The Economist.

Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist.

I'm Jason Palmer.

And I'm Rosie Bloor.

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

The Grimmig. we provide a fresh perspective on the event shaping your world. The grim standard of living in Cuba has been slipping further recently,

due in large part to ever-increasing power cuts.

It was Venezuelan oil that was keeping the lights on.

So what happens now that America seeks to control that light line?

And this year's Football World Cup will be jointly hosted by America, Canada and Mexico.

As part of our World Ahead series, we ask why some people are so pessimistic about the

2026 tournament.

Thank you. some people are so pessimistic about the 2026 tournament. But first... American forces did something yesterday that they'd already done back in December,

seizing an oil tanker with links to Venezuela.

This time, though, the international reaction was telling.

Mao Neng, a spokesperson for China's ministry of foreign affairs, questioned the legal basis of the seizure.

She pointed out there was no authorization from the UN Security Council.

Vasily Dandikin, a Russian military expert, put it more pointedly.

State-level piracy, he called it, putting Somali pirates in the U.S. Coast Guard in the same sentence.

Now, China, Russia, and Iran and others have a vested interest in this story.

And in truth, it kind of did look like the sort of hostile takeovers depicted in the movies.

Yesterday, U.S. forces were seen descending on a helicopter, landing on a ship in the North Atlantic, and seizing it.

...