Online schooling has failed. American schools need to reopen in the fall. It has now become obvious that the steady diet of online instruction put in place for the coronavirus pandemic not only has hurt kids academically and increased absenteeism, but has contributed to anxiety and depression and probably even aggravated health problems such as obesity. “All policy considerations for ...

Investors with more than $4.5 trillion in assets want Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to stop loosening environmental rules and do more to control escalating deforestation in the Amazon and beyond. This may be their moment. Upcoming virtual discussions are well-timed: Faced with a pandemic-shattered economy and record outflows, the populist government that has brushed off foreign donors as interfering busybodies ...

Bloomberg In Indonesia, locals can soon fly from Jakarta to the beaches of Bali for a domestic vacation. Tokyo residents can escape the pandemic stress with a hike in the mountains, and New Yorkers can head to the Hamptons on Long Island. Residents of Singapore, a city-state smaller than New York City, have few such options, presenting a massive problem ...

Bloomberg Traveloka, Southeast Asia’s biggest online travel startup, is close to raising fresh funds at a private-market valuation of about $2.75 billion — roughly 17% less than its most recent fundraising, according to people familiar with the matter. The Jakarta-based firm is in advanced negotiations with new strategic investors such as Siam Commercial Bank Pcl and Richard Li’s FWD Group ...

Bloomberg Taiwan’s exports fell for a fourth straight month in June as officials warned global demand may struggle to recover in the face of a resurgent worldwide coronavirus outbreak and continuing trade tensions between the US and China. Overseas shipments from Taiwan fell 3.8% last month, according to a statement from Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance. That compares to the median ...

Bloomberg Palm oil imports by India climbed to a five-month high in June as traders and refiners in the world’s biggest buyer increased purchases to replenish stockpiles. Inbound shipments increased 45.5% from a month earlier to 562,932 tons, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India said in an emailed statement. Purchases were 686,886 tons in June 2019. A surge in palm ...

Bloomberg ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok will pull its viral video app from Hong Kong’s mobile stores in coming days, becoming the first internet service to withdraw after Beijing enacted sweeping powers to crack down on national security threats. That announcement came after internet giants from Facebook Inc to Google and Twitter Inc voiced opposition to national security legislation that grants the ...

Bloomberg Hundreds of thousands of Chinese students enroll at US colleges and universities each year, and right now, a lot of them are concerned. As schools try to figure out how to start the fall semester amid the coronavirus pandemic, some — including Harvard University and the University of Southern California — are opting for online-only instruction. And that means ...

Bloomberg Nigeria’s presidency summoned the head of the nation’s anti-corruption body to discuss the sale of seized assets. Ibrahim Magu, the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) attended the meeting after receiving an invitation from a presidential panel while en route to another engagement, the anti-corruption agency said in an emailed statement. It denied a report ...

Bloomberg The US government was ordered by a federal appeals court to respond to Republican operative Roger Stone’s request to delay the start of his 40-month prison term as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The US Court of Appeals in Washington on Tuesday ordered the government to file its response by July 9. Stone had appealed after a trial ...