tirupati l sunday l november 15, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION Aviation chaos AFTER U.S. GROUND STOP for hours, flights resume TECH UPGRADE GROUNDED FLIGHTS: FAA New technology being added to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) air traffic control system overloaded ageing equipment and disrupted communications and radar systems. The failure raised concerns over ageing aviation infrastructure, while officials ruled out a coordinated cyberattack. FAA warned delays and cancellations could continue for days US flights began operating on Saturday after a nationwide ground stop lasting more than four hours that brought air travel to a standstill | P7 ■ 20,000 international ROUTES too affected ■ Several Indians flying to and from the US were affected, with some stranded at airports and others uncertain about their travel plans Flights in other countries were also affected, with several US-bound and US-origin flights delayed or cancelled at London’s Heathrow Airport, including services to New York, Dallas and Los Angeles | P9 flights were affected by the nationwide stoppage 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 get marching orders Meant for parity with civil services; Army to send it to 8th pay panel J a v a r i a R a n a @ New Delhi Wheels within wheels Three youths go missing in Varaha river E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Visakhapatnam Three youths went missing after being swept away by strong currents while bathing in the Varaha river near Penugollu in S Rayavaram mandal of Anakapalli district on Saturday . The missing youths were identified as K Rishi (18), K Jagadish (20) and M Naga Vamsi (22). They had gone to the river along with three others to bathe near the Penugollu groyne. All six were reportedly swept away by the current, but locals managed to rescue three of them. CI Ramakrishna and SI Ramesh reached the spot, and collected details about the incident. Police are making arrangements to bring expert swimmers from Polavaram to intensify the search operation. Meanwhile, Anakapalli MP CM Ramesh spoke to police officials to ascertain the details of the incident. WITH THIS ISSUE Room For More PLUS 12 P AGES 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. Rahul dedicated the gig workers’ welfare law enacted by Telangana to the workers, calling them the economy’s basis and partners in progress | vinay madapu First time after Op Sindoor, Pak to send minister to Delhi @ Tirupati State Election Commissioner (SEC) Anil Chandra Punetha has said candidates facing threat or apprehending attacks while filing nominations for the panchayat polls will be pro- Henna moves from bridal hands to highway safety on AP roads | P4 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 Heritage 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 participation comes amid sharply deteriorated relations following the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 people, lip service SCO dialogue forum The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Civilisational Dialogue Forum was proposed by Narendra Modi at the SCO summit in Tianjin last year, and is expected to draw participants from more than 25 countries and India’s subsequent launch of Operation Sindoor on May 7. The four-day military confrontation ended on May 10. The SCO remains one of the few platforms for India-Pakistan engagement. Pakistan holds its 2026-27 chairmanship and will host the leaders’ summit in Islamabad in August 2027. India’s SCO National Coordinator Alok Dimri travelled to Islamabad in Pakistan in September for the first meeting of national coordinators under Pakistan’s chairmanship. SEC to give police escort for filing papers E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e NDA yet to finalise sharing of Zilla Parishad posts, TDP may keep 21-22 | P4 vided special police escort, if required. Speaking after holding a high-level review meeting on arrangements for panchayat polls at the Tirupati Collectorate, along with IG B Rajakumari and District Collector S Venkateswarlu, on Saturday, 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 bridging 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 in the defence and security establishment 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 the SEC said, “Candidates who require special police escort while submitting their nominations will be provided the facility If candidates inform the . Superintendent of Police concerned about a threat, special security will be provided to P4 them.”  Much ado about a cheeky peck by ‘lawmaker’ A s i s h Me h ta @ Bhubaneswar FORGET the minister’s speech on fisheries. The clip that has got Ganjam talking is one in which the shining star of the press briefing never uttered a word. Police in Odisha have begun an investigation after the wife of a legislator complained that a viral video showing her husband kissing a man during a minister’s press briefing was AI-generated. The clip shows BJP’s Chikiti MLA Manoranjan Dyan Samantara displaying affection towards a man while Minister of State for Fisheries and AniManoranjan Dyan Samantara mal Resources (glasses) in the video | X Development Gokulananda Mallik spoke to journalists on development of fisheries in Odisha. Mina Samantara, his wife, posted what she called the “real” footage on X, showing the MLA listening patiently to the minister. She alleged that the Biju Janata Dal’s Chikiti social media team had created the video, and tagged Berhampur SP’s handle demanding strict action. SP Abhinab Sonkar confirmed that police had begun a probe under Section 173(3) of BNS. The video will be sent for forensic examination, he said. relaxed mode Surfing, Rajni movie & more: Gukesh before title bout s w a r o o p s w a m i n at h a n @ Budapest D Gukesh during his recent visit to Tirumala Temple in Tirumala IN just over a week, the attention of the chess world will turn to Geneva, the unlikely host of the next World Championship, where D Gukesh will aim to defend his world title against Javokhir Sindarov. While most of the chess world believes that the Uzbek will be the favourite based on form, the Indian world champion has made a conscious effort to ‘relax a bit more’. In a very revealing interview to select Indian media earlier this year, he had spoken about how he had struggled for motivation for vast parts of 2025. He also spoke about how hard it was to manage expectations. That kind of strain was visible on the face of the 20-year-old. The results weren’t coming, and he was also losing rating points. However, over the last few months, beginning with the Olympiad in Samarkand in September, there has been a noticeable change. “He has deliberately made a conscious effort to relax a bit more,” team captain Srinath Narayanan told this daily “Taking . things a bit light, he was a little bit more goofy and making more jokes in team meetings. I think he also started surfing a month or so ago.” Physical activities like surfing have just been one part of the equation. Before R Vaishali and R Praggnanandhaa travelled to Budapest for an event, Gukesh sent both of them a message asking if they would be interested in watching Jailer 2, the new Rajinikanth movie. That’s how the trio watched the movie in a theatre in Chennai. Full story: newindianexpress.com 2018 idea The idea of scrapping the Brigadier rank first came up in 2018 in a cadre study ordered by then Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat. The Army had then described it as “just a proposal”, while some veterans questioned the rationale for abolishing a rank that commands brigades 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, by comparison, were in the Senior Administrative Grade and above, against around 1% in the Army . The proposal argued that the Army’s nine ranks, compared with six designations in the civil services, warranted the removal of one rank. It identified Brigadier rather than Lieutenant Colonel for abolition, with Major Generals to command both brigades and divisions. Major General would also become the minimum retirement rank for regular officers. The proposal comes as the Army restructures its field formations. In July it activated its , first five Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) and a Fire Support Group, with six Major Generals in command. Each IBG, comprising around 5,000 troops, is larger than a brigade but leaner than a division. The Army’s new all-arms ‘Rudra’ brigades, however, continue to be commanded by Brigadiers. Each has around 3,000 troops. E x p r e s s Re a d Cyclonic storm in the offing Visakhapatnam: The well-marked lowpressure area over the southeast Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a depression by Sunday, and further develop into a cyclonic storm over the central parts of the south and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal by the evening of November 16, according to an IMD forecast | P4 Panels set up to trace kids Vijayawada: The State government has constituted special committees to strengthen efforts to trace missing children and prevent human trafficking in the State, in compliance with the directions of the SC. The Women, Children, Differently Abled and Senior Citizens Welfare Department issued a GO in this regard on Saturday | P4