Raab under pressure
Labour has said Boris Johnson should consider sacking Dominic Raab for delegating a key phone call about the rescue of Afghan translators from the Taliban while he was on holiday.
The Foreign Secretary reportedly asked Zac Goldsmith, a junior minister, to call the Afghan foreign minister about an airlift, rather than taking the call himself.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said: “He couldn’t even make one phone call? Why is he still in the job?”
As the efforts to evacuate continue, the question turns to rehoming the Afghan migrants.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer understandably said Britain must be “generous and welcoming” but Tom Harris points out how he could benefit from taking notes on what was said by Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester.
Meanwhile, a Sage scientist said ministers breached their own guidance by failing to wear a mask in the House of Commons.
Afghan footballer dies
As more people desperately try to leave Afghanistan, more tragic stories emerge.
An Afghan teenager who died after becoming trapped in the landing gear of a US evacuation flight has been identified as a former national youth team footballer who feared the Taliban would “crush his dreams”.
Zaki Anwari, 19, had clung to the wheel of the US C-17 military plane as it took off from Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International airport.
It has also emerged that a five-year-old boy who fell to his death from a hotel window in Sheffield was an Afghan refugee who had been in the country for a matter of days after fleeing the Taliban with his family.
Comment and analysis
Around the world: Nuclear plant data tampering claim
Japan’s atomic energy regulator has halted a safety screening at a nuclear plant after accusing the operator of falsifying data about a geological fault that runs directly beneath one of the plant’s two reactors. The Tsuruga nuclear plant has been shut down since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, despite being some 500km away from it. Julian Ryall reveals officials are now alleging that plant data has been falsified about a geological fault to stop it being decommissioned – which the operator denies.
Thursday interview
Pat Barker: The Booker list can feel like a box-ticking exercise
Source: Telegraph
