PARIS: This year’s Cannes Film Festival hosts a trio of heartthrobs from the back end of the 20th century, making their comeback on the red carpet: Demi Moore, Kevin Costner and Richard Gere.

From ‘Ghost’ to ‘Pretty Woman’ to ‘Dances with Wolves’, they are responsible for some of Generation X’s favourite movie moments.

On the Croisette, 61-year-old Moore will be making her unexpected return in slasher-horror ‘The Substance’, competing for the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or.

It has been a long time since Moore came anywhere near a Cannes red carpet, having appeared mostly in small TV roles and forgettable films since the early 2000s.

In her heyday, Moore was a global star after the weepie ‘Ghost’ co-starring the late Patrick Swayze as a murdered businessman who watches over his grieving ceramicist girlfriend from beyond the grave and famously helps her mould clay in a steamy supernatural scene.

Her baggy, androgynous look in that movie – the dungarees and boyish crop – helped define 1990s style, and she had other era-defining hits with steamy dramas “Indecent Proposal” and “Disclosure”.

An Annie Leibovitz photoshoot – showing off her pregnant belly on the cover of Vanity Fair in 1991 – was a stunning move at the time, since copied by Beyonce, Rihanna and others.

She proved her acting chops in meatier 1990s movies such as blockbuster courtroom drama ‘A Few Good Men’ opposite Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson.

But since the turn of the century, Moore, who has a life-long passion for collecting dolls and bought an entire house to store her 2,000-strong collection, was in the headlines more for her tumultuous love life than her acting.

She formed two Hollywood power couples, first in the 1980s with ‘Die Hard’ star Bruce Willis, father of her three daughters, and then with Ashton Kutcher, the latter union ending acrimoniously in 2013.

Kevin Costner: forever West

The soft-spoken 69-year-old is back in Cannes in his favourite genre, the Western, with the epic ‘Horizon: An American Saga’.

Fans are hoping his fourth feature as director – which is out of competition at Cannes – will mark a return to form after a series of expensive duds in the 1990s trashed his Oscar-gilded career.

His directorial debut ‘Dances With Wolves’, despite being a three-hour Western, was a global hit and in 1991 won the double Oscar whammy of best picture and director.

As an actor he captured hearts in smash hits ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves’ (1991) and as Whitney Houston’s protector in ‘The Bodyguard’ (1992).

Teaming up with big-gun directors also proved a winning formula, from Oliver Stone’s ‘JFK’ (1991) to Clint Eastwood’s ‘A Perfect World’ (1993).

But then a string of ultra-expensive and hubristic flops – especially ‘Waterworld’ (1995) and ‘The Postman’ (1997) made him into something of a laughing stock.

He continued to work in smaller roles, but invested more in music with his nostalgic country band ‘Kevin Costner & Modern West’.

There has been a late resurgence in his 60s, however, thanks to the long-running hit neo-Western series, ‘Yellowstone’.

Richard Gere: zen charm

Gere was the world’s sexiest man according to People Magazine in 1999, when he was 50.

By then he had charmed audiences with his quiet seduction in ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’ (1982) and, of course, ‘Pretty Woman’ opposite Julia Roberts.

He and supermodel Cindy Crawford were also the ultimate It-couple. But progressively he gave up glamour for meditation.

Gere had been a Buddhist since he was 25, and increasingly used his fame to speak out, in particular against China’s control of Tibet.

He developed a close friendship with the Dalai Lama and gave a fiery speech against China at the 1993 Oscars that got him barred from future ceremonies.

It also cost him movie roles in the 2000s as Hollywood sought to tap the vast Chinese market. For his Cannes comeback, the 74-year-old has reunited with Paul Schrader – who directed him in dark cult favourite ‘American Gigolo’ (1980) – for ‘Oh, Canada’, playing a Vietnam War draft-evader haunted by his past.

Islamabad: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has released the schedule for the T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up matches, set to take place from Monday, May 27 to Saturday, June 1 across various venues in the USA and Trinidad and Tobago.

