Former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is due to be questioned this morning by a parliamentary committee investigating the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The pipeline, along with the earlier built Nord Stream 1, was meant to transport cheap Russian gas to Germany, but certification was halted by Scholz after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Both pipelines were then hit by explosions in September 2022 and currently lie damaged and unused, beneath the Baltic Sea.
Peter Mandelson's messages to Jeffrey Epstein were disturbing and sickening and it's important that we get to the bottom of this, a minister has said while insisting the PM retains confidence in the US ambassador. Mike Tapp, the immigration minister, said he was personally disturbed the emails Mandelson sent Epstein in 2008 while he faced charges for soliciting sex from underage girls, and that they left a bad taste in the mouth.
Labour Party MP Liam Byrne, who chairs the House of Commons Business and Trade Select Committee, asked Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in a letter on Wednesday for clarification and information about its work in the besieged enclave, adding that the query was part of the committee's scrutiny of the UK's commercial, political and humanitarian links to the conflict.