12 FEBRUARY 2015: Android robot Kirobo returns earth from ISS

Ø  A pint-sized Japanese robot that became the first android to converse with an astronaut in space has returned to Earth after 18 months in orbit. “Kirobo” — roughly the size of a chihuahua — hitched a ride back from the International Space Station (ISS) on a cargo supply spacecraft that splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, sponsors including Toyota Motor and advertising firm Dentsu said. Kirobo, which left Earth in August 2013, was programmed to communicate in Japanese and keep a record of its conversations with Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese astronaut to command the ISS.

Ø  A Special Investigation Team was set up by the government for fresh investigation into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases in Delhi and some other States. An order to this effect was issued by the Union Home Ministry in the evening, official sources said. The team will submit its report within six months. The three-member SIT will have two Inspector General-rank IPS officers and a judicial officer. Their names are yet to be announced. As many as 3,325 people had been killed in the riots that followed the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. Of them, Delhi alone accounted for 2,733. The rest were killed in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other States.

Ø  The search-cum-selection committee for appointments to a board-level post in Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) will furnish only one name to the administrative ministry or department, according to the Secretariat of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). The committee, chaired by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) chairman, will normally consist of not more than five members, including the chairman and at least one outside expert of eminence. Apart from recommending only one name, the PESB chairman will keep in his personal custody a reserve name in a sealed envelope, which will be opened only on the orders of the Prime Minister-led ACC. The panel recommended by the committee will remain valid for a year and, if no selection is made during the period, a fresh committee will be constituted to prepare a new panel. The new committee can also consider names in the earlier panel.

Ø  Actress-director Angelina Jolie has joined forces with Britain’s former foreign secretary William Hague to open a centre to help combat war-zone violence against women.