Her Royal Highness Princess Hajah Masna, Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs accompanied by H.E. Ms. Wanthanee Viputwongsakul, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand to Brunei Darussalam with other diplomatic corps at the grand opening of the Thailand Grand Fair at the 23rd Consumer Fair held at the International Convention Centre

Her Royal Highness looked on the hand made design on the umbrella

The Royal Thai Embassy organised the ceremony of the “35th Anniversary of Thailand―Brunei Diplomatic Relations Grand Fair” at Bilik Sepakat 2 and 3 yesterday. On this special occasion, Her Royal Highness Princess Hajah Masna, Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs graced the Opening ceremony of the Fair as part of the 23rd Consumer Fair.

The Embassy’s annual Thailand Grand Fair is celebrating its 11th edition this year and also coincides with the 35th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Thailand and Brunei Darussalam.

Visitors can expect around 30 booths selling fresh and ready-to-eat food such as fresh spring rolls, Miang Kham and Som Tam (papaya salad), dried food, snacks and delicacies such as mango and durian sticky rice as well as dried, fresh and seasonal fruits.

Visitors can also find at the Fair,Thai silk and cotton clothing, handbags, handicrafts, jewelries and herbal products. So do visit the Thailand Grand Fair at the Consumer Fair which ends this Sunday.

Her Royal Highness receiving a Thai delicacy from one of the vendors at the Thai Grand Fair

Photo opportunity with the guest of honour

Her Royal Highness visited Chatramue booth

BIBD today realised the aspirations of Mohd Arraafi bin Rumzan and Lee Ye Kiat, when they brought home BND25,000 each as part of the third (3rd) quarterly draw for the BIBD Aspirasi Rewards Program.

Ten monthly winners also brought home BND2,500 each as part of the seventh (7 th) monthly draw. The winners were chosen from customers who had subscribed to Aspirasi, with a minimum holding period of 90 days. Since Aspirasi was launched on 1st September 2018, BIBD has awarded a total of 64 winners with total cash prizes amounting to BND250,000.

Prizes were handed over earlier today by the Guest of Honour, Dr Awang Abdul Nasir bin Haji Abdul Rani, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Islamic Finance, UNISSA in his capacity as a member of the BIBD Shariah Advisory Body. The current BIBD Aspirasi Rewards Program will come to an end with the grand draw of BND250,000 scheduled in September 2019.

To be eligible for the grand draw, customers must subscribe to BIBD Aspirasi for a minimum of 90 days prior to the draw, therefore BIBD advises those who have not yet subscribed to do so before the cut-off date of June 30th 2019. In order to bring even more chances to realise your aspirations, BIBD will soon announce the sequel to Aspirasi in the next few months, which promises to be an exciting and rewarding campaign which will appeal to all walks of life.

Lee Ye Kiat was in awe winning BND 25,000 during the draw today

Mohd Arraafi bin Rumzan, another BND 25,000, was unsure what to do with the monies just yet. Congratulations.

Jenny Malai Ali interviewing the guests earlier today

Even though receiving a consolation, he was pretty hyped up and cheerful. A very sporting person 😀

BIBD’s Head of Retail Banking, Hjh Nurul Akmar binti Hj Mohd Jaafar said “It gives us great joy to be able to play a part in realising the aspirations of our customers. The objective of this program was to instill a ‘wants can wait’ mindset and to encourage a culture of financial discipline, and based on the overwhelming response to Aspirasi so far, Alhamdulillah, we hope that we have achieved this objective. Insya Allah, we hope to run this campaign again, so we will keep everyone posted.”

BIBD Aspirasi, another one of its first introduced to the nation – has made the discipline of savings easier, more accessible and more convenient for its customers as subscriptions and redemptions can be made directly through the BIBD Mobile Application. This has helped customers create a savings discipline that BIBD hopes will become a habit, and will elevate the nation’s savings culture to a level that will be able to help them sustain their needs at every stage of their lives.

