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Rising temperatures in Pakistan’s most populous province have forced the provincial government to close all private and public schools for summer vacations early, officials said on Tuesday.Punjab province’s education minister Rana Sikander Hayat said summer vacations will now start from May 28 instead of June 1.Class times have also been changed, with all educational institutes instructed to close two hours early at 11:30 am “due to a constant heatwave”, a notification issued by the education department said.Pakistan, one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of global warming, has been experiencing unusually high temperatures after a particularly dry winter.Temperatures soared to near-record highs for the month of April, reaching as high as 46.5 degrees Celsius (115.7 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of Punjab.An alert issued on Monday by the national meteorological agency forecast that northern parts of the province, currently in the grip of a heatwave, will see daytime temperatures rise “5 to 7C above normal”.An Education Department representative told AFP the early closures were announced because of the weather.”We had to move up the summer vacation schedule because of these heatwaves,” the representative said.Schools in the province that serve tens of millions of children also closed for a week in May last year because of excessive heat, and for several weeks in November because of high levels of toxic smog that blanketed several cities.

Thousands of drivers from ride-hailing and food delivery apps protested in Indonesia on Tuesday, demanding a 10-percent cap on commission fees.Hundreds of drivers gathered in the streets of the capital Jakarta, driving their motorbikes and waving flags.Thousands more in Indonesia’s second-largest city of Surabaya drove to the offices of ride-hailing apps GoJek and Grab, before rallying in front of the governor’s office, an AFP journalist saw.”Many of our friends got into accidents on the road, died on the road because they have to chase their income,” Raden Igun Wicaksono, chairman of the driver’s union Garda Indonesia, told AFP.”It’s about lives, not about business calculation.”Drivers are also demanding the end of discounted fare programmes and calling on lawmakers to meet with the drivers’ association and app companies.Motorbike and scooter drivers who form the backbone of Indonesia’s sprawling gig economy earn up to 150,000 rupiah ($10) a day, but costs including app commissions and fuel eat into their income.Gojek — which alongside Singapore’s Grab is among Asia’s most valuable start-ups — said it was committed to “supporting the long-term welfare of our driver partners”.But lowering its 20-percent commission fee, which complied with regulations, was “not a viable solution”, according to Ade Mulya, head of public policy for Gojek’s parent company GoTo.”Reducing the commission to 10 percent is not a viable solution, as the current 20 percent commission from customer trip fares is essential to fund initiatives that directly support the sustainability of the ecosystem and driver income,” Ade said.Tirza Munusamy, Grab Indonesia’s head of public affairs, said the company’s commission structure was “necessary” to maintain the quality of service.”If this commission structure were to be significantly reduced, the impact would go beyond service quality — it would threaten the sustainability of an ecosystem that supports millions of people,” Tirza said, adding that Grab was open for dialogue to ensure policies remain relevant for drivers.

