The United States and China will on Thursday seek to tighten the UN sanctions screws on North Korea after its widely condemned nuclear bomb test last month.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has promised to "empower" Syria's opposition, while warning arch-foe Iran that time for talks on Tehran's nuclear ambitions could run out.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Iran on Sunday that Israel would never allow Iranian leaders to develop a nuclear weapon, as he addressed a powerful US-Israel lobby.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that the ball remained in Iran's court over its contested nuclear programme, though he was encouraged by new feelers being put out by Tehran and the West.
Japan on Friday insisted warnings by the WHO of a rise in the risk of cancer for people in Fukushima were overblown, saying the agency was unnecessarily stoking fears.
South Korea's new president Park Geun-Hye offered a "more flexible" engagement with North Korea on Friday if Pyongyang chooses a path of trust-building rather than provocation.
World powers and Iran were due Wednesday to respond to offers presented by both sides in a final day of talks aimed at breaking a decade of deadlock over Tehran's nuclear drive.
World powers condemned Iran just days before talks on its controversial nuclear programme, after an IAEA report said it had begun installing advanced equipment at one of its main nuclear plants.
Experts differ about the scale and immediacy of the military threat posed by North Korea's latest nuclear test, but there is little disagreement about the alarming proliferation risks it presents.