Today's items of interest for Defence includes the Lords EU report on migration, a Supreme Court ruling on Iraqi legal claims and the Invictus Games.
Iraq legal claim
The Sun, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and Daily Star report that the Supreme Court has ruled that a number of Iraqi citizens have left it too late to sue MOD over alleged complaints of abuse. Articles report that more than 600 Iraqi civilians attempting to sue the British military for wrongful detention and mistreatment have had their claims blocked in a Supreme Court judgment.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:
There is a pernicious industry trying to profit from dubious claims lodged against our Armed Forces years after the alleged incidents. We are determined to tackle it and this judgement, which will save the taxpayer millions, is a big step in the right direction. Defence spending should go on defence, not into lawyers' pockets.
Lords Migration report
BBC bulletins and The Daily Mail report on a House of Lords EU Committee report on operation Sophia, the mission to disrupt people smuggling in the South Central Mediterranean.
A Government spokesperson said:
Operation Sophia has already saved more than 13,700 lives in the Mediterranean but we want to go further and are working with allies to expand its scope. We are committed to maximising Sophia's impact to the disruption of people traffickers by seizing and destroying boats and identifying smugglers for arrest. We are working closely with allies and partners in the EU to achieve this and to move the operation on to the next phase. We have also extended HMS Enterprise's deployment and will assess what other ships we could offer.
RAF interception
The Times, The Sun and Daily Mirror report that RAF Typhoons intercepted three Russian aircraft yesterday as part of the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission.
Read our report on the patrol here.
Bath wartime bomb
It is being widely reported, including on BBC Breakfast, that hundreds of homes in Bath have been evacuated after a 500lb Second World War bomb was found yesterday. The report noted that 250 tonnes of sand are being brought in to build a barrier around the bomb before the military explosive team will make the ordinance safe and then remove it for disposal.
Invictus Games
BBC Breakfast interviewed Zoe Williams live about her success at the games and spoke about her gold and silver medal victories. She noted that the athletes had been to the closing ceremony and that lives had changed over the course of the Games. Zoe stated that she injured her back whilst training with the Royal Navy and spoke about her time at Headley Court and how her time there rekindled her desire for competition. The Daily Mirror carries a report on the games, saying that swimmer Elizabeth Marks received a kiss from Prince Harry as he awarded her a gold medal for victory in the 100m freestyle. The article notes that the US Sergeant asked Prince Harry to give the medal to Papworth Hospital where she says health workers saved her life when she fell ill at the Invictus Games in London.
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