Hello and welcome to the intelligence from the economist.

In New York, I'm John Fassman.

And in London, I'm Jason Palmer.

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

The Sahel region stretches across Africa, just south of the Sahara.

Gihadists are feeling increasingly emboldened.

Mali appears lost and the front lines are shifting south into Benin and Ghana.

Is West Africa prepared?

And it's time for our annual Glass Sealing Index, looking at the role and influence of women

in the workforce.

The gender pay gap is thinning and more women are in work, but as we find every year,

there's still plenty of progress to be made.

First up though.

As the war in Ukraine grinds on with humanitarian corridors of escape opening and then being

shelled and refugees piling up at borders, protesters in the West are unsurprisingly out in force.

In New York City, chance of unity.

In London, the Ukrainian national anthem.

In Sydney, a call for no fly zones.

What's been unexpected is the scope of descent inside Russia.

The Moscow demonstrators on March cried, no to war.

Thousands of protesters have already been arrested.

There's footage on encrypted messaging apps showing them being herded onto buses and

...