Lionel Messi and Argentina will open their title defense against Algeria (Image credit: AFP)

NEW DELHI: Defending champions Argentina and European powerhouse Spain received favourable group draws for the 2026 World Cup during a star-studded ceremony that also saw U.S. President Donald Trump awarded FIFA’s new peace prize.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The draw, held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, marked the official countdown to the expanded 48-team tournament, now just six months away.

Lionel Messi and Argentina will open their title defense against Algeria, with further group-stage fixtures against Austria and tournament debutants Jordan in Group J.Spain, among the leading contenders and current European champions, will begin their campaign against first-time qualifiers Cape Verde before facing Uruguay and Saudi Arabia in Group H.“All the praise will not weaken us, quite the opposite,” insisted Spain coach Luis de la Fuente. “We want to do something big at this World Cup and that means making sure we do well in the group stage, then carrying on from there.”Thomas Tuchel’s England, seeking to win the World Cup for the first time since 1966, will hope to win Group L that features beaten 2018 finalists Croatia as well as Ghana and Panama.Two-time winners France, meanwhile, face awkward tests against Senegal and Erling Haaland’s Norway in Group I, which will be completed by an intercontinental play-off winner from either Iraq, Bolivia or Suriname.For the first time, the draw was done in such a way as to ensure the four highest-ranked nations were kept apart — Spain, Argentina, France and England cannot meet before the semi-finals, if all four top their groups.However, the path to that stage — with an extra knockout round now following the group phase — looks perilous for some of the contenders.If the top seeds all finish first in their groups, England could, for example, find themselves playing co-hosts Mexico in Mexico City in the last 16 and then Brazil in the quarter-finals, before a last-four clash with Argentina.The tournament will be held across the United States, Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19, with 16 more teams added to the global showpiece, up from the 32 nations involved in 2022. That means a total of 104 matches, compared to 64 games last time.

While the US will host the majority of matches including the final at the MetLife Stadium outside New York, three of the 16 venues will be in Mexico and two in Canada.The three hosts have experienced turbulent relations since Trump came to power but he brushed that aside. “We’ve worked closely with those two countries, and the coordination and friendship and relationship has been outstanding,” Trump said after receiving his peace prize from FIFA president Gianni Infantino.“It is truly one of the great honors of my life. It is such an honor to be with Gianni. He has done such an incredible job,” Trump added.Trump seized the limelight, even dancing when the Village People performed, but Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum were also in attendance.The event was co-hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum and American actor and comedian Kevin Hart. NFL legend Tom Brady, ice hockey icon Wayne Gretzky and former NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal were among the stars who helped conduct the draw.Co-hosts Mexico will take on South Africa in Group A in the opening game of the tournament at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on June 11.Carlo Ancelotti’s Brazil and surprise 2022 semi-finalists Morocco came out together in Group C, which also features Scotland and Haiti.Germany’s opponents in Group E will be Ivory Coast, Ecuador and Caribbean minnows Curacao, while Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal will face Uzbekistan, Colombia and a play-off winner.Co-hosts the United States got a manageable draw, with Paraguay, Australia and a European play-off winner in Group D.The top two teams in each group advance to the last 32, joined by the eight best third-placed teams.“It will be the greatest World Cup ever,” Infantino claimed. “This is like 104 Super Bowls in one month — this is the magnitude of what we are organizing.”Because of the complexity, teams will only learn the full details of their match venues and kick-off times on Saturday.The 12 groups for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, 2026 following Friday’s draw in Washington:Group AMexico, South Africa, South Korea, a qualifier Group BCanada, a qualifier, Qatar, SwitzerlandGroup CBrazil, Morocco, Haiti, ScotlandGroup DUnited States, Paraguay, Australia, a qualifierGroup EGermany, Curacao, Ivory Coast, EcuadorGroup FNetherlands, Japan, a qualifier, TunisiaGroup GBelgium, Egypt, Iran, New ZealandGroup HSpain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, UruguayGroup IFrance, Senegal, qualifier, NorwayGroup JArgentina, Algeria, Austria, JordanGroup KPortugal, a qualifier, Uzbekistan, ColombiaGroup LEngland, Croatia, Ghana, Panama(With inputs from AFP)

