As South Asia bakes under a blistering heat wave, life-or-death decisions arrive with the midday sun.
Abideen Khan and his 10-year-old son need every penny of the $3.50 a day they can make molding mud into bricks at a kiln under the open sky in Jacobabad, a city in southern Pakistan. But as temperatures have soared as high as 126 degrees Fahrenheit (52 degrees Celsius) in recent days, they have been forced to stop by 1 p.m., cutting their earnings in half.
"This isn’t heat,” said Khan, sweat dripping down his face and soaking through his worn clothes. "It’s a punishment, maybe from God.”