Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist.

In New York, I'm John Fassman.

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

Pilots trained by Western militaries often wind up in a cockpit of commercial aircraft.

Some end up as instructors.

Driven by high salaries, some have been training Chinese military pilots to the consternation

of Western governments.

And some of the greatest players of all time are rolling back the years of the World Cup

and Qatar, messy and Ronaldo among them, but football genius doesn't guarantee an appearance

to the tournament.

We pick a fantasy team of the stars who never made it.

First, over the weekend, gunfire was heard outside a hotel in a central district of Somalia's

capital, Muggedishu.

Inside the hotel, forces from Al Shabab, a jihadist group affiliated to Al Qaeda, at

Blade Siege, more than 60 people were taken hostage.

On Monday, government forces stormed the building.

Fifteen people died, including eight people staying at the hotel.

The incident marks part of a continued campaign by Al Shabab to overthrow the Somali government,

and still an extreme version of Islamic law.

In late October, they claimed responsibility for a car bomb in the capital, killed over

a hundred people, and wounded several hundred more.

That was the worst attack in the country in over five years.

...