Just over a week after a ceasefire with India was struck, Pakistan’s foreign minister is visiting his country’s largest arms supplier, China, with the performance of the weapons they supplied a matter of burning interest for analysts and governments alike.The most striking claim from four days of fighting earlier this month was Islamabad’s contention its Chinese-supplied jets had shot down six Indian aircraft — including three French-made Rafale fighters — with some observers seeing this as a symbol of Beijing’s rising military might.Experts who spoke to AFP cautioned that a lack of confirmed information and the limited scope of fighting made it difficult to draw solid conclusions about the Chinese equipment’s prowess.Still, “this was a rare opportunity for the international community to gauge Chinese military hardware on the battlefield against Western (Indian) hardware”, said Lyle Morris from the Asia Society Policy Institute.  While China pours hundreds of billions of dollars into defence spending each year, it lags far behind the United States as an arms exporter.China’s drones are used in counter-terrorism operations, and its weapons have been deployed by Saudi Arabia in Yemen and against rebel forces in African countries, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) senior researcher Siemon Wezeman told AFP.”But this is the first time since the 1980s that a state has used large numbers of Chinese weapons of many types in action against another state,” said Wezeman, referencing the Iran-Iraq war when they were used on both sides.- ‘Primary option’ -Pakistan accounts for around 63 percent of China’s arms exports, according to SIPRI.In the recent fighting, Pakistan used the J10-C Vigorous Dragon and JF-17 Thunder planes, armed with air-to-air missiles.It was the first time the J10-C has been used in active combat, said the Stimson Center’s Yun Sun.Islamabad’s air defences also used Chinese kit — including the HQ-9P long-range surface-to-air missile system — and deployed Chinese radar as well as armed and reconnaissance drones.”This was the first sustained fight where the bulk of Pakistan’s forces used Chinese weapons and, basically, relied on them as their primary option,” said Bilal Khan, founder of the Toronto-based Quwa Defence News & Analysis Group. India has not officially confirmed any of its aircraft were lost, although a senior security source told AFP three jets had crashed on home soil without giving the make or cause.Rafale maker Dassault has also not commented.The Rafale is considered one of Europe’s most high-tech jets, while the J10-C “is not even China’s most advanced”, said James Char from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.But if Pakistan’s claims are true, “this should not be surprising… considering that the Rafale is a multirole fighter, whereas the J-10C was built for aerial combat and is also equipped with a stronger radar,” Char said.The Chinese air-defence systems, however, “do not appear to have been as effective as the Pakistan Air Force would have hoped”, said Quwa’s Khan, after India said it had neutralised one near the eastern border city of Lahore.If true, said SIPRI’s Wezeman, that “would be a bigger success and more than balance the loss of some aircraft in the process”.- ‘Significant reorientation’ -In the days after the dogfight reports, J10-C maker Chengdu Aircraft Company’s stock soared over forty percent.”We most likely will see more orders going to Chinese contractors,” said the Stimson Center’s Sun.However, “it will take time and significant reorientation by Chinese arms manufacturers for the country to be a big arms exporter”, said Jennifer Kavanagh from the US think tank Defense Priorities.She noted that China “cannot mass-produce certain key inputs, including aircraft engines”.Wezeman said he thought the stock markets “overreacted”, as “we still have to see how well all the weapons used worked and if it really means much”.Even if more data emerges, the conflict still does not reveal much about the Chinese military’s own capabilities, the analysts said.China’s own systems and weapons are much more advanced than what it exports.And while having high-tech hardware is important, “much more important is how those weapons are used”, said Kavanagh.Brian Hart of CSIS said he would caution against “reading too much” into recent developments.”I don’t think you can make direct comparisons to how these Chinese-made systems would fare in different environments against more advanced adversaries like the United States,” he explained.”Since the number of data points is small and since we don’t know much about the proficiency and training of the personnel on either side, it is hard to draw definitive conclusions,” said Kavanagh.  

India said Tuesday it would resume a daily border ceremony with neighbouring Pakistan which it briefly halted earlier this month following the most serious conflict between the nuclear armed arch-rivals for decades.At least 60 people died in fighting triggered by an April 22 attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing — a charge Pakistan denies.India’s Border Security force said the sunset ceremony on its side would be open to the media on Tuesday and to the general public on Wednesday at the Attari-Wagah land border in the northern state of Punjab.Pakistan said it never stopped the ceremony, with its troops marching on its side of the border alone.The ceremony however is expected to be a low-key affair with diplomatic measures against Pakistan still in place, including the closure of the land border.For years, the ceremony at the Attari-Wagah border has been a popular tourist attraction.Visitors from both sides come to cheer on soldiers goose-stepping in a chest-puffing theatrical show of pageantry.The frontier was a colonial creation at the violent end of British rule in 1947 which sliced the sub-continent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.The daily border ritual has largely endured over the decades, surviving innumerable diplomatic flare-ups and military skirmishes.

