Former president Ali Abdullah Saleh affirmed his support on Wednesday for Yemen's unity in the face of calls by southerners for secession, which he said are backed by Iran.

"No to secession... Our people in the south are with unity," Saleh said in a rare public appearance in Sanaa's Sabiin Square before thousands of supporters.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw a live-fire artillery drill aimed at simulating an "actual war", state media said Tuesday, a day after South Korea swore in its first female president.

"An endless barrage of shells were fired by artillery pieces on 'enemy positions', their roar rocking heaven and earth, and all of them were enveloped in flames," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Iran said Saturday it will not go beyond its obligations nor accept anything outside its rights under the non-proliferation treaty, ahead of talks with major powers over its disputed nuclear drive.

"We will not accept anything beyond our obligations and will not accept anything less than our rights," said the Islamic republic's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, quoted by ISNA news agency.

The International Criminal Court should be called in to probe war crimes in Syria, former U.N. prosecutor Carla del Ponte said Monday.

"The international community -- and the U.N. Security Council -- must take the decision to refer this to justice," del Ponte, the member of a U.N.-mandated commission of inquiry on the Syria conflict, told reporters.

The U.N. Security Council Friday praised plans for a national dialogue in Yemen and warned former president Ali Abdullah Saleh he could face sanctions for undermining the political transition.

Yemen's interim President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi last week set March 18 as the date for the long-awaited talks to push forward the transition process, after violent protests in 2011 and another year of political uncertainty.

North Korea can never be made to abandon its nuclear weapons program, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said Friday, arguing that only regime collapse could remove the threat from Pyongyang.

As the U.N. Security Council continues to debate how to punish the North for its latest nuclear test, the outgoing president suggested the best way forward was to try to foment unrest among the North Korean people.

Experts from the U.N. atomic watchdog were holding talks in Tehran Wednesday aimed at reaching accord on inspections that would allow investigations into a possible military dimension of Iran's nuclear drive.

The discussions are taking place two weeks ahead of a new round of talks between Iran and six world powers in parallel diplomatic efforts, which are due to resume in Kazakhstan on February 26 after an eight-month hiatus.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations has criticized the European Union for regarding Hizbullah as a legitimate political organization, urging it to designate the party a terrorist party.

“Calling Hizbullah a charity is like calling al-Qaida an urban-planning organization because of its desire to level tall buildings,” Ambassador Ron Prosor told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday in an open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon warned Thursday that a nuclear test by North Korea could blow up hopes of an eventual reconciliation by "tying the hands" of the South's incoming president.

Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, said incoming South Korean president Park Geun-Hye is "very much committed" to improving relations with North Korea.

South Korea on Thursday confirmed it would implement the latest U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea, despite dire warnings from Pyongyang about the consequences.

The sanctions were ordered in response to the North's long-range rocket launch in December and prompted Pyongyang into threatening an imminent nuclear test.