Prime Minister Shinzo Abe claimed his push to beef up Japan's military in the face of public and parliamentary opposition would be vindicated by history.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said that a new program to prop up Greece's finances would require creditors to restructure debt.
Greek banks will remain closed until Monday, the finance ministry said as the government raced to come up with a new proposal to present to creditors in a last-minute drive to avert a eurozone exit.
Tunisia fears more potentially destabilising "terrorist attacks," like the one that killed 38 foreign tourists last month, which is why it has imposed a state of emergency.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said a nuclear deal with Western powers was "within reach" and could open the way to joint action against extremism.
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the leaders of emerging powers for a summit Moscow hopes will show it not isolated despite the standoff with the West over Ukraine.
Microsoft announced plans to cut 7,800 jobs and write down the value of its struggling mobile phone division acquired last year from Nokia by some $7.6 billion.
President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev is sure rapprochement between the Eurasian Economic Union of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan and and the 28-nation European Union is going to take place.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is to meet world leaders including China's Xi Jingping and India's Narendra Modi ahead of the start of a summit of the BRICS emerging economies.