The warm-up games will be hosted at the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Texas, Broward County Stadium in Florida, Queen’s Park Oval, and Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago.

Pakistan and England will not participate in the warm-up matches as they will be engaged in a critical four-match T20I series from May 22 to May 30.

Seventeen teams will compete in the warm-up fixtures, including South Africa, which will hold an intra-squad match on May 29 in Florida. These 20-over games will not carry official T20 international status, allowing teams to field all members of their 15-player squads.

Unlike previous tournaments, teams now have the option to play up to two warm-up matches, depending on their arrival time at the event. A notable fixture includes the clash between the West Indies and Australia at Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday, May 30, which will be open to the public.

ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 Warm-up Fixtures:

Monday, May 27

Canada vs. Nepal, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Texas 10:30

Oman vs. Papua New Guinea, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago 15:00

Namibia vs. Uganda, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago 19:00

Tuesday, May 28

Sri Lanka vs. Netherlands, Broward County Stadium, Florida 10:30

Bangladesh vs. USA, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Texas 10:30

Australia vs. Namibia, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago 19:00

Wednesday, May 29

South Africa intra-squad, Broward County Stadium, Florida 10:30

Afghanistan vs. Oman, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago 13:00

Thursday, May 30

Nepal vs. USA, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Texas 10:30

Scotland vs. Uganda, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago 10:30

Netherlands vs. Canada, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Texas 15:00

Namibia vs. Papua New Guinea, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago 15:00

West Indies vs. Australia, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago 19:00

Friday, May 31

Ireland vs. Sri Lanka, Broward County Stadium, Florida 10:30

Scotland vs. Afghanistan, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago 10:30

Saturday, June 1

Bangladesh vs. India, Venue TBC, USA

Islamabad: Malala Funds on Friday welcomed Pakistan’s new education emergency plan to address its national education crises and bring more than 26 million out-of-school children into schools under the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Malala Fund welcomes this news, which responds to demands from Pakistani activists, educators and civil society for the administration to take urgent action on girls’ education, said a statement.

Through the Education Emergency initiative, the government of Pakistan aims to make significant reductions to the overall number of children out of school. In a directive released from the Prime Minister’s office on Friday, the government has committed to allocating at least Rs25 billion to education over the next five years. This includes a commitment to increase its education budget from 1.7 per cent to four per cent of GDP.

“The Education Emergency Initiative is a promising first step,” said Lena Alfi, Acting CEO of Malala Fund. “If Pakistan fulfils its commitment to double education spending over the next five years, it could change the trajectory of millions of girls’ lives for the better. Malala Fund looks forward to monitoring the progress of all commitments made to girls alongside our local partners and civil society.”

The directive also included commitments to fast-track teacher recruitment and support the development and expansion of nutritional, financial literacy, and science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) programming for students.

In Pakistan, 12 million girls are out of school, and only 13 per cent of girls advance to grade 9. Malala Fund wants to help speed up progress.

Since 2017, the Malala Fund has invested more than $12 million in local activists and organisations who are driving solutions to the education barriers girls in their communities face.  This work has focused on advocating for quality education, improved school infrastructure in rural regions and wider digital inclusion.

Malala Fund has also worked in partnership with the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training over the last two years to improve girls’ access to STEAM education at public secondary schools across the country.

In his remarks at the National Education Emergency Conference in Islamabad last week, Prime Minister Sharif said: “Today, with iron conviction, and the support of provinces, we will handle the challenge of 26 million out-of-school children. We will bring them back to school…I declare from this moment an Emergency in Education all over Pakistan…The way we did it in Punjab, we will do it in Pakistan.”

Leaders including Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Federal Minister for Education, and Mohyuddin Wani, Federal Secretary for Education, also endorsed the Prime Minister’s message. Conference attendees included diplomats, donor organisations, academics and members of civil society. The World Bank, UNICEF and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) committed to continue investing in education in Pakistan.