Authored by Ron Paul,

President Trump recently signed an executive order changing marijuana’s Controlled Substances Act classification from Schedule I to Schedule III.

Schedule I is supposed to include especially dangerous drugs that are likely to be abused and have no medical purpose.

Whatever one thinks of the wisdom and morality of using marijuana, the fact is it is less addictive, and quite possibly safer, than alcohol.

Many Americans who live in one of the 40 states that have legalized medicinal marijuana use it for a variety of ailments.

Reclassifying marijuana does not repeal federal laws criminalizing its use. The reclassifying does, though, facilitate research into marijuana’s medical benefits.

It also enables marijuana businesses that are legal under state laws to take ordinary deductions on their taxes. While President Trump’s executive order is a step forward, those who support advancing liberty must continue to press for repeal of all federal drug laws.

The Constitution does not give the federal government any authority to outlaw marijuana or any other “illicit” substance.

At least supporters of alcohol prohibition understood that a constitutional amendment was needed to impose a national ban on alcohol. The war on drugs has been a primary excuse for violations of liberties including unconstitutional searches and seizures, “no-knock raids,” bank reports to the federal government on those making large cash deposits, and draconian mandatory minimum sentences. The drug war has also been used to justify foreign interventions — such as President Trump’s current actions against Venezuela.

Defenders of the drug war say it is necessary because the drug trade is controlled by violent criminals — even though this is the inevitable result of outlawing a product people wish to consume. The most important reason to end the drug war is that government has no moral right to stop adults from engaging in a peaceful (even if unwise) behavior like smoking marijuana. Laws prohibiting drug use have no place in a free society. These laws are rooted in the idea that our rights are merely gifts from the government conditioned on our “good “behavior. A government that can stop people from smoking marijuana is a government that can also mandate what vaccines we receive and how our children are educated.

Of course, in a free society, an individual who uses drugs would be responsible for the consequences of his choices, and those who oppose drug use could exercise their right to try to persuade others to abstain from drug use.

When I campaigned to return to Congress in 1996, both Republicans (in the primary) and Democrats (in the general election) focused on attacking my position on drugs.

In response, I explained that the federal government has no authority to outlaw drugs and that the police state being built to stop drug use threatens all our liberty. The responsibility for combatting drug use belongs elsewhere, such as with churches and family members. I summed up my position as not pro-drug, but pro-liberty. In the end, I won that race. The people have been ahead of politicians in understanding the folly of the drug war.

All of us who value liberty must oppose the drug war. We should speak out for replacing various mandates and punishments of the drug war with increased respect for individual rights. We should also be steadfast that the end goal be a complete ending of the federal government’s drug prohibition.

Authored by Rob Sabo via The Epoch Times,

Gas prices continued their sharp downward trend throughout December, falling by nearly 23 cents over the month to a national average of $2.75 per gallon on Dec. 29—the lowest level recorded since 2021, according to a report by fuel price comparison app GasBuddy.

The national average price of diesel fuel, meanwhile, was $3.52 per gallon, a dip of more than $0.05 from a week earlier, GasBuddy reported.

Increased domestic production, along with a late-year ramp-up in production by members of OPEC+, a coalition of oil-exporting nations, has led to increased domestic and global supply, despite ongoing sanctions against oil-rich countries such as Russia and Venezuela.

According to Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, the national average price for gasoline has declined in all but a handful of U.S. states.

“Oil prices have remained relatively low even amid the U.S. blockade on Venezuela’s oil exports,” De Haan said in a statement.

“With refineries running at seasonally high output and gasoline inventories building, most states—outside of price-cycling markets—have continued to see declines, with some stations in nearly a dozen states now dipping below the $2-per-gallon mark.”

He said the trend could continue for a while before prices ultimately bottom out, likely in January or February.

U.S. crude oil producers’ output of nearly 17 million barrels per day (bpd) for mid-December was about 12 percent higher than the 15.2 million bpd produced in late October, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported. Meanwhile, eight members of OPEC+ announced in October they would increase oil production by an additional 137,000 barrels per day beginning in December.

