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WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 2020
VOL.25 | NO.007
LIFESTYLE
13
Battlefront II: Feast for fans, casual
players
FEATURES
20
A rugged and capable drive built on
heritage
WORLD
24
Thailand denies monkeys abused to
harvest coconut products
HOME
6
‘Family drug business’ busted in
operation
Number of cases
Number of deaths
Recovered cases
Brunei Darussalam
COVID-19 STATISTICS
As of 7 July 2020
141
3
138
Azlan Othman
Brunei Darussalam recorded the highest
growth for car sales in the ASEAN region,
amounting to eight per cent in the irst
ive months (January-May) of this year,
where nationwide lockdowns or partial
lockdowns in other ASEAN nations due to the
COVID19 pandemic slowed vehicle sales in
the region.
A total of 5,388 units of cars were sold in
the Sultanate within that period, compared to
4,966 units within the same period last year,
according to the latest igures from the ASEAN
Automative Federation.
February recorded the highest sales with
1,108 units, followed by March (1,104 units) and
May (1,102 units).
With the exception of Myanmar, which also
recorded a positive growth of 4.7 per cent, the
rest of the ASEANmember nations recorded a
drastic drop in car sales ranging from as low
as between -34 per cent to -53 per cent.
Overall, car sales have contracted to -43
per cent within such period in ASEAN, down
from 1,436,830 units last year to only 833,421
units to date this year.
ASEAN member nations’ vehicle output
amounted to 82,023 units in May this year, up
by 61.6 per cent month-on-month and down
77.4 per cent year-on-year. In the January-May
period of the year, the vehicle production in
the ASEAN region dropped by 39.2 per cent
year-on-year to 1.08 million, due to the impact
of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the irst ivemonths of the year, Thailand’s
vehicle output plummetted by 40.2 per cent
year-on-year to 534,428, while Indonesia
produced 352,569 vehicles, down by 32.6
per cent from 523,183 units recorded in the
corresponding period of the previous year.
Continue to Page 2
Brunei records
highest car sale
growth in ASEAN
James Kon
A homeowner’s quick thinking saved his
Kampong Keramut home in Mukim Telisai
from being destroyed by an electrical ire
last Sunday.
Responding to a distress call at
8.02pm, a team of six ireighters led by
DSO Abdul Aziz from the Bukit Beruang
Fire Station were dispatched to the
scene. On arriving, they found that the
ire had already been put out by the ho-
meowner, Mohammad bin Majid, using a
two kg powder extinguisher.
No injuries were reported, and the
cause of the ire is under investigation.
In another electrical ire incident, a ive-
man team led by ASO Haji Murni bin Haji
Maidin from the Pelancaran Fire Station
rushed to an address in Kampong Sungai
Pandan at 4.37am last Monday.
The ire crew entered the house to ind
that the ire had only affected an electrical
switchboard.
Homeowner Nor Asladi bin Ismail had
put out the ire on his own. No one was
hurt in the incident.
The Fire and Rescue Department (FRD),
meanwhile, advised the public to avoid
circuit overloads and to switch off all
electrical appliances when not in use.
Continue to Page 2
Quick-thinking
spares home
from fiery
disaster
Death toll from flooding in Japan rises
to 50, dozen missing
TOKYO (AP) - Soldiers rescued residents on
boats as loodwaters lowed down streets
in southern Japanese towns hit by deadly
rains that were expanding across the region
yesterday. At least 50 people have died and a
dozen are missing.
Pounding rain since late Friday in Japan’s
southern region of Kyushu has triggered
widespread looding. More rain was predicted
in Kyushu and the western half of Japan’s main
island as the rain front moved east.
In Fukuoka, on the northern part of the
island, three soldiers waded through knee-
high water pulling a boat carrying a mother,
her two-month-old baby and two other
residents.
“Good job!” one of the soldiers said as he
held up the baby to his chest while the mother
got off the boat, Asahi video footage showed.
Several children wearing orange life vests over
their wet T-shirts arrived on another boat.
An older woman told
NHK
television she
started walking down the road to evacuate,
but loodwater rose quickly up to her neck.
Another woman said, “I was almost washed
away and had to grab a electrical pole.”
Continue to Page 2
Japan Self Defence Forces members rescue residents from a looded road hit by heavy rain in
Omuta, Fukuoka Prefecture, southern Japan. PHOTO: AP
Fadley Faisal
The Intermediate Court yesterday handed
a ive-year sentence and two strokes of
the cane to a local chef for two counts of
housebreaking for theft.
Judge Pengiran Masni binti Pengi-
ran Haji Bahar found that Zool Amali
bin Mahari is “notorious”, holding
previous theft convictions dating as
far back as 2006.
DPP Syazwani binti Jumat revealed in
court that Zool Amali irst struck a staff
house in the Kiulap commercial area on
the evening of June 10, where he stole a
laptop and a mobile phone.
The 37-year-old defendant repeated
his actions on June 12, this time targetting
another staff house in the Kiulap
commercial area, making away with two
mobile phones.
It was the second incident that led to
the police detecting the defendant’s acts,
when a victim reported her loss with the
help of the staff house CCTV footage
capturing the defendant in action.
Chef by
day, thief
by night