Included in today’s broadcast news is reporting that Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond will meet his American counterpart in London for the latest round of talks on defeating ISIL.
Forces Recruitment
Following the Defence Secretary’s speech at the Asian Achievers Awards last night, The Independent writes that Britain's Army, Navy and Air Force will have to hire 30% more recruits from an ethnic minority background by the end of the decade under plans to improve diversity in the Armed Forces. It is reported that Michael Fallon has told service chiefs that by 2020 at least 10% of all new joiners will have come from a non-white background and that he also wants to see the Armed Forces introduce schemes to improve minority representation at the most senior ranks. The paper says that MOD sources said a priority was to encourage more British Muslims to join the Army and to remove perceptions that joining would lead to isolation from communities.
Pirbright Recruit Death
The Telegraph reports that a recruit who died during initial Army training was on her first fitness run, just three days into her career. The paper writes that Megan Park, 21, collapsed after the "light" mile-and-a-half exercise in gym kit and that Army sources said the run was to assess the fitness of recruits and natural causes are thought to be the cause of death. The Sun meanwhile says that Megan died 17 minutes into her first training session.
The Army released the below statement earlier this week:
We can confirm that a recruit has died while undergoing initial training at the Army Training Centre (ATC) Pirbright.
The incident is being investigated and it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.
We offer our condolences to the family and ask that you respect their privacy while they come to terms with their sudden loss.
Taliban Advance
The Guardian writes that Taliban fighters were encroaching on the Kajaki district in Helmand province yesterday, threatening a prestigious aid project that was built to power southern Afghanistan and holds huge symbolic importance for the international coalition.
Loch Fyne Death
The Sun reports that an investigation has been launched after a charity worker died after falling from a Royal Navy helicopter harness while being winced from Loch Fyne.
A Royal Navy spokesperson:
While all the signs were that Dr Murdoch had passed away prior to the rescue, which was confirmed by the post-mortem, our thoughts are of course with his family at this extremely difficult time. Search and rescue is a challenging and complex task which the Royal Navy conducts with professionalism in all conditions. We note Police Scotland’s statement that there were no suspicious circumstances.
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