Hundreds of protesters demonstrated in Athens on Saturday against a Canadian gold mining investment in the northern region of Halkidiki that is feared to be causing irreversible damage to the local environment.

Global mining firms say energy vulnerability is a risk they worry about in one of the last relatively unexplored countries, which is thought to still have big undiscovered deposits even after centuries of mining.

India’s steel demand is likely to grow by 6 per cent in the current fiscal year, nearly half the earlier forecast, as higher interest rates squeeze demand from the automobile and construction sector, the country’s top domestic steel maker said.