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Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has been plunged into a fresh row over his holiday after sources told the Mail on Sunday that he had refused an order by No.10 to return from the Mediterranean to deal with the Afghanistan crisis. The sources said Mr Raab had been told by a senior Downing Street official on Friday 13th August that he should return to London immediately as the situation in Kabul deteriorated, and that there had been 'much gnashing of teeth' when he delayed his homecoming until the early hours of Monday morning. The claim is strongly denied by friends of Mr Raab, who insist that he was assured by Boris Johnson that he could stay with his family until the end of the weekend. The Cabinet Minister has faced a torrent of criticism for staying on holiday as Kabul fell into the extremists' hands, and for omitting to call the Afghan foreign minister to seek help for translators stranded in the country. Sources said Mr Raab had been told by a senior Downing Street offic

Five Major League Baseball players are prepared to testify against the former Los Angeles Angels employee who allegedly gave them drugs similar to the ones that caused the fatal overdose of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs in 2019. According to court documents filed late Friday, federal prosecutors will present testimony from 'approximately' five players who will say they received oxycodone pills from Eric Kay, former director of communications for the Angels, The Los Angeles Times reported.  Kay was described as the 'singular source' of oxycodone pills for some players as far back as 2017. He allegedly supplied some players with 'two to three pills, while others would ask for up to 20 pills.'  It was unclear whether the players who will testify are with the Angels, with other teams or still active.  Eric Kay was indicted by a federal grand jury in on drug charges for allegedly providing Tyler Skaggs with the fentanyl-laced drugs that caused his overdose death. Now

RAF chiefs are rejecting fewer applicants than five years ago, leading to fears the Air Force might be lowering its standards to keep recruitment numbers up. The RAF has long been famous for having the strictest recruitment policy in the British military, rejecting more applicants than the Army and the Navy. In the past, even having a visible tattoo was a bar to joining the Air Force. But latest Ministry of Defence figures show that over the past five years, its rejection rate has fallen by 20 percentage points. Critics say this has coincided with all three forces facing a crisis over recruitment, and claim standards have been lowered to get less-able applicants through the vetting process. Ministry of Defence figures show that over the past five years, its rejection rate has fallen by 20 percentage points. The data, lodged in the House of Commons library, shows that in 2015/16, there were 22,107 applications at the RAF, with 13,830 being rejected – a rejection rate of 62.6 per cent. B

Clearly, no one told Florence Pugh never to work with animals or children. The Little Women star is having to cope with both in her latest period drama, The Wonder – although, judging by these pictures of her on set, the 25-year-old found it no hardship at all. Oscar-nominated Ms Pugh, who is filming in County Wicklow, Ireland, has certainly hit it off with one of her canine co-stars – Mo, an eight-year-old whippet. An onlooker said: 'Mo took a shine to Florence and in between takes she kept going over to pet him. 'It was lovely to watch.' Oscar-nominated Ms Pugh, who is filming in County Wicklow, Ireland, has certainly hit it off with one of her canine co-stars – Mo, an eight-year-old whippet She is also working with youngster Kíla Lord Cassidy, who plays Anna O'Donnell, a devout girl said to have survived without food for months. Ms Pugh stars as 19th Century nurse Lib Wright, who is sent to rural Ireland to care for the 11-year-old. The actress appears to have found

A growing number of seaside resorts are banning the sale of cheap bodyboards amid fears about pollution and safety. The boards, many of which are made in China and which can be bought for as little as 60p online, are hugely popular. But thousands of them are abandoned every year, while many crumple after just a couple of uses.  Holly Robertson is the beach manager at Croyde Bay Devon. with cheap plastic bodyboards causing polystyrene  Most disintegrate into tiny plastic fragments that are almost impossible to remove from the beach. Now seaside shops are removing them after calls for a nationwide ban. ‘We find thousands of these boards on the beaches,’ said Neil Hembrow, of Keep Britain Tidy.  ‘They’re imported from China or Asia and they last a very short time, perhaps even just one surf.  'They’re made of two inches of cheap polystyrene covered with nylon, sometimes a plastic sheet.  'But a single wave can weigh up to a ton. So the impact on these boards makes them snap. ‘We’r

