Malaysia, Indonesia close thousands of schools as toxic haze intensifies

Thousands of schools were closed across Malaysia and Indonesia on Thursday, affecting at least 1.7 million pupils, officials said, as toxic haze from rampant forest fires sent air quality plummeting.Nearly 2,500 schools were ordered to shut their doors in Malaysia – including nearly 300 in the smog-hit capital Kuala Lumpur – over soaring health concerns sparked by toxic haze from out-of-control blazes in Indonesia’s Sumatra and Borneo islands.Indonesia said hundreds of schools in hard-hit Riau…