Toy Story 4. Surprisingly entertaining from start to finish. Why I say this is because this is the fourth edition of Toy Story saga and I was wondering how Pixar still got the ability to match the ever consistent trilogy of Toy Story. Hence, expectations were quite high. My oh my, it was simply beautiful and heart warming. Come to think of it, Pixar didnt’ need to do the fourth installment but they pulled off another magic. It was totally refreshing and new lovable characters (and funny too). It had a good closure and I hope that’s the finale of the Toy Story saga. So which is your favourite Toy Story series? I would say I love Toy Story 4 the most. Verdict: 8.5/10

Men in Black International. Come to think of it, this has the same fate as Toy Story as this is the fourth movie in the MIB saga. Now this one, I kinda questioned a bit. Is it really necessary to make another MIB movie since the last two were considered mediocre at best and bombed at the box office. Guess what? MIBI bombed terribly in the box office, only raking in a mere $30 million on its opening weekend, which is considered low in today’s era. The movie itself stunk and I tried my best to enjoy it. It was flat through out and my interest level waned from the first five minutes. Not even the star power of Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson can save this movie. A movie they could have done without. Verdict: 5/10

Dark Phoenix. Why are sequels currently not as entertaining with the exception of Toy Story 4. I have yet to catch Secret Life of Pets 2 and Child’s Play (2019) but I also don’t have high expectations. I came to watch Dark Phoenix, an X-Men Series with low expectations. The funny thing was the movie performed below my low expectations. How bad is that? All my peers who watched it gave it a thumbs down except for Del Goh who rated it a 7/10 (we had a long argument about the score lol). But yea, it’s no rocket science that Dark Phoenix even scored a low 23% on Rotten Tomatoes and only raking it USD 60 million AFTER THREE WEEKS. Now that’s a scary figure. I can’t believe I had to endure this crap. The consolation was that Dark Phoenix fared better than Halle Berry’s Catwoman. Verdict: 4/10

Audi R8 LMS #4 (Audi Sport Team Phoenix), Pierre Kaffer/Frank Stippler/Dries Vanthoor/Frédéric Vervisch. Image by Ferdi Kräling Motorsport-Bild GmbH.

The 47th running of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring was a thriller up until the last second: Following a turbulent final stage, the number 4 Audi R8 LMS won the battle with last year’s winning team from Porsche with a one-lap advantage. For Audi Sport Team Phoenix based at the Nürburgring, this marked the third victory with Audi and the fifth in the team’s 20-year history.

“Sincere congratulations to the whole squad,” said Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. “We won with a unique combination of diverse factors this time. The field was not fully balanced and our rivals drove better lap times across long distances. But the impeccable and strong driving performance saved us from penalties. The new evolution of the Audi R8 LMS was running perfectly and Ernst Moser’s team once again showed that it’s top-class also in the international comparison.” The team from the Eifel had won its home round with Audi back in 2012 and 2014 and previously scored two other victories.

Dries Vanthoor, Pierre Kaffer, Frédéric Vervisch, Frank Stippler. Image by Ferdi Kräling Motorsport-Bild GmbH.

Audi R8 LMS #14 (Audi Sport Team Car Collection), Christopher Haase/Marcel Fässler/René Rast/Markus Winkelhock. Image by Ferdi Kräling Motorsport-Bild GmbH.

While three Audi R8 LMS cars were running within the group of the top ten for long stretches of the racing distance, car number 4 only took the lead for the first time on lap 142 when the Porsche that had been leading for a long time was handed a time penalty. At that time, a second Audi Sport Team had chances for victory as well – Audi Sport Team Land that was victorious for Audi at the Nürburgring in 2017. But two hours before the end of the race, the Audi R8 LMS from Wolfgang Land’s squad with drivers Christopher Haase/Kelvin van der Linde/Christopher Mies/René Rast retired after a puncture. Hence all hopes were pinned on the four Audi Sport drivers Pierre Kaffer/Frank Stippler/Dries Vanthoor/Frédéric Vervisch, who masterfully did their job. For the merely 21-year-old Belgian driver Dries Vanthoor, who drove the final stint, this marked the first Nürburgring victory, just like for Pierre Kaffer, who grew up in the Eifel. Frédéric Vervisch won the Nürburgring 24 Hours for the first time too. The Belgian was previously involved in the historic first 24-hour victory of the latest evolution of the Audi R8 LMS in Dubai in January. Frank Stippler, who hails from Cologne, won the iconic event as far back as in 2012 with Audi. In total, the GT3 race cars from Audi Sport customer racing have clinched as many as 13 overall victories in 24-hour races worldwide since 2009.