Global petroleum inventories rose on average by 1.8 million bpd in the second and third quarters of 2025, EIA analysts said. China accounted for about 1.1 billion barrels per day of the inventory growth.

However, the relief at the pump may be short-lived. The price of U.S. crude jumped by 2.1 percent during Dec. 29 trading to settle at just under $58 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, was up by 1.88 percent and finished the day’s session at $61.78 per barrel.

The GasBuddy report compiled data from more than 12 million price reports from more than 150,000 gas stations throughout the United States. Average gasoline prices were lowest in Oklahoma at $2.17 per gallon, followed by Colorado and Texas at $2.33 per gallon each. All three states had the lowest average prices for diesel fuel as well, at $2.92, $2.99, and $3.02, respectively.

Average prices for a gallon of gas were highest in Hawaii at $4.36 and California at $4.20. Diesel fuel was highest in both states at $5.16 and $4.88 per gallon, respectively.

Regionally, gas prices were highest across the West Coast at $3.76 per gallon for the week ending Dec. 22, EIA reported. Prices were lowest in the Gulf Coast region at $2.44.

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The CEO of the IRS said during an interview on Dec. 23 that 94 percent of middle-class Americans will see some form of tax relief next year.

“You’re going to look at probably 94 percent-plus of middle-class Americans getting a boost, your tax rates coming down, and getting the benefit going forward,” said IRS CEO Frank Bisignano, who is also the commissioner of the Social Security Administration, during an interview with Fox Business.

He said that Social Security recipients will see “up to a $6,000 benefit as [the Trump administration is] committed to the benefits of Social Security not being taxed.”

Bisignano’s comments come after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett have both projected significant refunds in the 2026 tax year because of legislation that was signed into law over the summer by President Donald Trump.

Bisignano was named as the first CEO of the federal tax revenue agency, which is a position that the Trump administration created in October.

Trump also said in a year-end speech that many American families could save between $11,000 and $20,000 per year under the tax and spending package.

Hassett has been floated as a possible successor to current Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

The Trump administration has been teasing proposals to address cost-of-living concerns, including tax refunds and dividend checks derived from tariffs. Since the elections last month, in which Democrats secured victories in several states and municipalities, Republicans have intensified their focus on the economy. During a recent speech, Trump unveiled a $1,776 bonus to U.S. troops.

Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), have been critical of the Trump administration’s economic policies, saying that the White House is out of touch.

In a Dec. 18 post on X, for example, the Democratic leader said that Trump “lives in a bubble completely disconnected from the reality everyday Americans are seeing and feeling” and that Americans “are feeling squeezed harder and harder every day.”

Meanwhile, the administration received a boost on Dec. 17 as the Labor Department released its consumer price index report for November, showing an overall drop in inflation. And the U.S. gross domestic product grew at a rapid rate of 4.3 percent in the third quarter of 2025, according to a report issued on Dec. 23 by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Next year’s tax-filing season starts Jan. 28, 2026, and ends on April 15, 2026.

X users are reporting that a mysterious Russian shortwave radio signal, nicknamed “The Buzzer” and informally known as the “doomsday radio station,” that has been continuously broadcasting since the late 1970s, has just transmitted the classical piece Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

UVB-76 is transmitted on 4625 kHz and is occasionally interrupted by Russian voice messages, often containing names, numbers, or coded phrases. These voice messages are rare, irregular, and often nonsensical, making the transmission of Swan Lake highly abnormal.

Western military analysts associate UVB-76 with Russia’s military communications and strategic command infrastructure. It reportedly remains operational as a fail-safe in the event that satellites, fiber, or cellular networks are disrupted.

The broadcasting of Swan Lake, a four-act ballet composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and premiered in 1877 in Moscow, on UVB-76 could be interpreted as a mistake or operator error, a test transmission, accidental audio bleed from equipment at the transmitter site, or even signal hijacking.

“Swan Lake” just played on the Doomsday radio station🎶

UVB-76, known as the Buzzer or the Doomsday station, is a mysterious shortwave broadcast that has been on the air since the 1970s.

