2 NOVEMBER 2014:UN sets panel 4 Peacekeeping forces under Indian pressure

Ø  SpaceShipTwo, a rocket plane that is to carry tourists on a short ride to space, crashed in the Mojave Desert during a test flight, killing one of the two pilots. The other pilot, who was able to eject from the space plane, was taken to a nearby hospital with injuries. Virgin Galactic, the space tourism company created by Richard Branson, acknowledged the accident on Twitter.

Ø  A day after assuming office as Maharashtra’s first BJP Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis on visited Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s memorial, even as the two parties held talks on the Sena’s inclusion in the Ministry. The visit is seen as an indication that the BJP might consider accommodating the Sena in the Ministry. Sena leaders want the issue to be clinched before November 12, the day set for Mr. Fadnavis to prove his government’s majority on the floor of the Assembly.

Ø  Under pressure from India over the safety of United Nations Peacekeeping forces, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has set up a 14-member panel, including an Indian to review peacekeeping operations worldwide. The panel, headed by Jose Ramos-Horta, the former President of East Timor, will include Lt. General Abhijit Guha, a retired Indian Army officer who now holds a U.N. post. With 8,132 soldiers on UN missions, India is the third largest contributor of peacekeeping forces, after Bangladesh and Pakistan. It has suffered the highest casualties in UN peacekeeping operations, with an estimated 157 Indian soldiers being killed since 1950. The move for a bigger role in deciding UN peacekeeping mandates is seen as part of the bigger push by India for a permanent seat at the Security Council.

Ø  GSLV Mark-III, the bigger and better space vehicle that will enable larger national communication satellites to be launched from India, is set for its first partial test flight. It also tests features of an unmanned crew module that will be flown down from space and recovered from sea. The second study is part of an ambitious future Human Space Flight proposal that is yet to be approved. The space agency has not attempted a partial test flight before in its rocket development course but Mark-III’s new gas generator cycle technology allows this.