• MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- The strongest typhoon this year slammed into the central Philippines on Friday, setting off landslides and knocking out power and communication lines in several provinces. At least four people died.
• Huge, fast-paced Typhoon Haiyan raced across a string of islands from east to west -- Samar, Leyte, Cebu and Panay-- and lashed beach communities with over 200-kilometer per hour (124-mph) winds. Nearly 720,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes.
• Due to cut-off communication, it was impossible to know the extent of casualties and damage. So far, two people were electrocuted in storm-related accidents, one person was killed by a fallen tree and another was struck by lightning, official reports said.
• Southern Leyte Gov. Roger Mercado said the super typhoon triggered landslides that blocked roads, uprooted trees and ripped roofs off houses around his residence.
• The dense clouds and heavy rains made the day seem almost as dark as night, he said.
• ___

• GENEVA (AP) -- An EU spokesman says French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is joining U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at talks with Iran amid signs of an emerging deal that would limit Tehran's atomic work.
• Michael Mann said Fabius is coming Friday. A senior State Department official said Kerry would arrive "to help narrow differences in negotiations." He demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
• No details of any accord have been confirmed but Israel already is strongly critical of any deal that stops short of totally disabling Iran from making nuclear arms.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that he "utterly rejects" the "bad deal" and promises that Israel will do everything it needs to do to defend itself.

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