Audi Sport Team Car Collection with Christopher Haase/Marcel Fässler/René Rast/Markus Winkelhock lost a possible podium finish shortly before the end due to a time penalty and achieved fourth position. The privately fielded Audi R8 LMS from Phoenix Racing with Jeroen Bleekemolen/Vincent Kolb/Kim-Luis Schramm/Frank Stippler crossed the finish line in eighth place. Gentleman drivers Stefan Aust/Oliver Bender/Christian Bollrath/Jean-Louis Hertenstein claimed a remarkable 16th spot overall with Team Car Collection Motorsport.

Several Audi customer teams clinched additional trophies at the Nürburgring. Team Giti Tire Motorsport by RaceIng with Rahel Frey/Bernhard Henzel/Pavel Lefterov/Frank Schmickler in an Audi R8 LMS won the SP8 class ahead of the Audi R8 LMS GT4 from Team Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing with the Asian driver crew of Xiaole He/Fei Li/Yat Wong/Andy Yan. Team Bonk Motorsport scored second place in the SP 3T class in an Audi RS 3 LMS – the best TCR race car in this class. In 2017, the squad based in Münster had claimed two podium finishes with this model and another podium in 2018. Fourth position went to the Audi RS 3 LMS from Team Avia Sorg Rennsport. As a result, nine of the ten race cars from Audi Sport customer racing finished the event.

As part of its stakeholder engagement plan initiative, The Safety, Health and Environment National Authority (SHENA) hosted an Introductory and Hari Raya Gathering event for its stakeholders yesterday at The Garden’s Veranda, Rimba.

Present at the event was Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr. Awang Haji Mat Suny Bin Haji Mohd Hussein, Minister of Energy, Manpower and Industry, as the Minister responsible for SHENA.

Also, in attendance were Yang Mulia Awang Haji Azhar Bin Haji Yahya, Permanent Secretary (Energy) as Authority to SHENA, including other high-ranking Government Officials and Government Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) focal points from various ministries as well as relevant stakeholders from industry.

The Hari Raya event aimed to foster good relationship with stakeholders and create awareness on the establishment of SHENA and its mandate.

SHENA is the national authority for workplace safety and health, including environment and radiation matters. The Safety, Health and Environment National Authority Order, 2018 was enacted on the 6th October 2018.  SHENA has been set up to enforce the following legislations:

1. Workplace Safety and Health Order (WSHO), 2009;
2. Environmental Protection and Management Order (EPMO), 2016 and
3. Radiation Protection Order (RPO), 2018.
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Any inquiries or further clarification about SHENA, please visit SHENA website at www.shena.gov.bn, or contact +673 2382000 or email at info@shena.gov.bn.

Mercedes-Benz Star Select. Currently Jati Transport Sdn Bhd is offering 25% discount for 5-8 year old models of Mercedes-Benz and 35% discount for 9 years and older models of Mercedes-Benz.

If safety is your top priority, they have just the thing for you: Mercedes-Benz Star Select, the maintenance programme for 5 years and older models. It saves you up to 35% on all repairs.

Owing to increasing demand, the Special Offer will now be extended to 30th Juen 2020. Do call them at 2441763/2441777 to find out whether Mercedes-Benz Star Select is available for your Mercedes.

Brunei Shell Marketing Co. Sdn. Bhd. (BSM) kicks off their #BeliHelix offer in preparation to the Hari Raya celebration with Gift with Purchase which commences from 22^nd May 2019.  The promotion runs for two (2) months until 22^nd July 2019 allowing customers to also benefit from it before and after Hari Raya or while stock lasts.

Shell Helix customers are entitled to one (1) exclusive umbrella with every purchase of 4 Liters Shell Helix Ultra pack and one (1) exclusive car shade with every purchase of 4 Liters Shell Helix HX7 pack at BSM authorised outlets such as Car Dealers, Workshops and Petrol Stations across nationwide*.

Shell Helix Ultra with PurePlus Technology is a next-generation, fully synthetic premium motor oil made from natural gas making it stronger and less volatile at the molecular level than those made from traditional crude.

BSM highly recommends customers to service their vehicles before the festive season to ensure they are in good condition for the celebration.

For further information and list of participating authorised outlets, customers may visit BSM website www.bsm.com.bn, Instagram and Facebook @bruneishellmarketing or contact BSM Call Center 2244739.

Don’t forget to buy early before Hari Raya