A Russian Proton-M rocket successfully delivered a cutting-edge space telescope into orbit Saturday after days of launch delays, Russia's space agency said.

Roscosmos said the telescope, named Spektr-RG, was delivered into a parking orbit before a final burn Saturday that kicked the spacecraft out of Earth's orbit and on to its final destination: the L2 Lagrange point.

Lagrange points are unique positions in the solar system where objects can maintain their position relative to the sun and the planets that orbit it. Located 1.5 million kilometres (0.93 million miles) from Earth, L2 is particularly ideal for telescopes such as Spektr-RG.

If all goes well, the telescope will arrive at its designated position in three months, becoming the first Russian spacecraft to operate beyond Earth's orbit since the Soviet era. The telescope aims to conduct a complete x-ray survey of the sky by 2025, the first space telescope to do so.

The Russian accomplishment comes as the US space agency NASA celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969.

Panaji: Aiming to make the forthcoming golden jubilee edition of the International Film Festival of India a memorable “professional show”, the steering committee for this mega film event, which met in the city on Sunday, reached many decisions including having a special showcase to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi as well as holding a business exhibition for displaying latest technologies relating to film production and distribution.

The IFFI-2019 also proposes to pay a tribute to former chief minister Manohar Parrikar, the architect of IFFI in Goa, possibly through a special section dedicated to him.

The meeting, which was presided over by Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar, also decided to add two new features to the IFFI-2019 namely utilising the skills of students of the Film and Television Institute of India as well as the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute for managing the nine-day show, and roping in private theatres in the state to screen popular films for general public during the IFFI period.

In Tennis, Serbian Novak Djokovic won his fifth Wimbledon title after defeating Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 4-6, 13-12 in a match that lasted for more than four hours.

The match had to be decided in the fifth set, as both Federer and Djokovic won two sets each in the longest ever final to be played so far. 

This is  Djokovic's 16th Grand Slam and 5th Wimbledon title. He is now level with Bjorn Borg as a five-time Wimbledon winner.

Lewis Hamilton made a thrilling victory in the Silverstone circuit to win his sixth British Grand Prix, his seventh victory in ten races in 2019.

Hamilton's Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas looked all set for victory, but a safety car intervention helped Hamilton to seal the victory.

Bottas had an early lead from pole position and he fought off Hamilton's challenge in the starting laps. Hamilton somehow managed to edge ahead in the race later and from there he controlled the race.

New Delhi: India women wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Sunday defeated Russia's Ekaterina Poleshchuk and won gold at Yasar Dogu International in the 53kg category. Phogat beat her Russian opponent 9-5 in the final match to bag the gold medal.

Vinesh Phogat took to Twitter and wrote, "Strong performance over the last couple of days at the #YasarDogu here in Istanbul. A good way to check my preparation and test myself against some challenging opponents! On to the next phase of preparation now."

The World Bank Group on Friday announced that Anshula Kant, an Indian national, has been appointed its next MD and CFO. Ms. Kant will be the first woman CFO of the Bank.

“Anshula brings more than 35 years of expertise in finance, banking, and innovative use of technology through her work as CFO of the State Bank of India,” World Bank Group president David Malpass said via a statement.

“She’s excelled at a diverse array of leadership challenges including risk, treasury, funding, regulatory compliance and operations. I look forward to welcoming her to our management team as we work to increase our effectiveness in supporting good development outcomes.”

India and Russia have held high-level talks in New Delhi to elevate bilateral co-operation to the next level in the field of space, including assistance in India's maiden human space flight mission 'Gaganyaan'.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Dmitry Rogozin, Director General of Russia's space agency (ROSCOSMOS) led the two sides in the meeting held on Thursday.

In a release, the External Affairs Ministry on Friday said, the possibilities for the production of space systems in India were an important part of the discussions.

Co-operation in futuristic technologies including new space systems, rocket engines, propellants and propulsion systems, spacecrafts and launch vehicle technology were also discussed.

The statement said, there have been frequent contacts between the two space agencies to finalise the details of the Gaganyaan Mission, which will carry Indian astronaut to space in 2022, to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Independence.

A joint venture of a Kalyani group firm and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Systems has secured a $100 million contract for manufacturing 1,000 Barak-8 MRSAM missile kits.

Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems (KRAS), the joint venture, in which the Indian partner’s holding is 51% and the rest is with Rafael, will manufacture the kits at its production facility near Hyderabad and supply them to Bharat Dynamics for further integration. Eventually, the product will be used by the Indian Army and the Air Force.

A crucial component, the kits in the mid-section of the missiles will contain all control and automation, a senior executive of KRAS told the media here on Thursday. The first set of the kits, under the nearly four-year delivery schedule, is expected to begin from the fourth quarter this fiscal.

Senior diplomat Vikas Swarup has been appointed as Secretary, Overseas Indian Affairs, according to an order issued by the Personnel Ministry on Friday.

Swarup, a 1986-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service, is at present India’s High Commissioner in Ottawa.

He has been appointed as the Secretary, (consular, passport, visa and Overseas Indian affairs) in the External Affairs Ministry with effect from August 1, 2019, the order said.

Film Divisions will launch KSHITIJ, a documentary film club in Mumbai today. An acclaimed documentary film “Secret Life of Frogs” by Ajay and Vijay Bedi will be screened as the inaugural film. 

Public screenings will begin at 5:30 PM on the second and fourth Friday of every month. The screenings will be held at Films Division Complex. 

The initiative, being launched in association with Indian Documentary Producer’s Association, will give movie lovers, an opportunity to watch acclaimed documentary films and also to interact with the film’s director.