Its purpose has never been officially explained, and conspiracy theorists spend hours… pic.twitter.com/cCNhXFhhhJ

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) December 30, 2025

Earlier, Russia showcased the deployment of its nuclear-capable hypersonic Oreshnik missile system in its close ally, Belarus.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced that the “Oreshnik” Nuclear-Capable Hypersonic Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) has entered active combat service with the Strategic Rocket Forces in Eastern Belarus. pic.twitter.com/gFm7s0oGf1

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) December 30, 2025

Fun fact, Swan Lake was repeatedly broadcast across Soviet state television during the August Coup in August 1991.

European outlet NEXTA asked, “So how should we interpret the latest transmission? A soundtrack for the flight of the Oreshnik?”

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

In a heated CNN clash, conservative commentator Scott Jennings called out the lack of real accountability in Democrat-run states, demanding elected officials face consequences for enabling billion-dollar scams.

Jennings addressed the rot in blue states where massive fraud schemes have flourished under lax oversight. Facing pushback from host Abby Phillip, Jennings insisted that prosecuting small-time operators isn’t enough—real change demands jailing those at the top who allowed it all to happen.

The discussion centered on the sprawling welfare fraud in Minnesota, but Jennings expanded it to a nationwide indictment of blue state governance. When Phillip defended ongoing probes, saying, “This idea that nothing is being done, that no one is being held accountable, that this was just left to run rampant, is completely false,” Jennings countered sharply.

This was another watershed moment on CNN.

Scott Jennings used his voice to speak for the millions of Americans fed up with fraud running roughshod in blue states across the country.

Abby Phillip tried to push her narrative about the Somali fraud scheme in Minnesota…but… pic.twitter.com/MfN93LqyOt

— Overton (@overton_news) December 30, 2025

“Well, some people have been held accountable. But I think in the opinion of most Republicans, not nearly enough,” he replied.

He then delivered the core demand: “And truthfully, until somebody in a position of power, until somebody in a position in Minnesota, elected position, who was in charge of administering this or having some oversight over it, goes to jail, it’s honestly never going to stop.”

Jennings broadened the scope: “Look what’s going on in blue states across the country: 9 billion in Minnesota, 70 billion in fraud in California, cooking the crime stats in Washington, D.C.”

Driving the point home, he asked, “When is someone in a position of power going to go to jail for the rampant fraud?” and added, “You can put all the low-level people in jail you want, but until somebody in charge goes to jail, it won’t stop!”

The scandal Jennings spotlighted involves Somali-led operations in Minneapolis, where billions in federal welfare funds—intended for children and the vulnerable—were siphoned through fake daycares and shell companies.

Estimates peg the theft at $9 billion in Minnesota alone, part of a larger pattern tied to unvetted immigration and weak enforcement. The Trump administration’s DOJ is now intensifying efforts, with door-to-door probes by Homeland Security targeting suspected sites.

DHS is on the ground in Minneapolis, going DOOR TO DOOR at suspected fraud sites.

The American people deserve answers on how their taxpayer money is being used and ARRESTS when abuse is found. Under the leadership of @Sec_Noem, DHS is working to deliver results. pic.twitter.com/7XtRflv36b

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) December 29, 2025

This surge follows viral exposures, including a video by Youtuber Nick Shirley touring dozens of Somali-run daycares implicated in the schemes.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has charged 98 individuals in Minnesota fraud cases, with over 60 convictions. More probes are underway, signaling an end to the free pass for blue state elites.

This isn’t isolated—it’s the byproduct of years of open borders flooding communities with unassimilated groups, creating ripe ground for abuse. As Jennings laid bare, without holding powerful Democrats accountable, the cycle of theft from American taxpayers continues.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

The CIA is reported to have carried out a bombing operation within Venezuelan territory, CNN and The New York Times report in follow-up to President Trump touting that the US had knocked out “a big facility”.

CNN while citing unnamed sources, reports that the CIA conducted a drone strike on a remote dock along Venezuela’s coastline, after the US suspected the site was being used to store and transport illegal drugs, and which were supposedly bound for America.

Reports indicate the location was unoccupied at the time of the strike, which occurred earlier this month. The New York Times published a similar account based on anonymous sources, specifying that the operation took place last Wednesday.

