BY TYLER DURDEN
Last year was a bad year for corn — the latest US Department of Agriculture (USDA) report shows drought conditions and extreme weather wreaked havoc on croplands.
USDA unexpectedly slashed its outlook for domestic corn production amid a severe drought across the western farm belt. Farmers in Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas were forced to abandon drought-plagued fields.
The agency estimated farmers harvested 79.2 million acres, a decline of 1.6 million acres versus the previous estimate — the smallest acres harvest since 2008.
The unexpected cut to US harvested corn acres means grain supplies are a lot tighter than realized. A report Thursday showed the corn area in the world's largest producer is at the smallest since 2008 with crops failing in states such as Texas and Nebraska. That's due to persistent drought conditions in the western part of the country that could also hit harvests for wheat plants that are currently dormant for the winter. -- Bloomberg
The crop-failed lands reduced total harvest corn acreage to levels not seen since 2008. ........more below
US lawmakers in the House Oversight Committee have unveiled new pictures from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, some featuring several of the most well-known figures in the world, including Donald Trump.
The House Oversight Democrats on Friday released 19 new pictures from Epstein’s estate, including pictures showing Trump, former president Bill Clinton, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
“Oversight Dems received 95,000 new photos from Jeffrey Epstein's estate,” the Democrats wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“These disturbing images raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world,” the lawmakers said.
The development came after release of an initial number of images and videos of the island estate.
Epstein, a notorious sex offender, who died in prison, would traffick underage girls to .....more below
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/12/12/760519/Trump-Epstein-Files-Ties
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has denounced the United States for using allegations of drug trafficking as a pretext to seize his country’s natural resources, particularly oil.
The Venezuelan chief executive’s Friday remarks came days after US President Donald Trump announced seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker.
Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Trump had said, “We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, large tanker, very large, largest one ever, actually, and other things are happening.” “It's going to be starting on land pretty soon,” he had added without elaborating on the specifics of the operation.
In response, Maduro declared, “The mask has fallen,” asserting that the true motive behind US actions is Venezuela’s oil.
“The issue is not drug trafficking. It’s the oil they want to steal,” he said, adding that imperialist powers were after Venezuela’s crude, asphalt... more below
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Islamic Republic inflicted “heavy” and “extensive” damage on Israel during its US-backed aggression of June against Iran.
Speaking on Monday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, said in the course of the aggression, Iran dealt a “severe blow” to Israel, which had remained arrogant since the wars in the 1960s, particularly the Six-Day War and subsequent conflicts with Arabs.
“During the war, we inflicted very heavy losses upon the Zionist regime, only a portion of which was made public. Israel itself prevented the full disclosure of the extent of damage caused by Iran’s missile attacks.”
“The reports and images we received from various satellites, together with information obtained from multiple sources in the Israeli-occupied territories, all indicated that the damage sustained [by the regime] was absolutely extensive.”
He said Iranian missiles penetrated through the host of defense systems deployed by several ...