Ranveer Singh made it to the big screens yesterday with his highly anticipated movie ‘Dhurandhar’ and shattered his own records. It also broke the record of one of 2025’s top rankers, securing its place as this year’s highest opener. Read on to know more.Dhurandhar Movie Review

‘Dhurandhar’ BEATS ‘Saiyaara’ and becomes the second-highest opener of 2025

According to Sacnilk, ‘Dhurandhar’, starring Ranveer Singh, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun, and more in the lead, made Rs 27 crore net in India on its first day. These early estimates show that the movie outperformed the predictions given by the trade experts. It also outshone Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda’s romantic drama ‘Saiyaara,’ which opened at Rs 21.9 crore net and Rs 25.75 crore gross in the domestic market. Meanwhile, the historical war drama ‘Chhava’ starring Vicky Kaushal and Rashmika Mandanna continues to own the title of being 2025’s highest opener. Released earlier this year, it made Rs 31 crore net and Rs 37.25 crore gross at the domestic box office.

‘Dhurandhar’ becomes Ranveer Singh’s highest opener

Early predictions said that ‘Dhurandhar’ has the potential to be Ranveer Singh’s highest opener post-pandemic, but it became the actor’s highest opener ever. Its day 1 performance outshone the numbers made by his earlier releases, including ‘Padmaavat’ and ‘Simmba’. The historical drama made Rs 24 crore, including the paid previews, while the latter, Rohit Shetty’s cop movie, collected Rs 20.72 crore on the opening day.

About ‘Dhurandhar’

This Aditya Dhar movie is inspired by multiple true events, including the Kandahar Hijack and the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. It has an ensemble cast including Ranveer Singh, Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, R Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun and Rakesh Bedi, among others. All the actors have been hailed for their performances, but viewers did express disappointment with the lengthy run time.

‘Dhurandhar’ review

An excerpt from our review of the film reads, “A fictional narrative inspired by true incidents, Aditya Dhar’s action drama follows Hamza (Ranveer Singh), a mysterious Indian agent who embeds himself deep within Karachi’s mafia network (Lyari gangwar) to dismantle terror operations from the inside. Structured across multiple chapters, the world-building is deliberate and immersive, pulling you into a gritty, violent universe that unfolds over nearly 3.5 hours. Yet, the runtime rarely feels overbearing thanks to Dhar’s stylish, tight storytelling.”DISCLAIMER: The box office numbers in this article are compiled from our proprietary sources and diverse public data. We strive for accuracy, and all figures are approximate unless explicitly mentioned. We offer a fair representation of the project’s box office performance. We are open to feedback and suggestions at entertainment@timesinternet.in.

ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or Juice, has recently captured striking new observations of Comet 3I/ATLAS. In November 2025, the spacecraft employed five of its scientific instruments to study the comet, collecting crucial information about its activity, structure, and composition. These measurements are helping scientists understand the behaviour and characteristics of this interstellar visitor. Alongside these instruments, Juice’s Navigation Camera, NavCam, provided an initial visual glimpse of the comet, revealing its shape and surface features. This early imagery gives researchers a preliminary view and helps guide expectations for the more detailed data collected by the other instruments. Juice’s observations mark an exciting step in studying distant comets.

Comet 3I/ATLAS captured in stunning detail by Juice’s navigation camera

Juice was originally designed to explore Jupiter’s icy moons, with its NavCam intended primarily for navigation rather than high-resolution scientific imaging. However, the spacecraft turned its attention to Comet 3I/ATLAS in November 2025, capturing images and preliminary data. The observation was made in the days leading up to Juice’s closest approach to the comet, which occurred on 4 November at a distance of approximately 66 million kilometres.Although the detailed measurements from Juice’s scientific instruments will not reach Earth until February 2026, the mission team was able to extract a quarter of a single NavCam image to provide an early look at the comet. This preview revealed the comet clearly, surrounded by signs of activity, much to the surprise and excitement of the scientists. The NavCam image shows the comet with a glowing halo of gas, known as its coma, which is a key indicator of cometary activity. There is also evidence of two distinct tails. The plasma tail, composed of electrically charged gas, extends towards the top of the frame, while a fainter dust tail, made of tiny solid particles, stretches to the lower left. These features are typical of comets as they heat up when approaching the Sun, releasing gas and dust into space.This observation occurred shortly after the comet’s closest approach to the Sun, meaning 3I/ATLAS was in a highly active state. Scientists anticipate that the data from Juice’s scientific instruments will reveal these processes in even greater detail, including the composition and behaviour of the cometary material.

