KOZHIKODE l sunday l november 15, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l 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 ■ 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 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 First time after Op Sindoor, Pak to send min to Delhi 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, and India’s subsequent launch of Operation Sindoor on May 7. 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 High Court calls for lowering juvenile age limit to 16 years allegedly been served liquor at multiple bars in Ernakulam The Keralam High Court has without age verification, exposobserved that it is high time the ing serious lapses in excise enlegislature considered amend- forcement. He sought an indeing laws dealing with ‘juveniles pendent vigilance probe and and children in conflict with mandatory digital age-verificathe law’ to lower the age thresh- tion systems at licensed bars old from 18 to 16 years, as the and criminal action against state recently witnessed a se- violators. Observing that the matter reries of crimes and fatal road acquired a detailed hearing, the cidents involving minors. court directed the excise Justice A Badharudeen commissioner to file a made the observation, statement detailing the noting the present trend instructions issued to indicating that chilenforce the statutory dren attain sufficient provisions and suggest maturity by the age of measures to prevent 16. The court also expressed concern over mi- The court such incidents. The court observation nors getting easy access expressed to liquor despite statuto- concern over assumes significance in the wake of several rery restrictions. minors The court made the ob- getting easy cent incidents involving juveniles, including on servation while consideraccess to November 2, when a ing a petition by Vinod liquor 17-year-old boy was idenVikraman Pillai of Koldespite lam, seeking strict en- statutory tified as the prime acforcement of Sections restrictions cused in the murder of a Plus-I student at Pangap15A and 15B of the Kerapara in Thiruvananla Abkari Act, which prohibit serving liquor to persons thapuram. In another incident, below 23 years. The petition a luxury car allegedly driven by cited the October 11 accident at the 17-year-old son of an judge Nedumbassery, in which a fatally knocked down a 55-year19-year-old, allegedly under the old man on Container Road in influence of liquor, rammed his Kochi. In August, a 13-year-old luxury car into a scooter, kill- girl was booked for allegedly conspiring with three teenage ing three youths. Advocate U Jayakrishnan, boys to murder her 67-year-old appearing for the petitioner, grandfather at Karuvatta in submitted that the student had Alappuzha. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kochi Sky Metro E Sreedharan’s proposal for Kochi ‘Metro Man’ said 9km journey from Mattancherry to Ekm South railway station could take just 15 minutes if the proposed sky metro becomes a reality | P5 SNDP, too, opens doors to Satheesan as he widens outreach | P4 Cede Donbas to Russia and join NATO, United States tells Ukraine | P9 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 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 l i p s e r v ice 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 BJP in talks with CPI ex-MP India beat Pak, win U19 Asia cup T’Puram : The BJP is holding discussions with former CPI MP Chengara Surendran, signalling its efforts to draw more leaders from the Communist party into its fold. Surendran is reportedly considering joining BJP, following the entry of former CPI MLAs C C Mukundan (Nattika) and K Ajith (Vaikom) into the saffron party. P4 Al Amerat (Oman): Late-order batters Mohit Ulva and Manal Chauhan held their nerves in crunch moments as India pulled off a stunning one-wicket win off the final ball over Pakistan to regain the Under-19 Asia Cup on Saturday. India made 339 for 9, with Mohit smashing a boundary off the final ball to seal the title. P11