36: Does history rhyme? Maybe not in general, but every so often there is a choice couplet: Maduro’s capture came 36 years to the day after the US arrested Panamanian president Manuel Noriega, a former CIA ally whose falling out with Washington led to his prosecution on drug charges. For more on that, see (and hear) Ian Bremmer’s explainer here.
26: The far-left Bolivarian Revolutionary Socialist movement, led first by Maduro’s charismatic predecessor Hugo Chávez, has held power in Venezuela for 26 years. Chávez won a (legitimate) election in 1998 and assumed power in 1999. Maduro took over after his death in 2013. As part of this morning’s operation to depose Maduro, the US reportedly conducted an airstrike on the mausoleum holding Chavez’s remains.
8 million: Since 2014, nearly 8 million Venezuelans – close to a third of the population – have fled economic crisis and political repression, making it one of the two largest refugee crises in the world, alongside Syria. Colombia alone has absorbed nearly 3 million. About 770,000 went to the United States.
Microsoft, Europol, and industry partners took coordinated action to disrupt Tycoon 2FA, a major phishing‑as‑a‑service operation designed to bypass multifactor authentication. Active since 2023, the service fueled large‑scale online impersonation, enabling fraud, data theft, and disruptions across sectors, including healthcare and education. Acting under a US court order, the coalition seized hundreds of domains powering Tycoon 2FA’s infrastructure — underscoring the need for global, public‑private cooperation that is essential to counter industrialized cybercrime and protect digital trust. Read the full blog here.
As missiles fly and oil prices soar, the Iran war is exposing another major resource vulnerability in the Middle East: water. Fresh water has been a scarce commodity in a region defined by a dry climate and low rainfall, but attacks on the region’s desalination plants, which convert seawater into drinking water, threaten to open a new front.
Two weeks into his war against Iran, the US president is now calling on other countries to send forces to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.
Mexicans participate in an attempt to set a new Guinness World Record, where organisers aim to break the mark for the world's largest football (soccer) lesson as part of efforts to promote the country ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, at Zocalo square in Mexico City, Mexico, March 15, 2026.
9,500: The number of people in Mexico City who participated in a soccer training session on Sunday, smashing a Guinness World Record as part of a campaign ahead of the World Cup in June.