President Park Geun-Hye vowed Tuesday to strengthen South Korea's defense capabilities -- backed by a defense budget hike -- to guard against future provocations from North Korea.

At the same time, she said Seoul would try and work with Pyongyang to increase the frequency of family reunions for those separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Catalan regional assembly opened a new session Monday dominated for the first time by a secessionist majority that has vowed to break away from Spain within 18 months.

"We represent a sovereign parliament which wants to represent a free people. We are transitioning from a regional parliament with limited powers to a national parliament with full capabilities," said Carme Forcadell, the parliament's new president.

President Barack Obama will travel to Turkey for a G20 summit, followed by stops in the Philippines and Malaysia for meetings with world leaders next month, the White House said Monday.

At the G20 summit, leaders from the world's major economies are due to give final approval to a new plan to crack down on tax evasion by multinational corporations that costs countries at least $100 billion a year.

Part of the landing gear of a British Airways Boeing 737-400 with 100 people on board collapsed shortly after the jet touched down at Johannesburg on Monday after a local flight, the aircraft's operators said.

All passengers and crew escaped unhurt, they said.

Jeb Bush appeared destined to waltz to the 2016 Republican nomination, but his presidential bid has been upended to the point that even his cherished family pedigree might not be enough to salvage his flagging campaign.

Trailing badly in the polls, reportedly slashing campaign payroll by 40 percent and scaling back on travel costs, Bush is now one of many middle-of-the-pack candidates in a wide GOP field, rather than the man Republicans would naturally gravitate to as they seek to win back the White House.

In a shift, Iran is opening up to talks on its draconian use of the death penalty and other critical human rights issues, the U.N. rights expert said Monday.

But beyond a willingness to discuss U.N. grievances, Iran has yet to take concrete steps to improve its rights record, Ahmed Shaheed told reporters.

International monitors Monday called Ukraine's weekend local elections "well organized" and "democratic" but urged its pro-Western leadership to do more against political meddling by oligarchs in the war-scarred state.

President Petro Poroshenko's fragile ruling coalition faced a test of its unpopular anti-austerity measures and stuttering anti-corruption drive in mayoral and local legislature races held Sunday in areas administered by Kiev. 

South Sudan's warring government and rebel forces signed Monday a commitment to settle key security sections of a peace deal, despite having broken the pact multiple times.

The agreement is hoped to kickstart stalled talks for key military sections of an August 26 deal, including the demilitarization of the capital Juba, the positions of troops on both sides and steps towards the creation of a unified army.

A man rammed his car into the gates of a military barracks near the Belgian city of Namur on Monday and was later arrested, but there was no indication of a terror motive, a prosecutor said.

The suspect, born in the French-speaking city of Namur in 1983, "did not figure on terror watch lists" and was "practically unknown" to law-enforcement authorities, prosecutor Vincent Macq told a news briefing.

Russia said Monday its navy is holding drills off the coast of Crimea to practice thwarting an attack on the Black Sea peninsula it annexed from Ukraine last year.

"Today and tomorrow ships... will practice the organisation of repelling strikes by the enemy from the air in the Black Sea fleet's naval range near the Crimean coast," fleet spokesman Nikolai Voskresensky was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying