Isro launches record 6,000 kg sat into orbit Bengaluru: The Indian Space Research Organisation on Wednesday launched the 6.10tonne BlueBird Block-2 communications satellite, the heaviest it has launched to date. Isro’s Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM-3), nicknamed ‘Bahubali’, lifted off with the satellite belonging to US-based AST SpaceMobile and released it into the circular Low Earth Orbit | P7 chennai l Thursday l December 25, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 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 Unnao survivor to approach SC seeking justice To challenge Sengar bail; Rahul offers help For the record, this is big On any other day Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli scoring hundreds in Vijay Hazare ties would have been the talking points. But not on Wednesday as three fastest List A centuries were scored... 22 Centuries As many as 22 centuries were scored on Day 1, the most in VH history. Previously, 19 tons were scored on Dec 12, 2021 and Jan 3, 2025 38 Sixes Hit by Bihar is by far the most in a men’s List A innings as they posted 574/6, the highest ever List A total 3 fastest hundreds Ishan Kishan followed his T20 World Cup call-up with a 33-ball 100 against Karnataka as Jharkhand post 412. Karnataka raced to a fivewicket win. Sensational Vaibhav Suryawanshi hit a 36-ball 100 against Arunachal Pradesh. But his teammate Sakibul Gani eclipsed all with a 32-ball 100 to help Bihar post 574 for 6 P R E E THA N AI R @ New Delhi A day after the Delhi High Court suspended the life sentence awarded by a trial court to former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the 2017 Unnao rape case, the survivor on Wednesday said she would move the Supreme Court. Earlier in the day, she and her mother staged a protest near Mandi House against the HC verdict. The duo also met Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi after alleging ill-treatment by Delhi Police. On Tuesday night, they were reportedly forcefully removed by police from a protest site near India Gate. Speaking to the media, the survivor said no one from the government reached out while Rahul promised to get a top lawyer to fight the case in SC. She termed the Delhi High Court’s decision to suspend Sengar’s jail term ‘death’ for her family. Sources said she also sought relocation to a Congress-ruled state for safety and the Gandhis assured all help. In its order on Tuesday, the HC granted bail to Sengar with conditions. It directed him not to come within a 5-km radius of the survivor’s residence. Sengar, who is currently in jail, will not be released now as he File photo of Kuldeep Singh Sengar being taken away from the CBI court in Lucknow on April 14, 2018 | pti is also serving a 10-year term in the custodial death case of the survivor’s father. He is yet to get bail in that case. The survivor was a minor when she was kidnapped and raped by Sengar in 2017. Deploring the alleged ill treatment meted out to the survivor during her protest in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi said she is being punished for seeking justice. “The fact that her perpetrator has been granted bail is extremely disappointing and shameful—especially when the survivor is being repeatedly harassed and is living under the shadow of fear,” he said in a social media post. No fresh leases allowed for mining in the Aravallis J i t en d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi THE Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has directed states to completely ban new mining leases in the Aravalli Range, stretching from Delhi to Gujarat, to save them from unbridled mining activities. The move follows reports that the Central Empowered Committee—established by the Supreme Court in 2002 and reconstituted in December 2023—had contradicted a government-headed committee’s recommendations on definition of the Aravallis. The controversy centers around the SC accepting an Environment Ministry committee’s proposal that landforms over 100 metres constitute “Aravalli hills”. Critics argue the new definition increases the range’s vulnerability to mining. It is also believed the Forest Survey of India and the SC’s amicus curiae had opposed this definition. The Ministry has now asked the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education to identify additional no-mining zones and preparing a management plan for “sustainable mining. 2 new airlines get wings as govt clears Al Hind Air, FlyExpress S L a l i t h a @ New Delhi AIR travellers are set to have more options as three new domestic airlines prepare to launch operations. Two carriers—Al Hind Air and FlyExpress—received their No Objection Certificates from the civil aviation ministry this week, while Uttar Pradesh-based Shankh Air, which already has an NOC, is likely to begin flights in 2026. The development gains significance following IndiGo’s operational meltdown in early December, which drew sharp criticism over the apparent duopoly in India’s domestic aviation market. The aviation ministry is keen to have more airline operators in the country which is one of the world’s , fastest growing domestic civil aviation markets. “Over the last one week, pleased to have met teams from new airlines aspiring to take wings in Indian skies- Shankh Air, Al Hind Air and FlyExpress. While Shankh Air has already got the NOC from the Ministry Al Hind Air , and FlyExpress have received their NOCs this week,” Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said on X. The ministry wants to encourage more airlines in Indian aviation sector, which is amongst the fastest growing international aviation markets. Al Hind Air is being promoted by Kerala-based alhind Group, which was founded in the 1990s. Schemes like UDAN, have enabled smaller carriers Star Air, India One Air and Fly91 to play an important role in the regional connectivity within the country and there is scope for further growth, he added. Currently there are nine op, erational domestic carriers in the country: Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, Alliance Air, Akasa Air, SpiceJet, Star Air, Fly91 and IndiaOne Air, as per data from the Director a t e G e n e r a l o f C iv i l Aviation. 9 killed as TN bus crashes into cars after tyre burst B a g a l a v a n P er i er B @ Cuddalore A total of nine people, including five men and four women, were killed when a State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) bus collided with two cars along the Tiruchy-Chennai NH near Thittakudi in Cuddalore district late on Wednesday . According to police and local sources, the accident occurred at Ezhuthur around 8 pm when the SETC bus travelling from Tiruchy to Chennai suffered a front tyre burst. The driver lost control, and the bus crossed the median, entered the opposite lane and hit two oncoming cars. All seven occupants of the cars were killed on the spot, while six others, including two children, were injured, sources said.  P7