Mar 3 update

Protests took place across Greece sparked by the train crash on Tuesday that killed at least 42 people and injured scores more. Demonstrators blamed the government for failing to maintain the railways. In Athens, the capital, rioters clashed with police outside the headquarters of the company that manages Greece’s trains. Greek officials charged a stationmaster in the nearby city of Larissa of manslaughter by negligence.

Havana syndrome, a mysterious medical condition reported by about 1,500 Western officials living abroad, is “very unlikely” to be the work of a foreign adversary, five of America’s intelligence agencies concluded in a report. The symptoms—first registered by diplomats in Havana, Cuba, in 2016—include headaches and ringing in the ears. Their source has long baffled spy agencies; the report did not identify a probable cause.

Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, said “global governance has failed” at a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Delhi, the capital. Mr Modi did not directly address the war in Ukraine, but encouraged countries to overcome their divisons. His request fell on deaf ears; Russian and Chinese delegates released a statement denouncing Western “blackmail and threats”.

America approved the potential sale of weapons worth $619m to Taiwan, including anti-aircraft missiles and ammunition for F-16 fighter jets. The purchase will further inflame relations with China, whose war planes violated Taiwanese air space for the second day running on Thursday. China claims Taiwan as its territory and has repeatedly demanded that America stop selling arms to the self-governing island.

Tesla laid out plans to cut its car-assembly costs by half, putting it on the road to launching a much cheaper electric vehicle. At the firm’s first investor day, held at a factory in Texas, its boss Elon Musk offered little detail on when the model would be launched. Investors did not appear convinced; Tesla’s share price sank by more than 5% in after-market trading.

Opposition parties in Canada called for a public inquiry into alleged Chinese meddling in the country’s elections in 2019 and 2021. Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, has acknowledged attempts by China to interfere, but has so far resisted calls for an inquiry. The Chinese embassy in Ottawa has denied any election interference. According to a new poll, two-thirds of Canadians suspect that China meddled in the votes.

Four Aboriginal spears taken from Australia by early British colonialists will be returned to their local clan in Sydney. The spears, among dozens collected by James Cook, who landed in Australia in 1770, had been kept at Cambridge University. Cambridge’s Trinity College agreed to give them back after a 20-year campaign by Aboriginals. The weapons will be displayed at a new visitor centre.

Fact of the day: 30%, the share of the world’s mineral resources found in Africa. Read the full story.

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PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Belarus’s dictator in China

On Thursday, Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president of Belarus, concludes a three-day trip to China. Despite mounting Western pressure on China over its stance on the war in Ukraine, President Xi Jinping hosted Mr Lukashenko, a staunch Russian ally, meeting him in Beijing on Wednesday.

Mr Lukashenko has ruled his ex-Soviet republic since 1994 and crushed anti-government protests there with Russian help in 2020. That triggered Western sanctions, leaving him heavily reliant on Kremlin support. Last year, he let Russia use Belarus as a staging ground to invade Ukraine.

China portrays Mr Lukashenko’s visit as a regular diplomatic exchange, describing Belarus as an “all-weather” strategic partner. In his meeting with the Chinese president, Mr Lukashenko commended China’s recent peace plan for Ukraine, which did not include any demands for a Russian withdrawal from occupied Ukrainian territory. American officials say the visit is another sign of Chinese support for the Russian invasion. Some also believe it could lay the ground for Mr Xi to visit Moscow soon.

PHOTO: ROPI

Meloni meets Modi

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, met her Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in Delhi on Thursday at the start of a tour intended to mend fences—and sell arms.

Until recently ties between the two countries were strained, notably by the trial of two Italian marines for the shooting of two fishermen mistaken for pirates off the Indian coast in 2012. But Ms Meloni’s visit aligns with Western efforts to lure India away from its dependence on Russian weaponry. Mr Modi’s government recently announced a hefty increase in defence spending, so the potential gains for Italian firms such as Leonardo and Fincantieri are alluring.

Ms Meloni will then continue to Abu Dhabi. Relations there are even more delicate, bedevilled by an ill-fated investment by Etihad, Abu Dhabi’s flag-carrier, in its now-defunct Italian counterpart, Alitalia. Another bone of contention has been Italy’s ban in 2021 on arms sales to the United Arab Emirates because of its role in the war in Yemen.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Macy’s in the middle

It has been a bumpy few years for Macy’s, America’s oldest surviving department-store group. After a strong 2021, in which sales rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, growth at the retailer—whose main chain is the mid-market department store of the same name—stalled last year as inflation-squeezed consumers cut back on spending.

Macy’s reported its fourth-quarter results on Thursday, covering the all-important holiday shopping season. Despite growth at Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury, two high-end chains that the group also operates, poor performance at Macy’s itself meant total sales came in at just $8.3bn, down from $8.7bn the prior year. Consumers are switching to cheaper alternatives as cost pressures bite.

More worryingly, the group issued guidance that sales will likely continue falling this year, by up to 3%. Steep discounts during the 2022 holiday season may merely have pulled forward spending. Mid-market retailers that cater to customers who are neither budget-conscious nor budget-free have a tough year ahead.

PHOTO: DAVE SIMONDS

Oceans of negotiations

It’s been a busy week for those concerned about the world’s oceans. The Economist’s annual summit on the subject concluded on Wednesday in Lisbon, Portugal’s capital. Across the Atlantic in Panama, the “Our Ocean” conference—created by America’s state department—begins on Thursday. Both assess how industry and the public sector can protect the economies and ecosystems that oceans foster.

Meanwhile, government representatives gathered in New York are once again at loggerheads over a new treaty to govern the high seas. These areas lie outside territorial waters and cover 64% of the oceans, yet there is no accord on how to govern them. Talks due to finish last year failed to come to an agreement over who will pay to implement and enforce the treaty, and who should own the plants and animals at sea, often used for medicine and bio-engineering. The outcome this time around will be a key part of making good on the global pledge agreed at COP15 in Montreal to protect 30% of land and oceans by 2030.

PHOTO: ALAMY

The story of sound, from tin foil to vinyl

Popular music has always been driven by technology. Not just the invention of electric guitars or arena-grade amplification, but also by the technology we employ to listen to recordings. Jonathan Scott, a music journalist, lays out the history of recording music in his book “Into the Groove”, tracing the story of sound reproduction back to Thomas Edison in the 19th century.

The problem, as Mr Scott concedes, is that few other than scientists really understand, or care, how sound is simulated. Nevertheless, every breakthrough is meticulously described and the reader may get lost in pages and pages of arcane detail about new styluses, regional equipment distributors and short-sighted bosses. Along the way, though, there are delightful snippets: the phonograph was envisaged as a dictation aid for businesses, among other things, and it was not until the first primitive jukeboxes that the commercial possibilities of playing back music were revealed. The romance of recording lies in the byways, not in the laboratories.