The delta variant of the coronavirus continues to infect and kill across the globe with no end in sight. There are close to 700,000 confirmed new infections and 10,000 fatalities each day. For a world that never agreed on how to respond to the challenges posed by Covid-19, the mutation has spelled accelerating misery and sorrow. New Zealand extended its lockdown, as did Sydney, while U.S. states that repudiated precautions, such as Florida and Texas, are using more than 90% of their intensive care capacity as more of the unvaccinated—and a small number of vaccinated—are sickened. Meanwhile, Apple told its employees not to return to the office until next year. Things aren’t a whole lot better on the vaccine front: Covid shots are less effective against delta. Maybe U.S. President Joe Biden should have been a lot tougher on implementing vaccine mandates, Jonathan Bernstein writes in Bloomberg Opinion.

Biden’s defense of the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan (in which he chose to abide by an agreement signed by the previous administration) was deeply unconvincing, Bloomberg’s editors write, but the question now is how can he minimize the damage? The region is in a wait-and-see mode as to whether the Taliban of 2021 are any different from the group that played host to Al Qaeda two decades ago.

Elon Musk unveiled a humanoid robot designed to take all the boring work out of everyday life. But the transition to completely autonomous, go-anywhere cars still remains a distant goal.

Elon Musk presents the Tesla Bot during the company’s AI Day livestream.

Source: Tesla Inc.

Parents are taking to trading platforms to introduce their kids—some as young as first grade—to financial markets, letting them trade $5 at a time. For Robinhood investors, this week has been a lesson in hubris.

Methane hunters are racing to slow the catastrophic march of global warming. India wants to grow its wild tiger population by 35%, which would protect forests while boosting economic gains from conservation.

A tiger at Alipore Zoological Garden in Kolkata, India.

Photographer: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP

It’s difficult to work out where to vacation this year, so Bloomberg’s Travel Reopening Tracker has done the hard work for you. An all-inclusive retreat in Jamaica with magic mushrooms is the new luxury, er, trip.

• New England braces for a potential direct hit by Hurricane Henri.
• U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visits Singapore and Vietnam.
• The Fed will hold its annual Jackson Hole symposium—virtually.
• Kathy Hockul replaces Andrew Cuomo as New York governor.
• The Tokyo Paralympics get underway—sans spectators.

European Cities Like the Lack of Drunk Tourists

Pandemic lockdowns meant fewer crowds, less garbage and a distinctly lower concentration of drunk and delinquent tourists across Europe. Now Amsterdam, Prague, Barcelona and Venice want to make some of those changes permanent. They want to mold visits into shapes less onerous for residents, and perhaps more lucrative for business. Call it curated tourism.

The iconic Piazza San Marco in Venice.

Photographer: Giulia Marchi/Bloomberg

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