As we detailed, President Trump had on Friday in a radio interview disclosed something which missed the attention of the US and global media. He let slip that a large land site had been knocked out by a strike from US forces in the Caribbean.

Trump may have actually assumed the attack which he disclosed publicly for the first time was already being reported on, but it had not. He was being interviewed by John Catsimatidis, the Republican billionaire who owns the WABC radio station in New York on his The Cats & Cosby Show, and the two were talking about the Venezuela campaign. 

“They have a big plant or a big facility where the ships come from,” Trump said, though he did not explicitly identify the exact location or even country attacked. “Two nights ago we knocked that out.”

Interestingly, the remarks generated almost no headlines for much of that weekend. But by Monday he expanded on those remarks during a press conference, saying the target was located on Venezuela’s coast and that a “major explosion” occurred at a dock where boats were supposedly loaded with drugs.

“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” he told reporters at Mar-a-Lago, his club and residence in Florida.

“They load the boats up with drugs. So we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area. It’s the implementation area, that’s where they implement, and that is no longer around.”

But even after this, neither CIA, nor White House, nor Pentagon would comment. Even more strange was that Venezuelan officials themselves have also remained silent, issuing no public statements regarding the alleged attack. It is perhaps the case they don’t want the population to panic, or else don’t want to give acknowledgement of a successful land strike by Washington.

Speculation has persisted an effort to identify which facility was hit and what damage was done. Some analysts have highlighted a ‘mystery’ explosion at an industrial zone in San Francisco municipality, Zulia state, given the timing fits (Wednesday, Dec. 24).

San Francisco Venezuela’s second largest city, in the northwest corner of the country, and near the coast. However, local reports also suggest the likelihood the fire was sparked by an electrical accident.

But it is also clear the CIA is active in Venezuela, given White House authorized lethal CIA missions targeting the Latin American country in October – though these may have been occurring long before then.

Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López:

‘We know that the CIA is present in Venezuela’ pic.twitter.com/mzZGs67Mvd

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 23, 2025

The American president has also ordered a naval blockade targeting Venezuelan oil exports, with US forces already having seized two tankers transporting Venezuelan crude in international waters, while a third ship reportedly avoided boarding and continued into the Atlantic.

The Pentagon is seeking to enforce what has been described as a “quarantine” of Venezuelan oil over the coming months to further strain the country’s economy. Amid all of this, there’s a likelihood of yet more land strikes to come.

Authored by Travis Gilmore via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump said on Dec. 29 that Israeli President Isaac Herzog told him a pardon for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “on its way.” That assertion, however, was disputed by Herzog’s office.

“He’s a wartime prime minister who’s a hero. How do you not give a pardon?” Trump, while standing alongside Netanyahu, told reporters ahead of a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

“I spoke to the president … he tells me it’s on its way.”

Trump suggested the fate of Israel would be far worse if Netanyahu had not been in charge during recent crises—including the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks.

“If you had the wrong prime minister right now, Israel would not exist,” Trump said.

“They were met with a force the likes of which very few countries could have handled.”

Herzog’s office, nevertheless, issued a statement that appeared to contradict Trump’s comments.

When asked about the U.S. president’s remarks, Herzog’s office said the Israeli president had not spoken with Trump since a pardon request was submitted several weeks ago.

“There has not been a conversation between President Herzog and President Trump since the pardon request was submitted,” the statement read.

“Several weeks ago, a conversation took place between President Herzog and a representative on behalf of President Trump, who inquired about the U.S. President’s letter. During that conversation, an explanation was provided regarding the stage of the process in which the request currently stands, and that any decision on the matter will be made in accordance with the established procedures.

“This was conveyed to President Trump’s representative, exactly as President Herzog stated publicly in Israel.”

Netanyahu is the first Israeli prime minister to be charged with a crime while in office. He denies the bribery, fraud, and breach-of-trust charges stemming from his 2019 indictment.

His own request for a pardon, submitted on Nov. 30, argued that frequent court hearings hamper his ability to govern and that clemency would be in the national interest. The appeal was lodged following the start of a U.S.-brokered cease-fire in Gaza.

