Update at 10:24 GMT, Feb 5, 2023

America shot down a Chinese balloon over the Atlantic in what the Pentagon said was American airspace. The Chinese government responded with a sharp statement accusing the Biden administration of “seriously violating international conventions”. Earlier, Antony Blinken, America’s secretary of state, postponed a planned trip to China after the Pentagon detected the suspected spy balloon flying over sensitive military sites.

General Pervez Musharraf, a former president of Pakistan who seized power in a military coup in 1999, died aged 79. Mr Musharraf oversaw a period of rapid economic growth, but was criticised by some for using the military to silence critics and for supporting America’s post-9/11 “war on terror”. Mr Musharraf left office in 2008 and spent his later years in exile in Dubai.

Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer with factories in China, reported record revenues of T$660bn ($22bn) in January, an increase of 48% year-on-year. The firm, which makes about 70% of Apple’s iPhones, has recovered after severe disruptions caused by China’s zero-covid policy. The company reported that its factory outside the Chinese city of Zhengzhou has returned to normal levels of production.

For the fifth consecutive weekend, tens of thousands of Israelis protested against the government's planned judicial reforms. The proposals of the new coalition, led by Binyamin Netanyahu, would curb the Supreme Court’s independence and limit its power over the executive. Critics of the reforms include Mr Netanyahu’s political opponents as well as some of the country’s economists and business leaders.

America’s Democratic Party’s national committee voted to reshuffle the order of its presidential primaries. The new calendar prioritises more racially diverse states, many of which supported Joe Biden in his 2020 campaign. South Carolina will now go first, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada. Iowa has lost its traditional role kicking off the Democratic primaries.

Liz Truss, who resigned as Britain’s prime minister in October after just 45 days, said she was brought down in part by “the left-wing economic establishment”. In her first public comments since leaving office, she said her Conservative Party had never given her a “realistic chance” to implement her economic plan, which included tax cuts worth £45bn ($54bn).

Charles Bronson, one of Britain’s most dangerous prison inmates, launched an online sale of new artwork ahead of a gallery exhibition later this month. Mr Bronson has spent much of the past 50 years in solitary confinement but has created a market for his cartoons. Born Michael Peterson, he renamed himself after the American actor but now goes by Charles Salvador, after his artistic hero, Salvador Dali.

Word of the week: teledildonics, the term in pornography for virtual-sex encounters using remotely controlled toys. Read the full story.

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Endless paralysis in Lebanon

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

After the crime comes the cover-up. The investigation of the massive explosion at Beirut’s port in 2020, which killed 218 people, was stalled for more than a year by legal challenges. Tarek Bitar, the judge overseeing it, had hoped to resume interrogating officials on Monday. Instead he has been charged with judicial misconduct by Lebanon’s top prosecutor—one of the officials whom Mr Bitar had sought to question.

The judicial feud is yet another sign of Lebanon’s dysfunction. It has not had a president since October, and parliament has failed 11 times to elect a new one. Last year the caretaker cabinet went six months without meeting. More than three years into a financial crisis, Lebanon’s currency has lost 97% of its value. Annual inflation was 171% in 2022. Bailout talks with the IMF are stalled. Lebanon’s corrupt ruling class cannot agree on anything, it seems, except their collective taste for impunity.

What’s at stake in Cyprus

PHOTO: REUTERS

Greek Cypriots hold a presidential election on Sunday. The front-runner is Nikos Christodoulides, who resigned last month as foreign minister because rivals in the ruling party were angry about his presidential ambitions. Mr Christodoulides, now an independent backed by left-of-centre parties, is unlikely to get more than 50% of the vote (as are the other 13 candidates). But he should win a run-off on February 12th. Turkish Cypriots living in the north of the divided island will not participate.

One of Mr Christodoulides’s main challenges will be to manage the complex energy politics of the eastern Mediterranean. Several international companies plan to start exploiting natural gas from the Cypriot seabed. Israel and Egypt are already exploring their own such deposits, while Turkey has failed to make any finds so far. Cyprus could sell gas to Egypt, some of which could be re-exported to Turkey. A costly pipeline project to carry gas between Crete, Greece and Italy is also being discussed. Mr Christodoulides’s priority will be to ensure that Cyprus’s long-awaited gas bonanza actually happens.

 

The Grammys might get it right, at last

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

On Sunday American music’s great and good slap each others’ backs and dole out their annual awards. The sheer number of categories, at 91, speaks to the self-importance of the Recording Academy, which puts on the Grammys. That clubby self-regard has mired the awards show in controversy, prompting accusations of racism for snubs of black singers, and criticism for opaque voting procedures.

This year, at least, the nominations reflect pop culture. Black artists are present in all the major categories and among the favourites; exciting young bands such as Idles, Turnstile and Wet Leg have nominations; and there is the chance for both Taylor Swift and Beyoncé to win the major awards that have, surprisingly, been denied them so far: song of the year for Ms Swift, and album of the year for Beyoncé. Still, all awards ceremonies end in one certainty: that come the morning after, someone, somewhere will be up in arms about the injustice of it all.

Brain-activity patterns cluster with ideology

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Everyone knows the frustration of arguing with a stubborn opponent. New research suggests that those on opposite sides of the political spectrum do not merely fail to see eye to eye; their brains behave differently in ways that are stark enough to be detectable with fairly crude instruments. Two groups of researchers scanned the brains of left- and right-wingers as they were shown words and news clips. Using changes in blood flow as a proxy for neural activity, both found that the subjects’ brains responded in similar ways to neutral material, but diverged when presented with content about divisive topics like immigration.

Measuring blood flow using magnetic-resonance imaging, Daantje de Bruin and Oriel FeldmanHall, of Brown University in Rhode Island, recorded different patterns of activity in parts of the brain that handle emotions and cognition. Noa Katabi and Yaara Yeshurun, of Tel Aviv University, saw differences in the areas that deal with hearing, vision and movement. Big differences of opinion show up as big differences in brain activity.