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.