Brunei orders schools closed

Brunei orders schools closed

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (AFP): Brunei authorities ordered
yesterday all schools closed for two weeks as haze from forest
fires in nearby areas worsened.

Citizens of the largely-Moslem sultanate have also been
requested to fast for two days to pray for rain, and prayers were
led yesterday by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and top religious
leaders in mosques throughout the tiny, oil-rich nation.

The sultan fired his health minister Monday amid concerns over
the worsening smog situation in the kingdom, where cases of
respiratory problems among school children and elderly have been
rampant.

Fresh fires in Indonesia's drought-stricken areas as well as
blazes within Brunei and Malaysia have sent a thick blanket of
haze over the tiny sultanate in the past few weeks.