He said there was a "very small window of opportunity" for the Syrian government and the opposition to hold talks, and admitted that, for the UN, there was "not much political space".

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The UN marked April 12 as the first annual International Day of Human Space Flight.

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In fact, even the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change acknowledges that pollutant particles reflect sunlight back into space, which has a cooling effect.

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"My dream is that a new agency like the International Telecommunications Union will be proposed at UN level to coordinate all this activity, " said Dr Claudio Portelli from the Italian space agency (Asi).

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The three-member taskforce comprised Dr Harry Atkinson, formerly of the Science and Engineering Research Council and past chairman of the European Space Agency's Council, with Sir Crispin Tickell, Britain's former ambassador to the UN and Professor David Williams, from University College, London.

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