A rare bottle of whisky salvaged by The Mail on Sunday from a shipwreck that inspired the film Whisky Galore! has fetched a record £12,925. The sum is thought to be the highest ever paid at auction for a single bottle of Scotch from the wreck of the SS Politician, which ran aground in 1941 near the island of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides. The blended whisky was recovered during a dive sponsored by the MoS in 1987, and offered as the first prize in a poem competition won by Donald McLaren of Dundee, who passed away aged 78 in 2016. Mr McLaren’s daughter, Nicola Hastie, offered the bottle in The Grand Whisky Auction’s online sale, where it attracted global interest, and a bidding war saw the price soar to double its £5,000-£6,000 estimate. The ship SS Politician was loaded with whiskey. The sinking of the ship inspired Whisky Galore! Mrs Hastie, 57, who will share the proceeds with brother Andrew, said: ‘It was amazing. Dad was an avid reader of The Mail on Sunday and read it from cover

Prince Andrew will be allowed to stay on as colonel of the Grenadier Guards even though he most likely won't return to public duties after sexual assault accusations emerged against him.   The Queen has reportedly announced she will let her son the Duke of York, 61, stay on in his honorary role despite the allegations he denies.  But military chiefs fear that him not being able to perform public duties will embarrass the forces.   The Queen has reportedly announced she will let her son the Duke of York, 61, stay on in his honorary role despite the allegations he denies A senior military source told The Times: 'The Queen has let it be known to the regiment that she wants the Duke of York to remain as colonel and the feeling is that nobody wants to do anything that could cause upset to the colonel-in-chief... 'How can you have a colonel who can't perform the role? ...You can't have a colonel who can't do public duties.'  Prince Andrew has also kept other hon

Household food waste rocketed after lockdown ended as families slipped back into bad habits, a major new survey has revealed. Waste fell by as much as 43 per cent at the height of Covid restrictions as families spent more time in the kitchen planning and cooking meals.  However, it shot back up to pre-pandemic levels as the economy reopened this summer, according to the campaign Love Food Hate Waste. The Mail on Sunday’s War on Food Waste campaign is calling on every household to cut their food waste by 30 per cent to help protect the environment Its report, which will be published tomorrow, put the sudden rise down to more people eating out at restaurants and the return of busy lifestyles, which make it harder for people to plan meals that use up all the food in their fridges.  The survey of 4,172 people was carried out in late June, several weeks before the July 19 ‘Freedom Day’ in England, which is expected to have pushed food waste even higher. The Mail on Sunday’s War on Food Wast

Two people were left trapped underneath giant granite boulders after they fell at a holiday hotspot in Cornwall.  The boulders fell on top of a couple in the village of Madron and emergency services including an air ambulance rushed to the scene near Penzance just before 4.15pm today.  Firefighters helped to remove the boulders with crash rescue tools and lifting equipment.   The boulders fell on top of a couple in the village of Madron and emergency services including an air ambulance rushed to the scene near Penzance just before 4.15pm today. Stock picture It is believed the couple were taken to hospital where they are being treated for their injuries.   A spokesman for Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said: 'Critical control received a call from ambulance requesting our attendance to assist their crews in removing large granite boulders that had fallen on top of two persons. 'Crews used crash rescue and specialist lifting equipment to release the persons.' Firefighters h

If you want to understand the horrifying return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan, you could delve into the history of a mountain nation that repeatedly repels foreign invaders.  Or you could consider the saga of nine Italian goats.  These animals from Tuscany were airlifted into the country as part of a £4.4 million scheme planned by the Pentagon to help the Afghan cashmere industry and create thousands of jobs. The blond billy goats were sent to breed with darker females to boost the yield and quality of the luxury wool from nine million local goats.  But several fell sick, their newly designed home was too small, huge food costs made the plans unsustainable, the intended Afghan partner pulled out, and the project chief quit in dismay.  Those in charge could not even tell if the unfortunate goats ended up in a cooking pot. ‘We don’t know,’ said John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. ‘This was so poorly managed.’ This farcical scheme perfectly s