Netanyahu’s appeal for clemency has been criticized by his opponents, who said that pardoning him mid-trial would be a breach of the rule of law, according to the Times of Israel.

As per Israeli law, the president has the authority to pardon convicts; however, there is no precedent for issuing a pardon while a trial is still ongoing.

Netanyahu’s quest for a pardon has been supported by Trump, who wrote a formal letter to Herzog in November urging him to grant clemency, calling the case against the Israeli prime minister “political, unjustified prosecution.”

During their Mar-a-Lago meeting on Dec. 29, Trump and Netanyahu discussed Gaza, Iran, Syria, and other matters.

“We had a big meeting with a lot of people, a lot of talent from Israel and from the U.S.,” Trump said after the meeting.

“And I think we came to a lot of conclusions. There’s very little difference in what we’re looking at, and where we want to be, where we want to go.”

Netanyahu expressed gratitude for a “very productive meeting.”

“I think we have a partnership … second to none,” he said. “It’s allowed us to do tremendous things.”

Ahead of the meeting, Trump said they would begin the second phase of the peace plan in Gaza “as quickly as we can.”

“But there has to be a disarming of Hamas,” he noted.

Rebuilding the war-torn region is a priority, and sanitization efforts are underway, Trump said.

“It’s been a mess for a long time, but we’re going to straighten it out,” Trump said. “We’re helping the people of Gaza a lot, and so is Israel.”

Netanyahu thanked Trump for the opportunity to meet and for his continued support of Israel.

“We’ve never had a friend like President Trump in the White House. It’s not even close,” the prime minister said.

“I think it’s not merely Israel’s great fortune; it’s the world’s great fortune.”

After the meeting, Netanyahu said his nation would award its highest civilian honor, the Israel Prize, to Trump, who will be the first non-Israeli to receive the prize. The prize was announced formally on Monday by Israel’s minister of education.

Home prices in America’s largest 20 cities surged 0.32% MoM in October (far higher than the +0.1% MoM move expected) but for context, this is the weakest annual home price growth since the March through July 2023 period, when the market was absorbing the initial shock of the Fed’s rapid rate hikes

Source: Bloomberg

“October’s data show the housing market settling into a much slower gear, with the National Composite Index up only about 1.4% year over year – among the weakest performances since mid-2023,” said Nicholas Godec, CFA, CAIA, CIPM, Head of Fixed Income Tradables & Commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

“This broad stagnation suggests that elevated mortgage rates – still hovering around the mid-6% range in late October – are finally overwhelming the market’s earlier supply-driven resilience. Would-be buyers are facing the highest borrowing costs in decades, and that affordability squeeze has curbed demand enough to erode price momentum across most of the country.”

But could be set to improve in the (lagged) months ahead…

Source: Bloomberg

Regional performance underscores a striking geographic rotation.

• Chicago now leads all major markets with a 5.8% annual price gain, followed by New York at 5.0% and Cleveland at 4.1%. These traditionally stable Midwestern and Northeastern metros have sustained solid growth even as broader conditions soften.

• By contrast, Tampa home prices are down 4.2% year over year – the steepest drop among the 20 cities, marking Tampa’s 12th consecutive month of annual declines. Other former highflyers in the Sun Belt are similarly struggling: Phoenix (-1.5%), Dallas (-1.5%), and Miami (-1.1%) all remain in negative territory.

As Godec notes, “it’s a stark reversal from the pandemic boom, as the markets that were once ‘pandemic darlings’ are now seeing the sharpest corrections while more traditional metros continue to post modest gains.”

Mark Zuckerberg has been aggressively repositioning Meta Platforms’ focus and spending toward artificial intelligence, particularly to achieve “personal superintelligence” that enhances existing apps like Facebook and Instagram and, of course, boosts revenue. Put simply, the pivot to AI looks like a far better venture than Zuckerberg’s absolutely horrendous bet on the metaverse.

A new Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday said that Meta is buying an AI startup with Chinese founders that conducts deep research called Manus. The move is a familiar strategy: if you cannot beat the competition, buy it. Zuckerberg has repeatedly taken this approach this year, including aggressively poaching AI talent across Silicon Valley.

