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United States

Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith won a U.S. Senate special election runoff in conservative Mississippi, defeating a black challenger after a campaign that recalled the history of racist violence in the deep South state.

Energy Transfer and its Sunoco pipeline subsidiary have racked up more than 800 state and federal permit violations while racing to build two of the nation’s largest natural gas pipelines, according to a Reuters analysis of government data and regulatory records.

“You have to wonder why Washington even bothered” said Rob Sharkey, 43, a fifth-generation Illinois farmer. Rob hopes his corn trade aid check will be big enough for that margarita machine he and his wife have been eyeing, but they doubt they’ll be any left over for the booze. Federal economists have calculated that the nation’s losses in corn - its largest crop by harvest and export volume - amount to just a penny per bushel, a pittance farmers call absurd.

China

Saudi Arabia is set to expand its market share in China this year for the first time since 2012, with demand stirred up by new Chinese refiners pushing the kingdom back into contention with Russia as top supplier to the world’s largest oil buyer.

Argentina and China are aiming to close a deal within days for the construction of the South American nation’s fourth nuclear power plant, a multi-billion dollar project that would cement Beijing’s deepening influence in a key regional U.S. ally. China is forging closer economic ties with Argentina, posing a challenge to President Donald Trump, who views Argentine President Mauricio Macri as a key regional ally.

World

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko of orchestrating a naval “provocation” in the Black Sea at the weekend in order to boost his flagging popularity ratings before an election next year. European Union leaders meeting for a summit in Brussels in December are expected to extend for another year the bloc’s main economic sanctions against Russia over Ukraine.

A Chinese scientist at the center of an ethical storm over what he claims are the world’s first genetically edited babies said he is proud of his work and revealed there was a second “potential” pregnancy as part of the research.

Exclusive: Brazil has more than doubled the number of risky ship-to-ship oil transfers this year, but its monitoring of such offshore maneuvers is lax, to a point where a July 2017 collision between two tankers was not reported, according to a Reuters review of government and shipping records.

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5:01 AM - 28 Nov 2018