U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, two of the world's most recognizable women leaders, pledged on Friday to work together to bring democracy to Suu Kyi's long isolated and repressive nation.

Wrapping up a historic three-day visit to Myanmar, Clinton held hands with Suu Kyi on the porch of the Nobel peace laureate's lakeside home where she spent much of the past two decades under house arrest and thanked her for a her "steadfast and very clear leadership." The meeting was the second in as many days for the pair who appeared to have bonded almost as sisters after a private, one-on-one dinner in Yangon on Thursday.

A powerful truck bomb exploded near the gate of a NATO base in Afghanistan Friday, killing one person and wounding as many as 70 others, including a foreign soldier, officials said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide attack at Combat Outpost McClain in Muhammad Agha district of Logar province, south of the capital Kabul, which took place at around 8:00am (0330 GMT).

European Union foreign ministers slapped sanctions on more than 180 Iranian companies and individuals Thursday over Tehran's refusal to meet international demands to halt sensitive nuclear work.

The ministers also agreed to continue working on extra punitive measures that could target Iran's vital energy sector, a diplomat told Agence France Presse.

Iran's charge d'affaires in Rome, Mehdi Akouchekian, was on Thursday summoned by Italy's foreign ministry following the "intolerable" attack by protesters on Britain's embassy in Tehran.

The Italian government expressed its "strong condemnation" of the "violent and intolerable" attack and stressed its "solidarity with the British government," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Britain and Germany called on Thursday for sanctions to financially isolate Iran as EU foreign ministers gathered to consider tough new measures against Tehran due to fresh concerns over its nuclear program.

Thanking European Union countries for their "emphatic support" following the storming of Britain's embassy in Iran, Foreign Secretary William Hague said "I hope we will agree today additional measures that will be an intensification of the economic pressure on Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won promises of further reforms from Myanmar's rulers in historic talks Thursday, but said it was too soon to end sanctions after decades of repression.

Paying the most senior U.S. visit in more than half a century to a nation long distrustful of the West, Clinton offered only cautious incentives to encourage more action, despite a call by China for Western sanctions to be lifted.

South Korea's defense chief said Thursday that North Korea may use provocations next year to deal with economic woes and political instability stemming from a second dynastic succession.

Defense Minister Kim Kwan-Jin described 2012 as a critical year for security saying the military should stay alert against any provocations by North Korea.

Eighteen people, including a baby, were killed Thursday when a minibus taxi collided head-on with a truck, causing both vehicles to burst into flames, a local safety official said.

The taxi was traveling to Johannesburg from neighboring Mozambique when it veered out of its lane and slammed into the truck near the eastern South African town of Belfast, Mpumalanga public safety spokesman Joseph Mabuza told the Sapa news agency.

Political parties in Belgium, which has been without a government for 535 days, agreed Wednesday on the blueprint of a ruling coalition to be headed by French-speaking Socialist Elio Di Rupo.

"There is a global agreement, on the reform of the state, socio-economic questions and a government platform," a source close to the negotiations told Agence France Presse.

Britain closed its Tehran embassy on Wednesday after evacuating all its diplomats from Iran as part of a "very tough" response to the storming of the mission the day before by Iranian protesters.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain had also ordered Iran to vacate its embassy in London by Friday, stressing it did not mean diplomatic ties between the two countries had been entirely cut off.