Juice’s five scientific instruments and data transmission challenges

Juice is equipped with five instruments that were activated to study 3I/ATLAS:

These instruments will provide a comprehensive dataset, including images, spectrometry readings, and particle analysis, giving scientists new insight into how Comet 3I/ATLAS behaves as it travels through the inner Solar System.Due to Juice’s current orientation, its main high-gain antenna is being used as a heat shield to protect it from the Sun. As a result, the spacecraft must rely on its smaller medium-gain antenna to transmit data back to Earth. This limitation significantly reduces the transmission rate, which is why the full dataset from the scientific instruments will only arrive on 18 and 20 February 2026.

Early NavCam observations reveal comet activity and Juice’s scientific versatility

Despite the limited preview from the NavCam image, scientists are already excited by the visible signs of activity in Comet 3I/ATLAS. The presence of both plasma and dust tails, along with the bright coma, indicates a dynamically active comet. When the full scientific data arrives, researchers expect to gain unprecedented detail about the comet’s composition, outgassing behaviour, and interaction with the solar wind.Juice’s observations of Comet 3I/ATLAS demonstrate the spacecraft’s versatility, showing that even instruments designed for navigation can provide valuable scientific insights. These early findings promise to deepen our understanding of comets and the complex processes that shape their behaviour.Also Read | ESA discovers butterfly-shaped crater on Mars revealing impact, volcanic activity, and possible water

Cloudflare is down again, temporarily impacting hundreds of websites, including Canva, Zoom and Claude, among various others, unreachable on Friday (December 5). Cloudflare CTO Dane Knecht confirmed the technical problems, saying that the company is working on a fix and the websites should soon be coming back online. He also shared the “root cause” of what led to the worldwide outage. The internet infrastructure provider deployed corrective measures.

Root Cause: Disabling logging features

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Knecht said, “We are aware of the issue impacting the availability of Cloudflare’s network. It was not an attack; root cause was disabling some logging to help mitigate this week’s React CVE.”“Will share full details in a blog post today. Sites should be back online now, but I understand the frustration this causes and the work being,” he added.He previously posted that the company is “closely tracking the React RSC vulnerability.” If you deploy on Cloudflare Workers, you are protected. The Workers security model prevents this exploit at the runtime layer. For users that rely on WAF to protect self hosted applications more variants of this exploit are already surfacing and we are evaluating each one. As always the best way to stay protected is to upgrade to the patched versions of React and NextJS as soon as possible,” he added. Later, the cmopany rolled out “additional mitigations” to protect more customers. Meanwhile, the company posted on its status page that a fix has been resolved, the services are back online, and the team is monitoring the situation.“Cloudflare services are currently operating normally. We are no longer observing elevated errors or latency across the network. Our engineering teams continue to closely monitor the platform and perform a deeper investigation into the earlier disruption, but no configuration changes are being made at this time,” the company said (at the time of writing).“At this point, it is considered safe to re-enable any Cloudflare services that were temporarily disabled during the incident. We will provide a final update once our investigation is complete,” the company added.

Second Cloudflare outage in a month

This is the second such outage in a month’s time. Previously, on November 18, Cloudflare went down for hours, impacting major websites worldwide. At that time, the CTO said, “A latent bug in a service underpinning our bot mitigation capability started to crash after a routine configuration change we made. That cascaded into a broad degradation to our network and other services. This was not an attack.”Knecht stressed that the extent of the issue and the time required for resolution were “unacceptable.”

