Sep. 19, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) -- Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, Sept. 20
HOUSTON -- British oil giant BP had permanently "killed" the leaking Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. spill commander said on Sunday.
Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is tasked to oversee the spill response, said on Sunday the months-long underwater gusher "is effectively dead" and "poses no continuing threat to the Gulf of Mexico." (US-BP-Oil)
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WASHINGTON -- Iran has always been ready to discuss issues as long as they are within the legal framework and based on "principles of justice and respect," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview with ABC television's " This Week" program which was broadcast Sunday.
"We have a plan to discuss things, to discuss issues," the president said when asked whether he is going to have a meeting with the United States in the P5-plus-one on the nuclear issue. (Iran-President)
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STOCKHOLM -- Sweden's centre-right Alliance government won the general election with 49.3 percent of votes, but with three seats failing to gain a majority of 175 seats in the 349 seats parliament, according to the preliminary results of votes from the 5,668 districts on Sunday broadcast by Swedish TV, SVT .
"This is historic, we are larger than that in 2006. We had a gap of 15 percent compared with Social Democrats then, and now we are only one percent less than them," Prime Minister and leader of the Moderate Party, said to his party members after the preliminary results showed the party won 30 percent of the total votes. (Sweden-Election)
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UNITED NATIONS -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday met with Iraian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and they discussed developments in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East.
"The secretary-general commended Iran for its constructive role in counter narcotics enforcement activities," said a readout from Ban's spokesman. "He thanked Iran for continuing to host a large number of Afghan and Iraqi refugees and encouraged Iran to continue supporting their welfare." (UN-Iran-Mideast)
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UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations on Sunday began a meeting on the flood emergency in Pakistan in order to secure more world support and relief aid to cover the needs of up to 14 million Pakistani people for the next 12 months.
The meeting was co-chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, together with other top foreign ministers, were attending the special meeting. (UN-Pakistan-Meeting)