The U.S. seizure of a vessel off Venezuela is likely to squeeze the country’s government, but do little to counter the tankers that secretively move oil from sanctioned countries.

The U.S. seizure of a vessel off Venezuela is likely to squeeze the country’s government, but do little to counter the tankers that secretively move oil from sanctioned countries.

© Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times

The tanker was headed eastward and had recently carried Iranian oil. The seizure is an escalation in President Trump’s military pressure campaign against Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.

© Planet Labs, via Reuters

The seizure comes as the United States builds up its forces in the Caribbean as part of a campaign against President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

As some lawmakers press U.S. universities to curtail ties with China, a postdoctoral student’s prosecution raises questions about how big the danger actually is.

Everything the Trump administration is doing to stop the flow of drugs is just making the problem worse.

Zhi Dong Zhang, who escaped house arrest in Mexico this summer, is accused of supplying cartels with fentanyl from China, smuggling and money laundering millions under the alias “Brother Wang.”