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Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Sept. 15

Xinhua, September 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin on Thursday hailed Britain's decision to approve the French utility company EDF's project to build two EPR reactors at Hinkley Point in southern England.

"This marks a major milestone in Franco-British industrial and energy cooperation," Sapin said in a statement. (France-Britain-Hinkley reactors)

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HO CHI MINH CITY -- The Vietnamese Health Ministry said on Thursday that the 4th Zika patient spotted in Vietnam is a German national who is working in Ho Chi Minh City.

Earlier, the German woman was mistakenly reported by Japanese media as a 40-year-old Vietnamese visitor to Japan. After recovering in Japan, the woman has come back to Ho Chi Minh City's District 2 to work, said the ministry's Preventive Medicine Department. (Vietnam-German-Zika)

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NAIROBI -- South Sudan doesn't want neighboring countries like Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia to be contributors to a 4,000-strong protection force proposed to be deployed to the war-torn nation, a presidential spokesperson has said.

Ateny Wek Ateny told Xinhua in an interview on Thursday that regional countries of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) bloc that proposed the idea of the protection force had conflicting interests in South Sudan. (South Sudan-protection force)

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GENEVA -- The UN Special Envoy for Syria said Thursday that UN aid convoys had not yet reached civilians trapped in besieged and hard-to-reach locations in Syria despite a nationwide ceasefire held since Sept. 12.

"The second dividend of the U.S. and Russian agreement was, and remains, humanitarian access. That is what makes a difference for the people apart from no more bombs or mortar shelling taking place," Staffan de Mistura told the press. (UN-Syria-Aid)

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WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday designated the country's first marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean that aims to protect fragile deep-sea ecosystems off the coast of New England.

Obama made this announcement at the third annual Our Ocean Conference in Washington D.C. hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry, a meeting that focuses on issues related to marine-protected areas, sustainable fisheries, marine pollution, and climate-related impacts on the ocean.

(US-Obama-Marine monument) Endi