Hours after New Delhi and Islamabad launched their worst conflict in nearly three decades, Indian businesses cashed in on a surge in nationalism with t-shirts and bags glorifying the military.After a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22, New Delhi launched strikes deep into Pakistan’s territory as part of what it named “Operation Sindoor”.India blamed Pakistan for backing the attackers who killed 26 civilians. Islamabad denied it and called for an independent probe.A ceasefire was reached on May 10 after four days of fighting, but a massive wave of nationalist support for the military operation continues unabated in India.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government used Sindoor, the Hindi word for the red powder which married Hindu women wear on their foreheads, as a sign that it was to avenge those widowed in the April 22 attack.Some canny businessmen translated the conflict into cash, offering t-shirts and tote bags sporting the official logo of the operation and quotes from Indian military top brass during and after the conflict.”Our design team whipped up four or five artworks,” a day after Sindoor was launched, said Adi Arora, founder of KadakMerch.”It just turned into a viral sensation. Since then our products have been flying off the shelves,” Arora told AFP.His factory in a small industrial town in northern India has churned out over 2,000 t-shirts and other Sindoor merchandise.Arora said the bestseller was a t-shirt spouting a quote from a senior Indian air force officer: “Our job is to hit the target, not to count the body bags.”- Using popular culture -“Proud to wear this,” wrote one social media user who shared pictures of a t-shirt with the same quote but from a different manufacturer.A senior government adviser, Kanchan Gupta, also promoted on X another seller making t-shirts emblazoned with “Operation Sindoor”.”The fact that in a moment as grave as this, the government thought that it was a good idea to bring out a creative for the military operation… will tell you that this was also done with a domestic audience in mind,” said Indian writer and journalist Kunal Purohit.The branding is part of the government’s push to promote nationalist pride which “only gets heightened when India is in a conflict with its oldest arch-rival Pakistan,” said Purohit, who has written a book about Hindu nationalist pop music.Modi’s government “has been creating and using popular culture very, very successfully for the large part of the last 10 years” to promote its ideology, Purohit told AFP.During the conflict, New Delhi also cracked down on sales of Pakistani flags and merchandise, ordering e-commerce sites to “remove all such content”.The days-long fighting killed dozens of people on each side, including civilians, according to tolls from Indian and Pakistani officials.- ‘People are really excited’ -Another small online business called Hank Hawk, jumped on the bandwagon.”We have received enormous enquiries. People are really excited about Operation Sindoor,” said Deepak Kumar, who is in charge of marketing.”People needed a way to show their support to Indian armed forces,” said KadakMerch’s Arora. The t-shirts are the “best and the closest and the cheapest way for them to be a part of something that has become very significant,” he added.Arora said he had even received orders from Indian military officials.”There was a very deliberate push from the government and from the ruling party to popularise this moment,” Purohit said.”You make that moment so big that everyone wants to be a part of it.”Vendors at the popular Janpath market in the heart of New Delhi, where clothes, handicrafts and souvenirs are the main wares, are readying to sell the new products.One clothes stall owner said they had discussed ordering the Sindoor t-shirts.”Why wouldn’t they love these? The military is also a symbol of India,” he said.”We will be selling t-shirts like these soon.”

A Sri Lankan express train killed an elephant and was derailed on Tuesday, despite safety measures introduced after the country’s worst wildlife railway accident three months ago on the same route.Local officials said the young wild elephant crossing the track near Habarana was run over by the same train involved in the February 20 accident that killed seven elephants.After that crash, officials imposed speed limits on trains passing through elephant habitats.No passengers were injured in the accident, which occurred some 180 kilometres (110 miles) by road east of the capital Colombo.Railway authorities said an investigation was underway, and engineers were trying to put the Colombo–Batticaloa train back on the track after the pre-dawn smash.The authorities had earlier announced changes to train timetables and efforts to clear shrubs from either side of the track to improve visibility for drivers, to give them more time to avoid hitting elephants.Wildlife officials have said that 139 elephants have been killed by trains over the past 17 years, since authorities began collecting such data.The government has also announced that 1,195 people and 3,484 elephants have been killed in the past decade due to the worsening human–elephant conflict on the island.Killing or harming elephants is a criminal offence in Sri Lanka, which has an estimated 7,000 wild elephants –- considered a national treasure, partly due to their significance in Buddhist culture.However, the killings continue, as desperate farmers struggle with elephants raiding their crops and destroying livelihoods.Many elephants have been electrocuted, shot, or poisoned. Sometimes, explosive-laden fruits are used to maim the animals, often resulting in painful deaths.

