Aviation chaos after US ground stop for hours US flights began operating on Saturday after a nationwide ground stop lasting more than four hours that brought air travel to a standstill. Maintenance work to replace copper wires with fibre in the US air traffic control system triggered an issue that overloaded equipment and disrupted communications with aircraft. Several Indians flying to and from the US were affected | P9 BENGALURU l sunday l november 15, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 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 Brigadier rank set to Pak to send minister to Delhi get marching orders J a v a r i a R a n a @ New Delhi WITH THIS ISSUE Room For More PLUS 12 P AGES The Army will recommend scrapping the rank of Brigadier and promoting Colonels directly to Major General, this newspaper has learnt. The recommendation will go to the 8th Central Pay Commission through the defence ministry . The move is meant to unclog the force’s promotion pipeline and bridge the parity gap with civilian counterparts. If accepted, the proposal would also have implications for the Navy and the Air Force, where Commodores and Air Commodores hold equivalent ranks. “Scrapping the Brigadier rank has come up before. But this time, the Army is formally recommending it,” sources said. The recommendations are likely to be finalised and sent within this month or the next, they said. The Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai-led 8th Pay Commission, constituted in November last year, is required to submit its report to the Centre by May next year. Its recommendations could be implemented as early as November next year, sources said. An Army officer takes 32 to 33 years to reach Pay Level 14, the pay level associated with a Major General, while counterparts in the IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service reach the same level in 16 to 18 years, according to a cadre restructuring proposal for the Army seen by this newspaper. The disparity is rooted in the Army’s steep pyramidal rank structure, which narrows sharply above Lieutenant Colonel. As much as 86% of officer posts were at Lieutenant Colonel or below, while Colonels accounted for 10.5%, Brigadiers 2.5% and Major Generals just 0.8%, the proposal read. Over 26% of IPS officers, were in the Senior Administrative Grade and above, against around 1% in the Army . J a v a r i a R a n a @ New Delhi Pakistan on Saturday named Climate Change Minister Musadik Masood Malik to represent it at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi from November 20 to 22, making him the first Pakistani minister to visit India since Operation Sindoor and in over three years. “The Government of Pakistan remains committed to promoting dialogue among civilisations and fostering people-to-people contacts within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation framework in a spirit of mutual respect,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. India had invited Pakistan’s Minister for National Her- itage and Culture, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, to the forum. The invitation was the first New Delhi extended to a Pakistani minister since Operation Sindoor. The Pakistani particip at i o n c o m e s a m i d sharply deteriorated relations following the Pahalgam terror attack, and India’s subsequent launch of Operation Sindoor. E x p r e ss R e a d Asthana: Sabarmati case planned conspiracy Bengaluru: Former CBI director Rakesh Asthana has objected to veteran Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s claim in her memoir ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’, that the cause of the 2002 Sabarmati Express carnage “remains disputed”. “The case was a well planned conspiracy from across the border to destabilise India and its communal harmony. This was established by our investigation and was upheld by the courts...,” he said | P9 Wheels within wheels Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi flanked by Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy participate in a bike rally from Shilparamam to Jayabheri Grounds in Hyderabad on Saturday in support of gig workers | vinay madapu | P7 Love of PCMB turned teen into offender? B a l a C h a u h a n @ Bengaluru The 17 year-old first-year PU student had scored 93 per cent in CBSE, and was determined to improve his score in PUC with his favourite subjects -Physics, Chemistry, Math and Biology (PCMB). Today, he is the newest entrant to the Special Home for Children in Conflict with Law in the city run by an NGO, ECHO. The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) recently ordered him to undergo three years of institutional reformation and rehabilitation for killing his father and sister, and attempting to murder his mother under Section 18(1)(g) of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, 2015. Hemanth (name changed) had pleaded guilty before the JJB. He bears a deep scar on his neck after he cut his vocal cords in an attempt to end his life after he murdered his older sister and father, and grievously injured his mother, thinking that she too had died. P7