Khaled al-Masoud, who was killed at his home during a raid in the town of al-Dumayr in the Damascus countryside. (Courtesy of the al-Masoud family via AP)

A joint raid by the US forces and a local Syrian group targeting an Islamic State (IS) militant instead resulted in the killing of a man who had been working undercover to gather intelligence on the jihadist organisation, his family and Syrian officials told The Associated Press.Khaled al-Masoud was killed on October 19 during the operation in Dumayr, a town east of Damascus, the Syrian capital.According to his relatives, al-Masoud had spent years spying on IS — first for the insurgent forces led by Ahmed al-Sharaa and later for al-Sharaa’s interim government, which was formed in January following the December 2024 ouster of then-President Bashar al-Assad.Local residents told AP that the US troops carried out the raid alongside the Syrian Free Army (SFA), a US-trained opposition faction that once fought against Assad and now operates under the Syrian Defense Ministry.Residents recall raidAt around 3 am on October 19, residents woke to the sound of heavy vehicles and planes.Al-Masoud’s cousin, Abdel Kareem Masoud, recalled opening his door to find Humvees bearing American flags. “There was someone on top of one of them who spoke broken Arabic, pointed a machine gun at us with a green laser, and told us to go back inside,” he recounted.The victim’s mother, Sabah al-Sheikh al-Kilani, alleged that the forces then surrounded her son’s house next door — where he was staying with his wife and five daughters — and banged on the door.According to her, al-Masoud was shot despite telling the troops he worked with General Security, an Interior Ministry force. She claimed he was taken away while wounded. Later, government security officials informed the family he had been released but was in a hospital. The family was subsequently called to collect his body. The exact time and cause of his death remain unclear.“How did he die? We don’t know. I want the people who took him from his children to be held accountable,” she said.The family believes he was targeted on the basis of “faulty intelligence” provided by SFA members.Al-Masoud had previously worked with Ahmed al-Sharaa’s insurgent group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, in its Idlib stronghold before Assad’s fall, his cousin said. After returning to Dumayr, he served in the security apparatus of al-Sharaa’s interim government.Following the operation, early media reports claimed an “IS official” had been captured. However, the US Central Command — which routinely issues statements on operations that kill or detain IS members in Syria — made no announcement about the incident.Fewer than 1,000 US troops are believed to be operating in Syria, conducting airstrikes and ground raids against IS cells. They work primarily alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast and with the SFA in the south.

Godfather of AI Geoffrey Hinton is back with another prediction of AI. Hinton believes that AI will lead to massive unemployment. Recently, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that AI will not lead to mass layoffs, but it will transform the nature of various jobs. On the other hand, Bill Gates feels that humans may soon not be needed “for most things,” while Elon Musk believes most people won’t have to work at all within 20 years. But Godfather of AI feels that all these predictions are overlooking one major reality that AI may cause economic upheaval which may lead to mass unemployment.

Geoffrey Hinton’s warning: Jobs at Risk

As reported by Fortune, speaking at the Georgetown University along with Bernie Sanders, Hinton said that the rise of AI could leave millions of workers behind. “It seems very likely to a large number of people that we will get massive unemployment caused by AI,” he said.

Hinton further noted that the tech giants are busy investing trillions in data centres and chips and are heavily betting on AI systems which can replace human labor at lower cost. Hinton has become increasingly vocal about what he sees as Big Tech’s misplaced priorities, arguing that the industry is driven more by short-term profits than scientific progress.

Economics of AI under scrutiny

The financial realities of AI are also becoming a cause of concern. ChatGPT creator OpenAI is not expected to turn a profit until at least 2030 and may need more than $207 billion to sustain growth, according to HSBC estimates.Godfather of AI, who left Google in 2023 in order to speak freely about the risks of AI. He warned that AI will lead to new job creation but it will not offset the scale of losses. “Trying to predict the future of it is going to be very difficult,” he said, likening the uncertainty to driving in fog.

