The anticipated launch of China’s robotic Chang’e-7 mission, designed to scour the moon’s south pole for water ice — a highly valuable resource that the US also hopes to use — “cannot take place during the planned window this year,” according to a statement from the China Manned Space Engineering Office shared by Chinese state media.

The mission had been expected to lift off as soon as Sunday evening, or Monday morning Beijing time from southern China’s Hainan province. Official statements did not specify how soon China may be able to attempt to get the mission off the ground.

The precise reason for the delay was not immediately clear. State media shared only that the “lunar probe does not meet launch conditions,” and the “assessment was conducted following the principle of prudence, reliability and absolute mission success.”

The Territorial Army has launched a national-level hackathon, Terrier Cyber Quest 2026, aimed at developing innovative solutions to emerging challenges in defence, cybersecurity and the information domain. The hackathon has been launched, in collaboration with CyberPeace, to bring together technical talent from academia, industry, research institutions, government organisations and the Armed Forces.

The Defence Ministry said that this initiative will focus on emerging areas including Artificial Intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, threat mitigation and digital awareness, while encouraging development of indigenous solutions relevant to national security. The Ministry highlighted that the competition will be conducted across three tracks Bug Hunting, AI Kavach and Creators Challenge. The registration for the competition is open till 31st August. The online shortlisting phase will be conducted from 1st to 10th September, followed by the Grand Finale in New Delhi from 6th to 8th October.

Veteran actor Sowcar Janaki, one of the most respected names in South Indian cinema, died on Friday in Chennai due to age-related complications. She was 94.

South Indian Artistes’ Association (Nadigar Sangam) president and actor Nassar confirmed the news of Janaki’s demise.

He said in a statement, “Legendary star Sowcar Janaki (94) passed away. Her mortal remains will be placed at Centoph Road, Teyampet, from 5 pm.”

Sowcar Janaki had been admitted to Kauvery Hospital in Alwarpet, Chennai earlier this week after her health deteriorated. She had been receiving intensive medical care since then.

The Chhattisgarh government has signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) to integrate geospatial technology and real-time logistics analytics into governance under the PM GatiShakti initiative.

The agreements with the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N) and National Logistics Data Services Ltd. (NLDSL) were signed during the regional PM GatiShakti and LEADS 2025 Dissemination Workshop in Raipur. The workshop was jointly organised by the state's Department of Commerce and Industries and the Centre's Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

Senior officials from Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand attended the workshop.

In the BWF Badminton World Championships, India’s women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will take centre stage in the semifinals today. The Indian duo will face top seeds Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.

The Indian duo stormed into the semifinals yesterday, defeating fourth seeds Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian of China 16-21, 21-15 and 21-13.

With this victory, Treesa and Gayatri have assured India of a coveted medal at the prestigious championship. Treesa and Gayatri have also become only the second Indian women’s doubles duo to win a World Championships medal. Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were the first Indian combination to achieve this feat when they clinched the bronze in London 15 years ago.

China is poised to launch Chang'e-7, its most technologically complex lunar mission to date, in ‌its search for frozen stores of water in permanently shadowed craters near the moon's south pole.

The uncrewed mission, named after a mythical Chinese goddess of the moon, will feature the deployment of ⁠a robotic lander, rover, and "hopping" probe to one of the coldest places in the solar system. It will represent a major step towards Beijing's long-term goal of building a permanent human presence on the moon, with plans underway for acrewed lunar landing before 2030 and the setting up ‌of a joint research station with Russia by 2035.

Next week, the Chang'e-7 spacecraft will lift off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan atop ‌a Long March 5 rocket with payloads that also include an array of scientific instruments such as water analysers, ‌cameras ⁠and radars.

The government on Friday notified the ₹62,500 crore Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) to provide production-linked incentives (PLI) for manufacturing mobile phones in India and to support Indian mobile phone brands. The scheme aims to increase global competitiveness by further enhancing scale and deepening the mobile manufacturing supply chain through higher DVA and stronger domestic manufacturing capabilities, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, said.

The government is targeting two segments under the scheme: target segment 1 (TS1), which incentivises mobile phone manufacturing, and target segment 2 (TS2), which supports Indian mobile phone brands. The scheme will run for five years, effective from April 1, 2026 (FY 2026-27) to FY 2030-31. Applicants under TS2 may be granted a gestation period of one year.

Mobile phone manufacturers, including Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS), registered in India with a minimum turnover of ₹10,000 crore in FY 2025-26, will be eligible under the scheme, the notification said. It also stated that firms with 51 per cent Indian ownership and a turnover of ₹1,000 crore in FY 2025-26 will be eligible as well.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO’s) Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (NSTL) has signed two Licensing Agreements for Transfer of Technology (LAToT) with a state-owned and a private company, strengthening indigenous defence manufacturing capabilities.

The agreement with defence PSU M/s Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL), a premier weapon system integrator and prime production agency for guided missiles and heavy strategic military hardware, is for the production of the ‘Submarine Fired Decoy (SFD) Mohini, ’ which is an underwater countermeasure system launched from a submarine’s decoy launch tubes or torpedo tubes to protect the vessel against incoming acoustic-homing torpedoes.

Upon apprehending a threat, a submarine positions SFD Mohini, which was developed over three years starting in 2019, as a cover against vulnerabilities by employing acoustic deception and jamming.

Kochi-based Cochin Shipyard Limited has delivered the third Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft, Mangrol, to the Indian Navy.

The Defence Ministry said that the ship comprises over 80 per cent indigenous content. The ship is equipped for underwater surveillance, Anti-Submarine Warfare operations in coastal waters, Low-Intensity Maritime Operations, along with mine warfare capabilities. The Ministry further added that the ship is propelled by water jets and equipped with state-of-the-art torpedoes, Anti-Submarine rockets, along with advanced radars and sonars. It said that the ship stands as a testament to the growing strength of the indigenous defence manufacturing ecosystem.

The Government today launched the National Campaign on Entrepreneurship- II’ under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) for another three months, from today till 21st of November this year.

The Ministry of Rural Development said that the campaign will strengthen rural women’s entrepreneurship and will contribute to the vision of making six crore Lakhpati Didis.

The extended phase of the campaign will focus on promoting entrepreneurship among Self Help Group (SHG) women across Farm and Non-Farm livelihoods, strengthening the community enterprise promotion cadre, promoting enterprise formalisation, expanding digital and e-commerce adoption, and strengthening producer groups and producer enterprises.