Quill Lawrence

forces boarding the vast oil tanker by helicopter.

She said U.S.

agents executed a seizure warrant on board and that the tanker has been sanctioned for years and is known to smuggle crude oil from Venezuela and also Iran.

President Trump has ratcheted up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom he accuses of narco-trafficking.

The U.S.

has assembled the largest naval fleet in decades off the Venezuelan coast and offered $50 million for Maduro's arrest.

This news came as pro-democracy activist Maria Corina Machado snuck out of hiding in Venezuela en route to Norway to collect the Nobel Peace Prize.

Quill Lawrence, NPR News.

Although official employment data for October and November are delayed, available evidence suggests that both layoffs and hiring remain low and that both households' perceptions of job availability...

and firms' perceptions of hiring difficulty continue to decline.

President Trump says the tanker was very large, and he promises more news about Venezuela soon.

This comes on top of the biggest U.S.

military buildup in the Caribbean in decades and threats to Venezuela's leader.

The U.S.

has offered a $50 million bounty for information leading to the arrest of President Nicolas Maduro, who the U.S.

claims is a narco-trafficker.

Trump has said the U.S.

may soon begin striking targets inside Venezuela's borders.

Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves, with about one million barrels produced daily.

U.S.