India’s plans to massively expand coal-based steel and iron production threaten global efforts to reduce the sector’s carbon emissions, a key contributor to climate change, a report said Tuesday.The sector accounts for 11 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and India aims to double production by 2030.Switching from coal-dependent blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces (EAFs), which produce significantly fewer emissions, could reduce that figure.EAF production is projected to make up 36 percent of the sector by 2030, but that falls short of the 37 percent the International Energy Agency (IEA) says is needed to stay on track for net-zero by 2050.”The only realistic way to meet that 37 percent goal is with a change of plans from India,” said Astrid Grigsby-Schulte from the Global Energy Monitor (GEM) think tank.That seemingly marginal one-percent difference “represents tens of millions of tonnes of CO2 generation”, Grigsby-Schulte told AFP.EAFs generally rely on melting scrap steel, a process that does not use coal. They produce significantly fewer emissions, even when they rely on electricity from coal-dependent grids.Meeting the 2030 target is “critical”, she said, “not only because of emissions immediately avoided, but also because it means we are laying the necessary groundwork for broader decarbonisation by 2050.”China currently dominates global steel production, but its sector is stagnant. Meanwhile India, which targets carbon neutrality only by 2070, plans to massively expand domestic capacity.And the majority of India’s announced steel development plans involve higher-emissions blast furnace production, in a country whose steel industry is already the world’s most carbon intensive.However, there is a growing gap between India’s steel capacity plans and actual developments on the ground, GEM said.Just 12 percent of its announced new capacity has come online since the country released its 2017 National Steel Policy. The comparable figure for China is 80 percent, GEM said.That suggests India’s “ambitious growth plans are more talk than action thus far,” the group added.And it “leaves a huge percentage of their development plans that could still shift to lower-emissions technologies,” added Grigsby-Schulte.Demand for steel is continuing to grow, and the iron and steel industry is expected to be one of the last to continue using coal in the IEA’s 2050 net-zero pathway.The organisation has warned that the sector needs to “accelerate significantly” to meet 2050 targets, including with innovative production methods that are currently in their infancy.

Opener Abhishek Sharma struck 59 off 20 balls as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Lucknow Super Giants by six wickets on Monday to end their opponents’ chances of reaching the IPL playoffs.Chasing 206 for victory, Abhishek set up the chase with his blitz laced with four fours and six sixes as Hyderabad achieved the target with 10 balls to spare in Lucknow.Abhishek departed in the eighth over before Heinrich Klaasen, who hit 47, and Kamindu Mendis, who retired hurt on 32, guided the team to the brink of victory with their fourth-wicket partnership of 55.Lucknow became the fifth team to bow out of the play-off contention leaving five-time champions Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals to battle for one remaining spot.”Definitely it could have been one of our best seasons but coming into the tournament we had a lot of gaps, injuries,” said disappointed Lucknow skipper Rishabh Pant.”As a team we decided to not talk about that but it became difficult to fill those gaps.”Gujarat Titans, Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru are already through to the playoffs starting May 29.It was a consolation win for Hyderabad, who were already out of the playoffs although captain Pat Cummins said the win “gives (us) a lot of confidence for next year”.The left-handed Abhishek took on the attack after he lost his opening partner Atharva Taide, who became New Zealand quick Will O’Rourke’s first wicket on his IPL debut.Abhishek hit five sixes, including three in succession off Ravi Bishnoi, to reach his fifty in 18 balls and followed it up with another hit over the fence.Leg-spinner Digvesh Rathi cut short Abhishek’s knock and Hyderabad lost another left-hander Ishan Kishan on 35 before South Africa’s Klaasen and Sri Lankan left-hander Mendis controlled the chase.Shardul Thakur denied Klaasen his fifty and Mendis hobbled off with a foot injury before Nitish Reddy and Aniket Verma sealed the win.- Pant’s flop and gaps -Earlier Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram laid the foundations for Lucknow’s 205-7 in their opening stand of 115.Marsh top-scored with 65 in a knock laced with six fours and four sixes and Markram hit 61 before Nicholas Pooran contributed with his 26-ball 45 to boost the total.The rest of the batters failed to get into double figures including another flop for Pant, who fell caught and bowled for seven off Sri Lanka seam bowler Eshan Malinga.Wicketkeeper-batsman Pant has failed to fire since Lucknow splashed a record $3.21 million on him at the November auction, scoring just 135 runs from 11 innings this IPL season.Lucknow pace bowlers including Avesh Khan and Mayank Yadav struggled with injuries leading into the tournament and during the season as well.Malinga stood out with figures of 2-28 in his four overs.Pooran missed out on his fifty in an attempt to steal a single in the 20th over which witnessed two run outs and another wicket.The IPL is into its final phase and restarted Saturday after it was paused due to a conflict between India and Pakistan.Since the pause in the IPL, the tournament has been rescheduled with the final now set to take place on June 3.

