Normal business ground to a halt in Benin on Tuesday as the country's main trade unions began a three-day general strike to demand higher pay for government employees, better pensions and lower university fees. Only senior managers turned up for work at government offices, schools, banks and most businesses were closed in the economic capital Cotonou, health centres were short staffed and the city's normally busy streets were empty of traffic.

The Government of Benin has been unable to control the illegal sale of petroleum products in Benin, which are often smuggled from neighboring Nigeria. This black market trade has caused Beninese fuel distribution companies to lose 50 percent of their share of the Beninese market and has led to numerous health concerns and human casualties.

At least four Beninese reporters face criminal defamation charges and two of them have already spent time in prison this year - the first journalists to be imprisoned for their work since 1996 in the West African nation. The defendants include Patrick Adjamonsi, publication director of the private daily L'Aurore, who was released after spending six days in prison. Adjamonsi, whose original sentence was overturned, faces a new trial.

Benin is moving to protect pregnant women and small children from malaria with insecticide-treated bed nets with funds from the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis distributed by UNDP. The initiative will help Benin's progress towards achieving Goal 6 of the Millennium Development Goals, which calls for reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases.