HYDERABAD l sunday l november 30, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l LATE CITY EDITION Anthony Albanese first oz PM to get hitched while in office Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese married his partner Jodie Haydon in a secretive ceremony Saturday at his residence in Canberra pet dog ring-bearer; pair write own vows avoid lavish wedding on expert advice Albanese is the first prime minister to marry while in office in the 124-year history of the Australian federal government. The couple were married by a civil celebrant before 60 guests, including several cabinet ministers. The pair wrote their own vows and their dog Toto was the ring bearer. Haydon’s 5-year-old niece Ella was the flower girl, a statement read ■ ■ Albanese, 62, who is divorced with an adult son, had proposed to Haydon, 46, at Canberra’s The Lodge on Valentine’s Day last year They initially planned a larger-scale wedding. But the ruling centerleft Labor Party feared a lavish wedding during a cost of living crisis could hurt the government’s chances of being re-elected 2020 is when Haydon met Albanese at a business dinner in Melbourne 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 Software update of A320s delays flights across India Four AI Express flights cancelled; all updates expected by midnight ‘Uncommanded pitch-down event’ Ex p r ess N e ws S e rv i ce @ New Delhi Houses submerged in floodwaters after heavy rainfall in Kaduwela on the outskirts of Colombo on Saturday | AFP National emergency NDRF personnel hand over aid from India, in Sri Lanka on Saturday| MEA in Sri Lanka as Ditwah toll rises to 153 maya n k s i n g h @ New Delhi SRI Lanka was on Saturday picking up the pieces after widespread destruction caused by cyclone Ditwah, with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake declaring a state of emergency throughout the country as the death toll rose to 153. Disaster management authorities in Colombo told local newspapers that 191 people still remained untraced as search and relief efforts continue across 25 districts. The cyclone brought landslides, flash floods, and heavy rains, affecting over 7,74,724 people from 2,17,263 families. More than 15,000 homes were destroyed, and nearly 78,000 people have been displaced to temporary shel- ters, marking one of Sri Lanka’s worst natural disasters in recent public memory . Demonstrating its “neighbourhood first” spirit, India has rapidly escalated its humanitarian response under Operation Sagar Bandhu. The Indian Air Force deployed a C-130 and an IL-76 from Hindon Air Base on the night of November 28-29, delivering 21 tonnes of relief materials, including essential rations and disaster relief equipment, alongside over 80 National Disaster Response Force personnel to Colombo. “India stands firmly with Sri Lanka in this hour of need,” the IAF said in a post on X. The Indian Navy stepped in and dispatched dry and fresh rations and crucial supplies, including 4.5 tonnes of dry rations, 2 tonnes of fresh rations, and essential items, with the help of INS Vikrant and INS Udaygiri. Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar said on X that two Chetak helicopters from aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, staffed with Sri Lankan Air Force personnel, undertook search and rescue operations. Further assistance arrived with two IAF MI-17V5 helicopters carrying 22 personnel and supplies, led by Wing Commanders Nagesh Kumar and Mukul Mahajan. Another naval vessel, INS Sukanya, has left Visakhapatnam en route to Sri Lanka with more relief materials. Adding 6,000 MW thermal capacity is essential: Bhatti ma n d a Ra v i n d e r R e d d y @ Hyderabad Asserting that Telangana will add 5,000–6,000 MW of new thermal capacity Deputy Chief , Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka made it clear that this was essential for the state’s energy security and for meeting national targets. He said the Ramagundam thermal project was a strategic requirement, stating: “Renewables alone cannot stabilise the grid. Without a firm baseload, Telangana faces the risk of a Spain–Portugal-type blackout seen in April 2025. A grid collapse here would trigger daily losses of `1,500–2,000 crore and disrupt hospitals, defence, transport, telecom and data centres.” Rejecting the allegation by former minister and BRS leader T Harish Rao that the state government was planning a Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka shares a lighter moment with journalists during a presentation on energy in Hyderabad on Saturday | SRI LOGANATHAN VELMURUGAN `50,000-crore scam through new thermal plants, Vikramarka said the estimates themselves do not cross `50,000 crore and remain at the proposal stage. “If the plan has not progressed beyond proposals, how does a scam enter the picture?” Vikramarka asked. On Saturday, the deputy chief minister, along with Ministers D Sridhar Babu and Ponnam Prabhakar, presented the rationale behind the Cabinet’s decision to pursue new thermal capacity  CONTINUED ON P4 . Global fears of a massive travel chaos following a European Union Safety Agency advisory on Friday to fly about 6,400 Airbus A320s in service only after a flight control software update, were largely eased as airlines scrambled to implement it quickly While some flights were . delayed, only a few cancellations were reported. In India, where 338 A320 are operational, Air India, IndiGo and Air India Express fixed the problem in most of their fleet after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) gave them a Sunday morning (5.29 am) deadline to do so. It, however, led to flight delays, while Air India Express cancelled four of its flights on S at u rd ay t o f a c i l i t at e compliance. Air India Express flights from Varanasi to Bengaluru, Bengaluru to Varanasi, Guwahati to Jaipur and Jaipur to Guwahati were cancelled while its The problem was first noticed in a Jet Blue Airbus A320 last month after it experienced an “uncommanded and limited pitchdown event. The autopilot remained engaged throughout the event, with a brief and limited loss of altitude.” The rest of the flight was uneventful flights were delayed across some sectors. IndiGo A320 aircraft across the country suffered a delay of up to 30 minutes, said a source. Air India flights too suffered delays. The problem is expected to be fixed in all A320s before midnight. As of 5.30 pm, Indigo upgraded the software in 184 out of its 200 A320s; Air India did likewise for 69 on 113 aircraft; and Air India Express did so for 17 on 25 aircraft. The issue was detected after a preliminary technical probe by Airbus on an accident involving a JetBlue flight in the pEACE SERVING Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with Deputy CM DK Shivakumar during a breakfast meeting at the CM’s residence in Bengaluru on Saturday | PTI | P5 J&K-PoK barter is intra-state trade, rules HC Faya z Wa n i @ Srinagar In a significant judgment, the J&K and Ladakh High Court ruled that trade between J&K and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) qualifies as intra-state trade, as PoK is part of J&K and trade is bound by the GST Act. Cross-LoC trade between J&K and PoK was started in 2008 as a confidence building measure by India and Pakistan. However, after the February 14, 2019 Pulwama suicide attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed and many others injured, India suspended the cross-LoC trade and cross-LoC bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, PoK’s capital. “The cross-LoC trade was essentially a barter trade where there was no exchange of currency from either side. This crossLoC trade was between the people living across LoC i.e., trade between two parts of the state of Jammu and Kashmir — one, the then ‘state of Jammu and Kashmir’ and the other PoK, observed a division bench of J&K High Court comprising justices Sanjeev Kumar and Sanjay Parihar. The division bench was hearing at least 35 petitions challenging CGST show-cause notices issued to them. 4 SC circulars specify oral mention rule, urgent matters u d aya n k i s h o r e @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court has barred litigants from orally mentioning matters for urgent listing before the Chief Justice of India as items requiring special attention will come up for hearing automatically within two working days. The court made these changes while restructuring the sys- tem of oral mentioning, urgent listing and adjournment of cases effective December 1. The changes also include barring senior advocates to mention matters before any bench, while encouraging junior counsel to make oral mentionings. A circular said bereavement in the family or medical emer- gencies of advocates or parties were the only grounds for adjournments, apart from other genuine reasons accepted by the court. Four circulars issued by the SC registry on S a t u r d ay s a i d t h e changes were to reduce unnecessary mentioning before benches, and ensure faster listing of matters. For cases requiring advance listing due to urgent interim orders, parties must submit the mentioning proforma and a letter explaining the urgency to the Mentioning Officer by 3 pm on the previous working day or 11.30 am on a Saturday . Exceptions are limited to anticipatory bail, death penalty, habeas corpus and urgent eviction or demolition issues. No listing on same day unless liberty is involved or a death sentence is to be executed CJI Surya Kant US on October 30. Captain C S Randhawa, former Deputy Chief flight Inspector Operations, DGCA, told this newspaper, “A flight from Cancun in Mexico to Newark International Airport in the US suddenly lost altitude when flying and caused injuries to the passengers on board. This happened when the auto-pilot mode was on, which is meant to smoothly take care of operations. It was later detected that the Elevated Aileron Computer in the cockpit had malfunctioned due to solar radiation,” he said. WITH THIS ISSUE Speaking Their Mind PLUS 12 P AGES express read At summit, drones to break record Hyderabad: The state government will stage a large-scale drone show on December 9 over the proposed Bharat Future City during the Telangana Rising Global Summit, in an attempt to secure a Guinness World Record for the longest aerial sentence using 3,000 drones. The existing record involves 2,131 drones | P4 Space & BEYOND: tHE STORY OF SKYROOT AND ITS JOURNEY | P2