India’s giant movie industry is known for its macho, men-centric storylines, but a wave of women filmmakers is helping to break the mould.”More and more women are writing their stories, turning them into films,” said writer-director Reema Kagti, who believes the trend brings a more “real and healthy perspective” to movies, with complex, outspoken women characters who are masters of their own story.The world’s most populous nation churns out 1,800 to 2,000 films in more than 20 languages annually — and Hindi-language Bollywood is one of the largest segments, with more than 300 productions.Yet the films have often failed to portray women authentically, choosing instead to box them into being passive housewives or mothers who bow to societal pressure.A 2023 study by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) found that female characters in most chart-topping Indian films play the role of a romantic interest — and are “fair skinned with a thin body type and a small screen time”. But industry insiders point to a slate of women-directed movies earning international acclaim that have also scored well at the tough domestic box office.Malayalam-language film “All We Imagine as Light”, a poetic tale about two nurses forging an intergenerational friendship, was the first Indian production to win the Grand Prix at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.Director Payal Kapadia shunned the one-dimensional portrayal of women on Indian screens which tends to mimic “unrealistic standards set by society”, she said, in favour of one that allows women to “just be ourselves, authentic and true to how we are in everyday life”.India’s official entry for the 2025 Oscars was Kiran Rao’s “Lost Ladies” — “Laapataa Ladies” in Hindi — a comedy which challenges convictions surrounding marriage and womanhood, a sign of a shift — even if it missed the final shortlist.- ‘More inclusive narratives’ -It is not only arthouse films that are winning hearts.Mainstream movies with strong women co-leads are filling up theatres as well.”Stree 2″, a horror comedy featuring Bollywood star Shraddha Kapoor, smashed box office records last year, beating earnings by superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s action flick “Jawan”.And “Crew”, a heist comedy about flight attendants, was widely seen as a win for women-centric movies.”Women still face challenges in telling stories from their perspective”, said actor-producer Dia Mirza.”However, the increasing presence of female directors, producers and writers is paving the way for more inclusive narratives.” Movies can also tackle the way regressive traditions manifest in the daily lives of Indian families.”Mrs.”, a Hindi-language film released in February, dives into the unseen labour of a newlywed housewife, her silenced aspirations and the societal conditioning she struggles with.”Across social media, you can see people posting — that the majority of women in India go through this turmoil,” said Lakshmi Lingam, a Mumbai-based sociologist.She points out that there was no backlash to the film.”The voices of women saying, ‘Yes, this is true and I can see myself there’ is very high,” she said.”So, there is that kind of ecosystem of women resonating with many of the ideas these women filmmakers are making.”- ‘Still misogynistic’ -Industry figures suggest progress is being made, albeit slowly.Last year, 15 percent of Indian movies surveyed hired women for key production positions, up from 10 percent in 2022, according to a report by Ormax Media and Film Companion Studios.Konkona Sen Sharma, an actor-director who is a champion of women-oriented cinema, is cautiously optimistic about the role women will play in the future.Women are increasingly present in the film industry, but “we still don’t have enough women in positions of power,” she said.Filmmaker Shonali Bose points out that women directors need the independence and financial backing to tell new stories.”Our problem is not to do with gender, it is getting to make what we want to make,” Bose said. “When we want to make world cinema, we are facing market forces which are getting increasingly conservative.”Lingam, the sociologist, said that while moviegoers are being “exposed to the changing discourse”, mainstream films are “still very male-orientated” and plotlines “still misogynistic”.”Some of the women scriptwriters have great ideas, but producers don’t want to back those stories,” she said.”They intervene and make so many changes by converting the female protagonist into a male to make a ‘larger-than-life character’. At the end of the day, the buck actually dictates what can be made and what cannot.”

Azmatullah Omarzai’s all-round show and an unbeaten century by Sai Sudharsan marked the return of Indian Premier League action on Sunday with victories for Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans.Gujarat rode unbeaten knocks from Sudharsan (108) and skipper Shubman Gill (93) to hammer Delhi Capitals by 10 wickets in the day’s second match to book their play-off spot.The result also ensured play-off places for Punjab Kings, who won the first match of the day, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru.Punjab beat Rajasthan Royals by 10 runs in the first completed match since the IPL’s resumption after Saturday’s scheduled restart ended in a washout.The T20 tournament was paused last week because of a deadly conflict between India and Pakistan but officials decided to resume the competition after a ceasefire.On a batting-friendly pitch at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla ground, impact substitute Sudharsan, who struck his second IPL century, and Gill helped Gujarat chase down 200 with one over to spare.”Feels amazing, I have talked about this couple of times, when I’m batting, I want to play and think as a batsman, not as a captain,” said Gill.”Last year was a learning (experience) for me as I was captain for the first time, the back end of last season I learnt that.”- Gill the leader -Gill, 25, is the frontrunner to lead India in five-day cricket after the recent Test retirements of skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Gujarat, who won the IPL in their debut season in 2022, reclaimed first place in the 10-team table.Delhi, five-time champions Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants are the three teams remaining in the hunt for one remaining play-off spot.The huge partnership between Gill and Sudharsan trumped KL Rahul’s unbeaten 112 that steered the home team to 199-3.Sudharsan came out attacking in response as he raced to 25 off nine balls and reached his fifty with a boundary.Gill soon changed gears as he took on Sri Lanka’s Dushmantha Chameera in a 19-run 13th over, with Sudharsan picking up the pace as well and completing his hundred before hitting the winning six.Sudharsan is the leading batsman this season with 617 runs in 12 matches, with Gill second on 601.- ‘In high spirits’ -Earlier Rahul, who was promoted to open the innings, struck 14 fours and four sixes en route to his fifth career IPL ton.In Sunday’s opening match in Jaipur, Punjab posted 219-5 after they elected to bat first.Nehal Wadhera top-scored with 70 off 37 balls before Shashank Singh made the team finish strong with his unbeaten 59.Omarzai boosted the total with his unbeaten nine-ball 21 before he returned with two key wickets to restrict Rajasthan to 209-7.Impact substitute Harpreet Brar stood out with figures of 3-22 with his left-arm spin and South African left-arm quick Marco Jansen took two wickets in the final over when Rajasthan needed 22 for a win.”Absolutely brilliant approach and attitude coming in after the break,” Punjab skipper Shreyas Iyer said.”The boys were in high spirits and we also needed a rest, going forward in the tournament, it was the right time we came in together and showed the kind of mindset to win irrespective of the situation.”Explosive opening knocks by Yashasvi Jaiswal and 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi came in vain after the two left-handers fired Rajasthan to 89-1 in the first six overs.Jaiswal hit a 25-ball 50 and Suryavanshi made 40 off 15 balls.Punjab were playing Delhi in Dharamsala when the match was halted midway on May 8 due to an apparent floodlight failure and the next day the IPL was suspended.Since the pause in the IPL, the tournament has been rescheduled with the final now set to take place on June 3.