Job and humanity at risk

Same has Bill Gates, Bernie Sanders also echoed the warnings from tech leaders including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei that AI could displace millions of jobs. “If I’m a factory worker today, if I’m working in an office, how am I going to feed my family? How am I going to pay the rent? Who is talking about that?”Sanders also raised concerns about AI’s impact on human relationships, noting that teenagers increasingly rely on AI companions. “If kids today have AI as their best friends… what kind of change does that mean for humanity?”Sanders also warned about the cooperation between AI companies and the U.S. military could erode privacy. “How far away are we from a small number of people having access to the email that you’ve sent out, every phone call that you’ve been on, really every aspect of your life? We’re not far.”While Gates and Musk envision a future where humans are freed from work, Hinton insists the conversation must also address the social and economic consequences of mass displacement.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday appointed his military secretary, major general Roman Gofman, a senior officer with no intelligence background, as the next director of the Mossad.Netanyahu’s office said Gofman will take over from current Mossad chief David Barnea, whose five-year term ends in June 2026.“Gofman is a highly distinguished officer,” stated Netanyahu’s office, as cited by the Times of Israel. “His appointment as the prime minister’s military secretary in the midst of the war… proved that he possesses exceptional professional capabilities, from his rapid entry into the role to his immediate and significant involvement in the seven arenas of the war.”After naming David Zini, a military figure from Israel’s religious Zionist movement, to lead the Shin Bet domestic security agency, Netanyahu has once again chosen someone aligned with his nationalist outlook to head one of Israel’s key security institutions.“The prime minister believes that Maj Gen Gofman is the most qualified and suitable candidate to serve as Mossad director and wishes him great success in this important role,” the PMO added. Netanyahu said Gofman, who has never served in the Mossad, has nonetheless worked closely with the agency and other defence bodies in his role as military secretary.

Who is Roman Gofman?

Born in Belarus in 1976, Gofman moved to Israel at the age of 14 and joined the army’s armoured corps in 1995, beginning a long military career. Although he does not wear a yarmulke like practising religious Jews, Gofman studied at the Ely yeshiva, a Jewish religious school in a West Bank settlement known for its right-wing religious Zionist leanings, as cited by AFP.In 2020, Gofman was appointed commander of the 210th “Bashan” Regional Division, which oversees Israel’s border with Syria. During his tenure, he authorised an arrangement in which intelligence officers provided classified information to Israeli teenager Ori Elmakayes for an unsanctioned social media influence campaign, a move that later drew significant criticism, as reported by the Times of Israel. At the onset of the Gaza war following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks, he was serving as commander of the national infantry training centre.He was seriously wounded that day in clashes with Hamas militants in the southern city of Sderot, near the Gaza border.Gofman later joined the prime minister’s office in April 2024.Gofman is regarded as close to Netanyahu, having served as his military secretary for nearly two years. In that role, he travelled on the prime minister’s behalf for various assignments and supervised the execution of Netanyahu’s directives within the IDF.The Mossad, regarded as one of the world’s leading intelligence agencies, was not implicated in the intelligence failures surrounding the October 7 attacks, as the Palestinian territories have traditionally been outside its remit. In contrast, the heads of the Shin Bet and Aman (military intelligence) resigned after accepting responsibility for the security lapse.

Elden Campbell. Image via: Rocky Widner / NBAE via Getty Images

Elden Campbell’s death has left former teammates, organizations, and the wider basketball community mourning a player remembered for his steady presence and generous spirit. Officials confirmed that the longtime NBA center died after a medical emergency while on a fishing trip in Broward County. Authorities ruled the death accidental, noting that Campbell drowned after collapsing soon after returning to shore. His family, teammates, and alma mater have since shared tributes honoring the 57-year-old champion’s impact.Campbell built a 15-year NBA career that earned admiration across several franchises, including the Lakers and Pistons. His passing has reopened memories of his years as a dependable interior anchor, his role in the Pistons’ 2004 championship run, and the relationships he maintained long after his final game.

Family shares details after Elden Campbell’s sudden passing

Elden Campbell’s sister, Sandra, told the New York Post that the former Lakers center had been out on the water when he collapsed shortly after dock­ing. “It was all the sudden,” she said. “He wasn’t sick. He was out fishing.” She added that their family is still processing the loss, noting, “He was such a big pillar and a staple to our family. He’s going to be terribly missed.”His family released a statement remembering Campbell as “a man to whom family meant everything — generous, funny, disciplined and kind, but could shut you down if required.” They emphasized his faith and said, “He passed doing what he loved: fishing out on the ocean, enjoying his idea of an ideal day.”Campbell is survived by his wife, Rosemary, their children Jay Lee, Jael, Ariel and Aaron, his sister, and his brothers Elwayne and Charles Jr.

