…US inflation moderated in January to 2.4%, an easing after Donald Trump’s tariffs triggered price fluctuations last year.Prices rose 0.2% from December to January, according to data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday measuring the consumer price index (CPI), which measures the price of a basket of goods and services. Core CPI, which strips out the volatile food and energy industries, went up 0

A picture

Penalty notice: Euro Car Parks fined £473,000 for ignoring regulator

Euro Car Parks is infamous for dishing out fines but the private parking company has been hit with an almost £475,000 penalty of its own after it failed to hand over information to a regulator.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had imposed a £473,000 fine after the company did not respond for three months to seven requests for information, including by registered post, email and hand-delivered letter.It is the first time the CMA has issued a penalty under the new fining powers it was given in 2024.The regulator sends out “information notices” to companies when deciding whether to open an investigation, and businesses have a legal obligation to comply.The CMA said Euro Car Parks, which provides payment systems in car parks, only responded after it raised the spectre of a fine

A picture

Elon Musk’s xAI faces second lawsuit over toxic pollutants from datacenter

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI is facing a second lawsuit alleging it is illegally emitting toxic pollutants from its enormous datacenters, which house its supercomputers and run the chatbot Grok.The new pending suit alleges xAI is violating the Clean Air Act and was filed Friday by the storied civil rights group the NAACP. The group’s 40-page notice of intent to sue alleges xAI has been polluting Black communities near its facility in Southaven, Mississippi. The pollution comes from more than a dozen portable methane gas generators that xAI set up without permits, the notice alleges.The NAACP’s first notice of intent to sue was filed last June and involves similar allegations regarding the company’s datacenter in Memphis, Tennessee

A picture

AI is indeed coming – but there is also evidence to allay investor fears

The message from investors to the software, wealth management, legal services and logistics industries this month has been clear: AI is coming for your business.The release of new, ever more powerful AI tools has coincided with a stock market slide, which has swept up sectors as diverse as drug distribution, commercial property and price comparison sites. Advances in the technology are giving increasing credulity to predictions that it could render millions of white-collar jobs obsolete – or, at least, eat into the profits of established companies.Carl Benedikt Frey, the author of How Progress Ends and an associate professor of AI and work at the University of Oxford, says investors are reassessing the value of companies that rely heavily on selling software or specialist knowledge.“AI turns once-scarce expertise into output that’s cheaper, faster, and increasingly comparable, which compresses margins long before whole jobs disappear

A picture

Six Nations: Storming Scotland stun England to seal Calcutta Cup glory

Certain wins feel bigger than others and, for Scotland, this result will reverberate for ages. Reclaiming the Calcutta Cup is always sweet but convincingly ending England’s 12-Test unbeaten record was a glorious bonus. For Gregor Townsend and his side, under pressure after their opening round defeat in Rome, this was some riposte to their criticsUltimately, it was not even close. Two tries by Huw Jones, a hard-nosed collective effort from the Scottish pack and a typically artful display from Finn Russell were simply too much for an England team who had dared to believe this week that their previous tartan traumas were behind them. Instead, they were outplayed and tactically out-thought by Townsend and his coaching staff and have now won just two of the past nine meetings between the nations

A picture

Scotland 31-20 England: Six Nations player ratings from Murrayfield

Tom Jordan Solid under high ball, did his bit in a cohesive attacking display from Gregor Townsend’s fluent backline. 7Kyle Steyn Profound threat with powerful, direct running – and he kept coming all game. Quite a contrast between his scintillating performance and Henry Arundell’s. 9 Player of the matchHuw Jones Ran the length for decisive try after George Ford was charged down. Confident early finish helped establish home supremacy