South shines at 72nd National Film Awards Malayalam star Mammootty won the best actor award (Bramayugam) along with Bollywood star Kartik Aaryan (Chandu Champion) at 72nd National Film Awards. Article 370 star Yami Gautam was named the best actress. Rajkumar Periasamy was named best director (Amaran). Pushpa: The Rule Part-02, Kalki 2898 AD, Lucky Bhaskar and Captain Miller won awards in various categories visakhapatnam l sunday l july 19, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Dream start to Birla OKs Sena merger, pvt space ops new seats for rebel TMC S i d d h a r d h a G at t i m i @ Hyderabad WC and CO set final Messi for spain test A Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina, holders, will take on 2010 champions in the summit clash in NY/NJ on Sunday | P11 WITH THIS ISSUE The Dark Side of Romance PLUS 12 P AGES Vikram-1 Test Flight-1, India’s first private orbital rocket, lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, in Sriharikota on Saturday | PTI At 12.05 pm on Saturday, seven-storey Skyroot’s Vikram-1 roared into the skies from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, not just carrying a liftoff weight of 45,000 kg but also the aspirations of India’s fast-growing private space sector. Eighteen minutes later, after an almost flawless sequence of events, Vikram-1 successfully entered a 450km Low Earth Orbit at 12.23 pm, making Skyroot the first Indian private firm to place a rocket into orbit and scripting a defining moment in the country’s commercial space journey, making India the third country with private orbital launch capabilities after the US and China. The rocket deployed Skyroot’s SCOPE satellite and Grahaa Space’s SOLARAS CubeSat into the Low Earth orbit. The launch vehicle also successfully deployed a micro-art payload, an 18-karat gold rocket and a handwritten postcard from PM Narendra Modi bearing the message “Vande Mataram”. Skyroot said the mission successfully validated the rocket’s propulsion systems, avionics, guidance, navigation and control systems under actual flight conditions. P r e e t h a n a i r @ New Delhi IN a significant decision ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Saturday approved the merger of six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, while also allowing 20 rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs to sit separately in the Lok Sabha, even as their plea for formal recognition as members of the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) remains pending. The decision, taken just two days before the Parliament session, is expected to reshape the Opposition’s floor strength and seating arrangement in the House. Official sources said the approval of the merger has increased the strength of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena in the Lok Sabha from seven to 13 MPs. The Speaker accept- JPC meet cancelled A meeting of a Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, scheduled for Monday has been cancelled. This came a day after the JPC meet on removal of PMs and CMs was deferred ed the claim of the six MPs that they had merged with the recognised Shiv Sena headed by Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde after examining constitutional provisions, parliamentary precedents and legal opinion. For the TMC dissidents, seats have been allotted away from the Mamata Banerjee-led bloc, though their bid for NCPI status is still under examination by the Speaker, a source in the know said. The rebels are expected to attend Sunday’s all-party meeting as Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju wrote to Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar inviting them, while Bandyopadhyay separately called on PM Narendra Modi at his residence on Saturday . Meanwhile, the Speaker is also expected to approve a request from the DMK for separate seating arrangements after the Congress ended its long standing alliance with it and aligned with Chief Minister Vijay’s TVK in Tamil Nadu. The Speaker’s decisions come despite both the TMC and Shiv Sena (UBT) pressing for the immediate disqualification of the rebel MPs under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. Earlier in the day, Birla held separate meetings with delegations from the parent parties as well as the dissident groups before arriving at the decisions. E x p r e s s Re a d Bhogapuram airport to take off on Aug 1 Five tribals drown in Godavari river 23 AP panchayats get ISO certification Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Bhogapuram International Airport on August 1, and it will transform the economic landscape of North Coastal Andhra | P4 Rajamahendravaram: Five tribals, including three women, drowned in the Godavari river at Gollagudem in Polavaram district on Saturday. All the five bodies were retrieved from the river after a search operation Vijayawada: Twenty-three gram panchayats across Andhra Pradesh have been awarded the prestigious ISO 9001:2015 certification, marking a significant milestone in strengthening governance at grassroots | P4 Wangchuk shifted to Safdarjung Hospital N i t i n R a w at @ New Delhi CLIMATE activist Sonam Wangchuk was taken to Safdarjung Hospital by Delhi Police in an early morning clampdown on Saturday after 20 days of hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, where he was protesting against exam paper leaks and demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dhar mendra Pradhan. Police in plain clothes evicted Wangchuk from the protest site to the hospital, citing directions of the Delhi High Court and his deteriorating health condition. Safdarjung Sonam Wangchuk being Hospital said Wangchuk was admitevicted from Jantar ted at 7.40 am. “Blood tests showed Mantar | PTI compensated acidosis, reduced serum potassium levels and increasing urinary ketones. “The patient has refused all intravenous fluids, oral rehydration fluid or any other medication,” the hospital said. A health bulletin issued by the hospital at 9 pm mentioned that Wangchuk’s condition warrants immediate medical intervention.