NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the Western military alliance will continue to strengthen its partnership with Japan, adding that “our security is closely interconnected” as Russia’s war on Ukraine raises global dangers.

Arriving in Tokyo from South Korea on Monday where he had urged Seoul to increase its military support for Ukraine, Stoltenberg said his trip was aimed at strengthening relations between NATO and “our highly valued partner” Japan.

“The war in Ukraine also demonstrates that our security is closely interconnected,” Stoltenberg said on Tuesday during a visit at the Iruma Air Base north of Tokyo.

“If President Vladimir Putin wins in Ukraine it will be a tragedy for the Ukrainians, but it will also send a very dangerous message to authoritarian leaders all over the world because then the message will be that when they use military force they can achieve their goals,” he said.

“The war in Ukraine matters for all of us, and therefore we’re also very grateful for the support that Japan is providing, using also the planes and the cargo capabilities,” Stoltenberg added.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has sounded alarm that Russia’s aggression in Europe could happen in Asia, where concerns are growing over China’s escalating tension with Taiwan as well as threats from North Korea.

Already a close ally of the United States, Japan has in recent years expanded its military ties with other Indo-Pacific nations as well as the United Kingdom, Europe and NATO. “Japan was also quick to join the US-led economic sanctions against Russia, and the country has also provided humanitarian aid and non-combative defence equipment for the Ukrainians.”

In a crucial break from its post-World War II principle that limited Japan to self-defence, Tokyo unveiled a new national security strategy in December that will see a large increase in its military capabilities, including the deployment of long-range missiles to preempt enemy attacks. Japan also hopes to further ease restrictions on arms export to strengthen the country’s feeble defence industry.

Stoltenberg is set to meet Kishida and hold a joint news conference later on Tuesday.

Aljazeera /Shakirat Sadiq

The death toll has risen to 92 people after a mosque suicide bombing which targeted policemen in the city of Peshawar in Pakistan.

The mosque is within a high-security police headquarters area and a probe is under way into how the bomber got in.

Pakistan’s PM and other leaders have condemned Monday’s attack – one of the worst in the country in recent years.

“The Pakistani Taliban has denied involvement after an initial claim by one of its commanders.”

On Tuesday, rescuers scrambled to retrieve worshippers buried in the rubble, pulling out nine people alive but recovering a further 24 bodies. No-one remained trapped, local officials said.

“Terrorists want to create fear by targeting those who perform the duty of defending Pakistan,” said PM Shehbaz Sharif. He declared a national day of mourning.

Ambulances racing in and out of the compound every few minutes. Reports said

A hospital spokesman confirmed that more than 100 remained wounded. Meanwhile, funerals have been carried out for more than 20 police officers, their coffins draped with the Pakistan flag.

Between 300 and 400 police officers had been in the area at the time, Peshawar police chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan earlier told local media.

The mosque is in one of the most heavily controlled areas of the city, which includes police headquarters and intelligence and counter-terrorism bureaus. On Tuesday, local media lined the road outside the gates – the closest that security would allow.

Mr Sharif said those behind the attack had “nothing to do with Islam.” He added: “The entire nation is standing united against the menace of terrorism.”

The Pakistan Taliban – a group separate to Afghanistan’s Taliban government – ended a ceasefire in November, and violence has been on the rise in the country since.

December it targeted a police station – like Peshawar, in the north-west of the country – leading to the deaths of 33 militants.

Monday’s blast took place around 13:30 (08:30 GMT) during afternoon prayers in the north-western city, which is near the country’s border with Afghanistan.

BBC /Shakirat Sadiq

Almost 650 people have been charged in a four-day police blitz targeting “dangerous” domestic violence offenders in Australia, police say.

Some 1,153 charges – for domestic violence, drugs and weapons – were laid during the operation in New South Wales last week.

Police also seized an array of illegal items, such as guns, a sword and drugs.

Australia has a huge domestic violence problem and police spend more time responding to the crime than any other.

Of the 648 people charged during “Operation Amarok” last week, 164 were among the state’s most wanted domestic violence offenders, says police.

Some had warrants out for their arrests, while others had breached court-issued protection orders – known as apprehended violence orders, AVO, the NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said.

“We had grave concerns for victims so we targeted them,” she said.

“Some of them have been hard to find… avoiding police… which is why we had this big concerted effort.”

Among those charged was a 22-year-old man police allege choked his partner until she blacked out during an argument.

Another was a 51-year-old man who police have charged with ‘stalking’ a woman and fitting a’ tracking device’ to her car. Police also seized registered firearms from his home, putting his gun licence under review.

