News
*) Blinken, Lavrov to meet next week if Russia doesn't invade Ukraine US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accepted an invitation to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov next week. The State Department has said the meeting will happen "provided there is no further Russian invasion of Ukraine". Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden will host a call on Friday about the Ukraine crisis. The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Britain, the European Union and NATO will take part. *) Police arrest Canadian trucker-led protest leaders Canadian police have begun arresting leaders of a trucker-led protest that has choked Ottawa's streets for three weeks. A video shared to Twitter showed protest leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber being taken into police detention. Busloads of police officers have arrived near Parliament Hill to break up the demonstration against Canada’s Covid-19 restrictions. Authorities have installed security barriers and restricted access to the downtown area occupied by protesters. *) US, Iran can reach nuclear deal 'within days' if Tehran 'shows seriousness' The United States has said "substantial progress" has been made during negotiations in Vienna to save the Iran nuclear deal. It believes an "understanding on mutual return to full implementation" of the 2015 deal could be reached within days if Iran is serious. The Vienna talks involve Iran, as well as Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. The United States is involved indirectly. *) Boy trapped for three days in Afghan well has died A five-year-old boy trapped for three days in an Afghan village well has died. Taliban Interior Ministry senior adviser Anas Haqqani said “with great sorrow, young Haidar is separated from us forever". On Tuesday, the child slipped to the bottom of a well being dug in Shokak, a village in Zabul province. The incident took place around two weeks after a similar attempt to rescue a boy from a Moroccan well, which also ended with the child found dead. And finally … *) Eileen Gu makes history with third medal at Beijing Winter Games Chinese superstar Eileen Gu has capped her successful Beijing Olympics by winning freeski halfpipe gold. With this, the Californian-born Gu became the first action-sports athlete to pick up three medals at the same Winter Games. Earlier, the 18-year-old claimed gold in Big Air and silver in slopestyle in Beijing.