NBA community honors Elden Campbell’s legacy

Tributes poured in from across the league as news spread. The Detroit Pistons called Campbell’s passing “deeply saddened and heartbroken,” adding that he “patrolled the paint with strength and skill, playing an important role during one of the most memorable chapters in franchise history.”Magic Johnson, who spent multiple seasons alongside him, wrote, “I loved throwing lobs to Elden because he could jump out the gym and had so much talent! Cookie and I are praying for his family and Lakers Nation as they mourn during this difficult time. Rest in peace Big E!”Clemson University, where Campbell remains the program’s all-time leading scorer, also honored him, revealing his long-standing connection to the school and his commitment to returning and supporting the Tigers after retirement.Campbell’s career totaled 1,044 NBA games, more than 10,000 points, and a championship ring.Also Read: Carmelo Anthony sends worrying message for Anthony Davis following Chris Paul’s departure from Clippers

Ten hours on plastic chairs, midnight boarding, pre-match heebie-jeebies. Mumbai City FC’s journey to a Super Cup semi-final became the face of a nationwide air travel meltdown as IndiGo cancellations and delays left thousands stranded across India.The former ISL champions reached Goa Thursday morning after their Wednesday afternoon flight was cancelled amid widespread disruption. “After nearly 10 hou-rs at the airport, endless que-ues, and enough chaos to test anyone’s match-day patience, the boys stuck together,” the club posted on social media.They were far from alone. At least 14 IndiGo flights to Goa were cancelled and over 25 delayed. Across Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Lucknow and Bhubaneswar, terminals overflowed with stranded passengers, rescheduled departures collapsed without warning and airfares spiked to international levels.“My mother-in-law passed away this morning. We paid Rs 40,000 for two one-way tickets to Trivandrum,” said Gopan Nair, stuck at Mumbai airport’s boarding gate after a four-hour delay. “The funeral was postponed so we could attend, but we’re stuck here.”As cancellations mounted, fares turned punishing. One-way economy tickets from Kolkata to Bengaluru surged to between Rs 21,000 and Rs 1 lakh. Same-day fares from Mumbai to Delhi touched Rs 23,000. Kolkata-Delhi fares rose to Rs 25,000–Rs 84,000. “A UK round trip costs around Rs 80,000. People paid nearly that for a one-way domestic ticket,” said Anjani Dhanuka of Travel Agents Association of India.In Kolkata, MBA student Nishita Chowdhury learned her Mumbai flight was cancelled only after reaching the airport, a day before an exam. Avik Sarkar, flying from Bengaluru to Kolkata for travel to Arunachal Pradesh, had his flight cancelled mid-evening. “The rebooking link didn’t work. I had to pay Rs 24,000 for a new ticket. Now I may miss my next connection,” he said.Others arrived — without luggage. Rakesh Rastogi landed in Kolkata after a 14-hour delay only to find his bags still in Delhi. “We came for a wedding. We arrived without our clothes,” he said. CISF reinforcements were called in as tensions rose at the terminal.At Pune airport, 19 delayed and 11 grounded aircraft occupied most parking bays. Some passengers were trapped inside planes for up to five hours after landing. “The captain said even ATC had no clue when we would deboard,” said Megh Gandhi.In Lucknow, passengers shouted slogans against IndiGo. “No updates, no communication, no responsibility,” posted Dhruv Choudhary. Travel agent Sarvesh Pandey discovered his rescheduled flight had departed without notification, costing him two days and a family function.At Chennai airport, there was similar chaos. “People are sitting on the floor. There’s no proper communication,” said advocate Brahma Puthran, whose Kochi-bound flight was pushed back by hours after being cancelled the previous night.In Guwahati, passengers bound for Aizawl said they were told no flights were available for two days. “They promised refunds but no food or hotels,” one traveller said. Some tried humour to cope. “Getting a flight to Mumbai this weekend is like finding a last-minute Coldplay ticket,” one passenger posted.