Manus is entering the next chapter: we’re joining forces with Meta to take general agents to the next level.

Full story on our blog: https://t.co/huPrnbITCi

— Manus (@ManusAI) December 29, 2025

People familiar with the Meta-Manus deal say the acquisition will cost upwards of $2 billion. At the same time, Manus was seeking a new round of fundraising at roughly that valuation when Meta approached with an offer.

In a statement to the Financial Times, Meta said it would “operate and sell the Manus service” while integrating its technology into its own products, such as the Meta AI chatbot.

Meta noted that Manus is one of the “leading autonomous general-purpose agents,” with tools capable of performing tasks including market research, coding, and data analysis. Meta could ultimately offer this new AI agent service for as little as $20 per month.

The acquisition stands out as one of the most high-profile deals to date involving a U.S. tech giant purchasing an AI product built within Asia’s AI and startup ecosystem. It highlights how AI innovation is no longer confined to Silicon Valley, but is emerging across parts of Asia. The deal also highlights a strategic shift by U.S. tech giants toward acquiring proven AI products and talent overseas, rather than relying solely on in-house development, as the race for AI agents and automation intensifies following China’s DeepSeek debut earlier this year.

Manus raised $75 million in a Series B funding round led by U.S. venture firm Benchmark in April. Political scrutiny surrounding the VC firm’s funding round with the China-linked startup later prompted Manus to relocate its headquarters to Singapore.

WSJ reported that Manus CEO Xiao Hong will soon report to Meta COO Javier Olivan. The startup employs about 100 staff, primarily in Singapore.

Using publicly available data from the supply chain analysis firm Sayari, Manus is owned by Singapore-registered Butterfly Effect Technology (Butterfly Effect Pte. Ltd.). The founders include Xiao Hong, often called “Red,” as CEO and co-founder; Yichao “Peak” Ji as chief scientist and co-founder; and Zhang Tao as co-founder and product partner.

“In this AI wave, Chinese entrepreneurs building open-source large models or AI applications have been iterating the fastest and are highly competitive,” Li Chengdong, founder of the Haitun internet think tank, told the FT. He added, “An incredible company and team are being sold to the United States. If China does not value talent and entrepreneurs and does not respect the basic rules of capital, it will ultimately be very hard for the country to win the China-US tech war.”

By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com,

Following the Ukrainian drone attack that damaged a key export terminal on Russia’s Black Sea at end-November, Kazakhstan’s crude and condensate production has fallen by 6% so far in December compared to the average output in November, an anonymous industry source told Reuters on Monday. 

A Ukrainian attack damaged infrastructure through which the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) exports most of Kazakhstan’s oil near the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. 

Oil has continued to flow, but at lower rates, while Kazakhstan sought to re-route some exports away from the Black Sea to keep supply relatively steady. 

CPC operates the pipeline from the Caspian coast in northwest Kazakhstan to the Novorossiysk port, which handles 80% of Kazakhstan’s crude exports from giant oilfields operated by international oil firms. 

Affiliates of Chevron and ExxonMobil are also minority shareholders in CPC, with the Russian Federation as its largest shareholder with a 24% stake.

As a result of the damaged infrastructure at the CPC export terminal, crude and gas condensate output from Kazakhstan dropped by 6% between December 1 and 28, down compared to an average of 1.93 million barrels per day (bpd) in November, according to Reuters’ source.  

Production at the giant Tengiz oilfield on the Caspian Sea, operated by a consortium led by Chevron, has also fallen this month. Output dipped by 10% to 719,800 bpd in the period December 1 through December 28, the source told the publication.

Earlier this month, Kazakhstan said it would reroute some of the oil from at its giant Kashagan oilfield toward China. 

In view of urgent repairs at one of three single-point moorings and deferred loadings, Kazakhstan works on rerouting part of its crude exports, Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry told Reuters nearly three weeks ago. 

Kazakhstan is also diverting more of its westbound exports to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean coast after the attack, multiple industry sources told Reuters in early December.