Reps to IGP: End banditry, kidnapping on Benin-Okada road

Josiane Hodonou's small plantain flour business has almost doubled its production since the start of the war in Ukraine. With wheat flour becoming hard to find and expensive, some people see the cooking banana as a viable alternative.

Northern Benin is at the center of a security crisis which has moved south from the Sahel. Poverty and climate change have provided fertile ground for criminals and extremists.

Every year approximately 200,000 abortions are done in France. Nearly 40 years after the practice was legalized in that country, the number of abortions is stable: fewer women are having abortions but repeat abortions (the same woman having more than one abortion) are increasing.

The federal government says it is considering a nationwide ban on commercial motorcycles, popularly known as okada. Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation said motorcycles provide the means of transportation for terrorists and several approaches for containing insecurity were being considered.⁣ ⁣

France aims to "respond positively" to requests from Benin and other countries for air support and intelligence to combat Islamist militants, a French official said on Wednesday, as French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in the West African state.

Over 500 pieces will be returned under the deal. The artifacts were looted by British soldiers in the 1800s and sold all over Europe.

Lamenting her experience, 13-year-old erosion victim, Esther Olarenwaju, who lost her right arm told GuardianTV how she lost her right arm after she slipped and fell into one of the gullies in June 2019 on her way to buy sachet water.

The head of Europe's largest nuclear power plant was kidnapped, Ukraine's nuclear power company said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces surrounded some 5,000 Russian soldiers in the key city of Lyman.

Over the past century, city streets have been optimised for motor vehicles. In Berlin, for example, nearly 60 percent of the traffic space is devoted to cars, which account for just a third of journeys, while only 3 percent is set aside for bicycles, even though they make up for 15 percent of journeys.

Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Tuesday.⁣

In this edition we meet two women from the two Koreas who have joined forces to write a powerful book. The pair hail from neighbouring countries that share common roots and culture, yet have remained technically at war for seven decades.

The new digital platform catalogs objects that were stolen from Benin Kingdom during the colonial era: Over 5,000 items across in 20 countries have been identified.