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That's PDB to the number 989-898-8-8-8-8. It's Thursday,

the 21st of August.

Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin.

I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage.

All right, let's get briefed.

First up, the White House has aggressively turned up the pressure on Venezuela's Nicolas

Maduro, issuing a $50 million bounty for his arrest,

and deploying multiple warships off his coastline. We'll break down the latest developments.

Later in the show, a Ukrainian national has been arrested in Italy in connection to the

22 attacks on the Nord Stream Gas Pipelines, marking a major breakthrough in the years-long investigation.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight. I want to start things off today by returning to Venezuela.

Now, as previously reported here on the PDB, the U.S. has deployed three ages-guided missile destroyers

to the waters off Venezuela as part of President Trump's effort

to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels. On its face, this is an anti-narcotics operation,

but three heavily armed warships sailing just miles from Nicholas Maduro's coastline,

well, that sends a message that goes well beyond drug interdiction.

It's an aggressive move.

Well, that's putting it diplomatically.

One that's left observers wondering is the Trump administration preparing for something bigger.

The pressure campaign against Maduro has been steadily ratcheting up since Trump took office.

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