Four-star U.S. General Philip Breedlove assumed command of NATO Monday, promising to bolster the 28-member military alliance as it prepares for a difficult withdrawal from Afghanistan next year.

Breedlove, 57, formally took over from U.S. Admiral James Stavridis as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) at a ceremony in Mons, southern Belgium, presided over by NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Three Chinese government ships remained in the waters of disputed Tokyo-controlled islands for nearly 12 hours on Monday, Japan's coastguard said, as a long-running row shows no sign of fading.

Maritime surveillance vessels were spotted in the 12-nautical-mile zone off the Senkaku islands, which China calls the Diaoyus, in the East China Sea shortly after 9:00 am (0000 GMT), the coastguard said.

Failed Socialist presidential contender Segolene Royal said Monday that French President Francois Hollande had moved too slowly on reforms and there was a feeling of "lost time" with the government.

Royal, who is also Hollande's ex-partner and has four children with the president, told newspaper Le Monde that his first year in office was marked by a lack of action.

Iranian police have denied killing a group of Afghans trying to cross the border illegally into the Islamic republic, local media reported Monday.

"We do not confirm this report," said Iran's deputy border commander Colonel Hamid Sharghi in remarks reported by the Aftab daily.

Natural disasters ranging from floods to earthquakes forced 32.4 million people to flee their homes worldwide last year, watchdog group the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center said Monday.

While Asia and west and central Africa bore the brunt, 1.3 million were displaced in rich countries, with Hurricane Sandy in the United States accounting for 900,000 alone, the Geneva-based IMDC said.

Pakistan's incoming prime minister said Monday he wanted to strengthen his country's fractious relations with the United States but warned Washington must take seriously their concerns about drone strikes.

Nawaz Sharif, who won an unprecedented third term in Saturday's general election, said the U.S. would have Pakistan's "full support" as it withdraws the bulk of its forces from Afghanistan by the end of next year.

The purported head of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram has claimed two recent deadly attacks in the northeast in a video obtained by Agence France Presse Monday, which also depicts women and children apparently being held hostage.

The video features Abubakar Shekau, declared a global terrorist by the United States, seated on a rug with a kalashnikov resting behind his right shoulder.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino called for calm Monday amid an escalating dispute with Taiwan over the death of a Taiwanese fisherman in an incident involving the Filipino coastguard.

Aquino said Manila's de facto embassy in Taiwan was in talks with Taiwanese foreign ministry officials and had assured them an investigation was being carried out into last week's incident in which the fisherman was shot dead.

A bomb killed 13 civilians including women and children in southern Afghanistan on Monday as they traveled to attend the funeral of earlier bomb victims, police said.

It was the latest violence since the Taliban launched their annual "spring offensive" on April 27, opening a crucial period for the country as its security forces take the lead in offensives against the insurgents.

Three Emiratis arrested in Tanzania after a deadly attack on a church there a week ago have been freed and are back home, the Al-Khaleej daily reported on Monday.

Tanzanian authorities had arrested them "because they happened, by chance, to be at the site of the attack," the paper said, citing tweets of the United Arab Emirates foreign ministry.