And from another property police seized two daggers, a double-edged sword and metal knuckledusters, arresting two people on robbery offences.

Deputy Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon on Tuesday said the force’s new strategy of targeting high risk offenders is “aimed at stopping violence before it escalates to homicide,” adding NSW police had responded to 17 domestic violence murders last year alone.

One in five Australians report experiencing physical or sexual domestic violence from age 15, according to the most recent national statistics, from 2016. It is most common for this type of violence to be perpetrated against women, by men.

The UN has said violence against women in Australia is “disturbingly common,” but experts say it is not an outlier among developed nations.

BBC /Shakirat Sadiq

A precautionary state of emergency has been declared in New Zealand’s most northern region as parts of the country prepare for more extreme weather.

Emergency service personnel in Northland are warning the area could see unprecedented levels of rain over Tuesday into Wednesday.

The warnings come after the city of Auckland was hit hard by flooding on Friday.

Four people were killed and thousands of homes have been ‘damaged.’

“There are concerns that further heavy rainfall forecast for Tuesday could cause even more destruction to the city due to blocked storm water drains.”

Physical attendance at Auckland schools has been suspended until 7 February in anticipation of further bad weather and the need to keep roads clear to repair critical infrastructure.

Auckland Airport, where hundreds of people were left stranded after all international and domestic flights were grounded on Friday, has sandbags and pumps ready in “preparation for more potential flooding.”

Parts of some major motorways north of Auckland remain closed due to large slips caused by Friday’s downpour and local media are reporting that new ones are now blocking roads.

The country’s new prime minister, Chris Hipkins, said over the weekend that he believed Friday’s extreme weather was the result of ‘climate change.’

“It’s a one-in-one hundred weather event and we seem to be getting a lot of them at the moment,” he said. “I think people can see there’s a message in that.”

It is the first time Northland has been put under a red weather warning, New Zealand’s highest alarm – with 200mm, 7.9in, of rain expected to fall in some parts of the region.

Residents in vulnerable areas have been told to prepare to evacuate if necessary.

Meteorologists also say flooding is possible in other parts of the North Island and at the bottom of the South Island.

Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has said his country “stands ready to support New Zealand as needed” – assistance Mr Hipkins has said he will “absolutely” take up if appropriate.

BBC /Shakirat Sadiq

Ukraine’s defence minister is expected in Paris on Tuesday to meet President Emmanuel Macron amid a debate among Kyiv’s allies over whether to provide fighter jets for its war against Russia, after U.S. President Joe Biden ruled out giving F-16s.

Ukraine planned to push for Western fourth-generation fighters like F-16s after securing supplies of main battle tanks last week, an adviser to Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Friday.

Asked at the White House on Monday if the United States would provide F-16s, Biden told reporters: “No.”

But France and Poland appear to be willing to entertain any such request from Ukraine, with Macron telling reporters in The Hague on Monday that “by definition, nothing is excluded” when it comes to military assistance.

In remarks carried on French television before Biden spoke in Washington, Macron stressed any such move would depend on several factors including the need to avoid escalation and assurances that the aircraft would not “touch Russian soil.” He said Reznikov would also meet his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu in Paris on Tuesday.

In Poland on Monday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also did not rule out a possible supply of F-16s to neighbouring Ukraine, in response to a question from a reporter before Biden spoke.

Morawiecki said in remarks posted on his website that any such transfer would take place “in complete coordination” with NATO countries.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukraine president’s office, noted “positive signals” from Poland and said France “does not exclude” such a move in separate posts on his Telegram channel.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg was in Japan on Tuesday where he thanked Tokyo for the “planes and the cargo capabilities” it is providing Ukraine. A day earlier in South Korea he urged Seoul to increase its military support to Ukraine.

Biden’s comment came shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had begun exacting its revenge for Ukraine’s resistance to its invasion with relentless attacks in the east, where it appeared to be making incremental gains.

Zelenskiy has warned for weeks that Moscow “aims to step up its assault” after about two months of virtual stalemate along the front line that stretches across the south and east.

Ukraine won a huge boost last week when Germany and the United States announced plans to provide heavy tanks, ending weeks of diplomatic deadlock on the issue.

While there was no sign of a broader new Russian offensive, the administrator of Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province, Denis Pushilin, said “Russian troops had secured a foothold in Vuhledar, a coal-mining town whose ruins have been a Ukrainian bastion since the outset of the war.”

Pushilin said that despite “huge losses” Ukrainian forces were consolidating positions in industrial facilities.

Reuters /Shakirat Sadiq