11 APRIL 2014

Ø  The third phase of polling in 91 Lok Sabha constituencies spread over 14 States and Union Territories on Thursday registered a record turnout, ranging from 80 per cent in Lakshadweep to 51.49 per cent in Naxal-dominated Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.

Ø The UN Security Council voted unanimously to send 12,000 U.N. peacekeepers to Central African Republic, where violence between Christians and Muslims has triggered fears of genocide. The resolution, submitted by France, pledged to deploy up to 10,000 military personnel and 1,800 police to the former French colony, where sectarian violence has killed thousands in the last year. The resolution was adopted by the 15-member Council by a show of hands in a vote called by Nigeria, which holds the body’s rotating presidency.The resolution authorises French soldiers to “use all necessary means” to provide support to the U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

Ø  Russian cargo ship Progress M-23M successfully docked with the International Space Station, bringing the crew crucial supplies and water. The unmanned ship, which was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, docked with the ISS at 21:14 GMT. The station was flying over the west coast of Peru at the time of Progress M-23M's docking. The ship is packed with some 2.4 tonnes of supplies for the station’s six-member international crew, including fuel, water, oxygen, and parcels from friends and family. The ISS is currently under the command of Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese astronaut to hold the post.