The latest round of talks on Iran's nuclear program moves to a third day Friday, after a spokesman said there were substantive meetings on Thursday. Negotiators are seeking agreement on initial steps to curb potential military aspects of the program in exchange for an easing of economic sanctions.

VOA's Al Pessin reports from GENEVA.

Officials spoke of “detailed” talks and remaining differences on several issues Thursday, leaving the impression of difficulty in the negotiating room, where the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, and Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, are leading the delegations.

Ashton's spokesman, Michael Mann, said she was determined to bridge the gaps that prevented agreement at the last round of talks more than a week ago, but no one is guaranteeing success.

“It was a real meaningful, detailed, substantial negotiation trying to drill down into the details of the text to try and narrow the differences that still existed after the last round,”

Iran's deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said a solution is within reach, but “major differences” remain.

Al Pessin,VOA News,Geneva.

The United States is urging Afghanistan to sign a new security pact with the United States by the end of the year, exposing yet another rift with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Washington pushed back after Mr. Karzai surprised U.S. and Afghan officials earlier Thursday by saying the Bilateral Security Agreement "might be signed" after the April 2014 Afghan presidential elections.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said failure to finalize an agreement within the coming weeks "would prevent the United States and our allies from being able to plan for a post-2014 presence" in Afghanistan.

Mr. Karzai's abrupt decision to defer signing the agreement came after he gave an impassioned speech to 2,500 tribal, community and elected leaders, voicing his support for the pact.

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Pakistani police and intelligence officials say a suspected U.S. drone carried out a missile strike Thursday in northwest Pakistan, killing at least six people.

The strike took place outside Pakistan's remote tribal region. The dead reportedly include three senior Afghan militants.

One of the men killed has been identified as Maulvi Ahmad Jan, believed to be a senior adviser to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the chief of what U.S. officials describe as the most feared Afghan group battling foreign troops in Afghanistan along side the Taliban.

The United States says it will carry out aid work in the typhoon-devastated central Philippines until relief operations end. About 5,600 people have died or are missing after Super Typhoon Haiyan tore a path of destruction across the country.

From Manila,Simone Orendain reports.

The U.S. has been shuttling relief goods to hard to reach parts of the central island provinces since last Friday. Its strike force aboard the aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, is using MV-22B Ospreys, which are able to land vertically like a helicopter. Early on, U.S. forces also lent logistical support to prop up badly damaged infrastructure.


At least 16 countries including Australia, Vietnam and Singapore are lending military assets toward the relief operation. Japan’s self-defense force has been carrying out medical missions in the hardest hit provinces. The Philippine military says these governments have lent 61 air assets and 14 naval vessels.


Simone Orendain,Manila.

China has sharply criticized a U.S. congressional commission for advocating an expansion of U.S. military power in Asia as a counterweight to China's modernizing military.

In a briefing to reporters Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei accused the panel of having a "Cold War" mentality.

The U.S. Congress created the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission to advise lawmakers on China-related policy. Hong said the panel has been releasing reports "brimming with ideological prejudice" for years.

The commission issued an annual report Wednesday, saying China's growing military capabilities are "challenging decades of U.S. military preeminence" in the Asia-Pacific region.

American movie star Leonardo DiCaprio wants to help the tiger population of Nepal.

His Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation has awarded a $3 million grant to the World Wildlife Fund to work with the Nepal government on protecting the animals.

This is VOA News.