LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Tuesday it would strengthen the army’s long-range capabilities by spending £190 million ($254.22 million) on the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) program, buying a weapon which can neutralize targets up to 500 kilometers away.  The PrSM procurement will strengthen Britain’s contribution to NATO deterrence, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement, adding that the ‌first deliveries could ‌be received in 2027. The next-generation supersonic ballistic missiles are built by Lockheed Martin and the program is a collaboration between the U.S. and Australia. Britain said it could join work to further develop the missile in future. 

 

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 TOKYO(AFP) - Japan said Tuesday it expelled two Chinese coast guard ships from waters near disputed islands also claimed by Beijing. The Chinese ships were approaching a Japanese fishing vessel operating in the area, Japan’s coast guard said. The two countries have a long-running territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyu in China — which lie between Taiwan and Japan’s Okinawa. They have figured for decades in bilateral tensions, which have worsened since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made comments about Taiwan in November that angered Beijing.

 

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ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistani security forces killed 15 militants in a joint clearance operation after an overnight attack on a police post in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province left nine police officers dead, a provincial government spokesman said on Tuesday. The assault targeted a police post in the remote Ziarat district, where militants launched a pre-dawn attack that triggered a gunbattle. The attack marked the latest escalation in militant violence in Balochistan, where separatist insurgents and militants have stepped up attacks on security forces in recent years.

 

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PARIS (Reuters) -A French appeals court on Tuesday upheld Marine Le Pen’s conviction for misusing EU funds but shortened her ban on running for ‌elected office, ‌potentially re-opening a ‌path for the far-right leader to run in the 2027 presidential race. However, the court ruled Le Pen serve a three-year ‌jail term. ‌ Although the court ‌said two years ‌were suspended, it ordered her to wear an electronic ankle tag ‌for one year, making a presidential campaign politically and logistically difficult.

 

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CARACAS (AFP) - The death toll from Venezuela’s twin earthquakes has risen to 3,535, authorities said, while nearly 18,000 people remain homeless more than a week after the disaster struck the capital and nearby coastal areas. Top lawmaker Jorge Rodriguez said the latest official tally showed 16,740 people injured and 17,854 left without housing after the June 24 quakes, which measured magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 and struck within seconds of each other. The new figures underscore the scale of the disaster ‌in and around Caracas ‌and La Guaira, the coastal area hit hardest, as criticism mounts ‌over the government’s response.

 

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that Europe could face “more deadly weeks” ahead, with another intense heatwave forming over the Atlantic. Here are more details: Temperatures in Portugal and ‌southern Spain are expected to climb to 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit) in the coming days. WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge held an emergency call on Monday with representatives from 41 countries in the region, the European Commission and civil society groups to discuss lessons from the recent heatwave and preparations for the next one. Kluge said in a statement that countries with heat-health action plans in place responded more quickly and better protected their populations during the June heatwave. However, he said that less than half of WHO’s European member states had such a plan in place.