Hello, I'm currently out of office.

An article I read recently said we're more relaxed and more productive after a good break.

So I've gone to Barbados for a month for science. Yours, Toby. Take your holiday as seriously as British

Airways holidays take your holiday. Atul protected. This episode is sponsored by Tradeu,

the multi-asset platform that lets you trade with an institutional edge.

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Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. I'm Oire Ogunbe. And I'm Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Russia's rubble has been hit badly by its invasion of Ukraine. In fact, the central bank is so

worried about the currency's future that it has set out on an emergency mission to save it. But how

much will this affect Putin's ability to wage war?

And TV antennas and flamethrowing lighters, tricycle platforms and gas cooker rings. These are a few

of the dangerous things that Richard Simpson kept out of Americans' hands in the 1970s. Our obituaries editor remembers America's first consumer product safety chief.

But first...

In Niger, the democratically elected President Muhammad Bazoum is still essentially a hostage.

The military junta that overthrew him last month is still in charge.

The economic community of West African states, or ECOWAS, is still talking tough.

And today, in Ghana, a summit of the bloc's defense chiefs will conclude and, perhaps, decide what to do next. Just after the coup,

ECHOWAS had warned it would orchestrate a military intervention if President Bazum was not reinstated.

...