U.S.
oil stocks jump as investors bet upheaval in Venezuela could reshape access to its vast oil reserves.
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I'm Liana Bird.
Iran is introducing a new monthly payment to help with living costs and we look at how South Korea overtook the U.S.
as the world's second largest cosmetics exporter.
Financial markets,
businesses and investors are still digesting the fallout from America's dramatic military intervention in Venezuela over the weekend.
Shares of U.S.
oil giants like Chevron and Exxon Mobil are soaring after President Trump suggested they can play a lead role in restoring Venezuela's oil industry.
But this has been criticism from China and Iran, traditional allies of Venezuela and from Spain,
which is home to an estimated 600,000 Venezuelans,
many who have fled the economic troubles in their home country.
So how important is an economic recovery right now for the people of Venezuela?
Patrick Doddy was U.S.
ambassador to Venezuela under the president's of George W.
Bush and Barack Obama.
Look at the numbers for Venezuela's GDP contraction from 2013 when Maduro took over to 2023.
The national economy in Venezuela contracted, contracted about 75%.
This is extraordinary.