This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Valerie Sanderson, and at 1400 hours GMT on Tuesday, the 18th of February, these are our main stories.

The Russians and Americans meet to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

So what's emerged from the talks in Riyadh?

The Pope cancels his weekend engagements and will remain in hospital

for some days yet. Israel pulls out troops from southern Lebanon as part of the truce previously

agreed, but not all of them are going. Also in this podcast, as we made our descent and made

touchdown, it was just a very forceful event where all of a sudden everything just kind of went sideways.

And then the next day I know it was kind of a blink and I'm upside down still strapped in.

An extraordinary escape for dozens of passengers after an airplane crashes at Toronto International Airport in Canada.

Discussed. plane crashes at Toronto International Airport in Canada. Discussions on Ukraine between the US and Russia have finished in Riyadh after four and a half

hours. President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ashakov, said that the talks on

ending the war in Ukraine were successful and that the two sides discussed

arranging a meeting between the Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the US President Donald Trump.

Speaking after the end of the session, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described it as

the first step on a long and difficult journey. He said the goal was a fair, enduring and sustainable end to the war.

The goal of today's meeting was to follow up on the phone call the President had a week ago

and begin to establish those lines of communication.

The work remains.

Today is the first step of a long and difficult journey, but an important one.

And President Trump is committed to bringing an end of this conflict,

and as he said when he campaigned for president. And he wants it to be end in a way that's fair.

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