Paul Moss

Yhteisellä matkalla.

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

I'm Paul Moss, and in the early hours of Sunday, the 8th of February, these are our main stories.

The Italian authorities denounce what they call serious sabotage on the rail network, linking the incidents to the start of the Winter Olympics.

The US has apparently insisted that a peace deal on Ukraine be reached by the end of June.

And the Washington Post's chief executive is stepping down, days after the newspaper announced mass layoffs.

Also in this podcast, the French government is sending 29-year-olds a letter urging them to have children and a medical milestone.

A woman offers to donate her face for a transplant before she undergoes euthanasia.

On Friday, the Winter Olympics was all about sport and celebration.

The opening ceremony in Milan saw music from Mariah Carey, and this being Italy, from Puccini and Verdi as well.

And yet politics did intrude.

The audience loudly booed the US Vice President J.D.

Vance and the Israeli Olympics team.

And A2 has seen all the talk of sport and universal brotherhood once again rudely interrupted.

There were reports of sabotage on the Italian rail network linked to the Games.

And then there was this.

Demonstrators out on the streets of Milan blew whistles and chanted slogans against the Olympics presence.

And what began peacefully then deteriorated into violent clashes with riot police.

So what exactly is it that these protesters object to about the Winter Olympics?

I asked our global affairs reporter, Ambarasan Ethirajan.