Voice of America

Price for Prized Himalayan Fungus Soars to Record High Voice of America - Jul 21, 2007 VOA's Steve Herman recently went to the Bhutanese capital of Thimpu to found out why. To scientists the fungus that invades caterpillars' bodies and kills …

Goal.com

Juventus Paro Rejects Empoli, Wants Genoa Goal.com, Netherlands - Jun 27, 2007 Paro Rejects Empoli, Wants Genoa The young Juventus midfielder is very close to join the Rossoblu according to the latest transfer speculation coming from …

Rumble in the cable box

BBS and United Cable Television fight for dominance in the market. Who will win?

24 July, 2007 - When Star Movies went off air from June 27, many cable subscribers were livid. But like all the best plot twists, there was more to it than met the ordinary eye.

Bhutan’s two Multi Service Operator, the Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS) and the United Cable Television (UCTV), were locked in a combat, fists clenched, teeth gnashed, bumps here and there.

Making Internet affordable
24 July, 2007 - With mounting accusations that its free Internet dial up service, which started in April this year, was more of a ‘con job’ Bhutan Telecom officials say that it has taken measures to improve connectivity and speed.

Certificate to qualify you for jobs

The new occupational profile will set new stanards for waiters like Dawa Shangbo, 20

24 July, 2007 -

Vacancy: Hotel receptionist – fluent spoken English and Dzongkha; minimum qualification class XII; preference will be given to those with skills and experience.

Sounds familiar? Now you have the required skills and experience - how do you convince that to your employer? In Bhutan it’s not that easy without a hotel management institute to certify such profession.

Stable power for Phuentsholing

24 July, 2007 - Phuentsholing town will soon bid farewell to the overhead power cables with the Bhutan Power Corporation Limited’s underground electrification project to be completed by the end of this month.

The Way Ahead
contd.

23 July, 2007 - Druk Yellow Party,
which stood for the preservation of tradition and values, came out as the overwhelming winner. We all knew Yellow would win, because it had our unconditional support. Every true Bhutanese is for heritage. It is more than just important. We live with it. We live by it. We live for it.

Nu. 35 billion Punatsangchhu-I
23 July, 2007 - The government of India’s (GOI) UnionCabinet approved on July 20, the signing of the inter-governmental agreement between India and Bhutan on the Hydropower Project in Bhutan, according to a news release from the GOI’s Press Information Bureau.

A boy drowns

The swollen Wangchhu

23 July, 2007 - Ever so often Thimphu’s Wangchhu claims a child. This time it was a nine-year-old student Kencho Tshering.

ACC commissioner joins PDP

Dorji Choden

23 July, 2007 - The Anti-Corruption Commissioner, Dorji Choden, became the second ACC official to resign and join politics. After in the civil service for 22 years, Dorji Choden resigned last week to join the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Sarpang candidate no. 3

D B Rana

23 July, 2007 - Sarpang became the first dzongkhag to produce three candidates for the National Council.
The latest aspirant is Retired Major D B Rana from Gangatey village in Hilley. He said that the people in his village urged him to stand for the elections.

Yusipang livestock complex to help farmers

Ambassador Sudhir Vyas (left) with the agriculture minister

23 July, 2007 - The Indian Ambassador to Bhutan, Mr. Sudhir Vyas, and Bhutan’s agriculture minister, Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup, on July 19, inaugurated the National livestock Breeding Complex in Yusipang, which will house the office of the National Livestock Breeding Programme, the National Pig Breeding Centre, and the horse and dairy unit.

A fungus that grows out of the head of dead caterpillars has evolved into a lucrative pursuit for farmers and others seeking riches in the Himalayas. This year the elusive medicinal mushroom, known as nature’s Viagra, is fetching record prices, and in some cases has led to armed clashes. VOA’s Steve Herman recently went to the Bhutanese capital of Thimpu to found out why.

To scientists the fungus that invades caterpillars’ bodies and kills its host is known as cordyceps sinensis.

The people of Bhutan refer to it as yarchagumba where it has long been a folk medicine. For buyers in China it is a remedy for everything from anemia to impotence. And it is rapidly becoming a popular herbal treatment in the United States and Europe.

Sellers showing up at Bhutan’s annual cordyceps auctions this month are finding very receptive buyers. The fungus is fetching a record price of nearly $9,000 a kilogram, an increase of 250 percent from last year. In the early 1990’s, it could be had for as little as $5 a kilo.

One of the buyers at the auctions, Bio Bhutan managing director Karma Yangzom, explains what traders believe is causing the most recent price surge.

“This year in the world market the supply has gone down, because the harvest was not good in China and Tibet,” she noted. “They were able to harvest a lot of cordyceps in Nepal but that was seized by the Maoist rebels which left only the Bhutanese cordyceps available in the world market.”

Even in the best of times collecting cordyceps is more art than science. Some farmers and herders abandon their crops and animals in Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet to crawl flat on the harsh terrain more than 4,000 meters above sea level, hoping to spot the fungus protruding from the soil.

Nepal banned collecting cordyceps until 2001. In Bhutan, a similar prohibition was in place until 2004 to protect the rare fungus. Now limited trade is permitted so farmers can supplement meager incomes.

With prices so high for the fungus, harvesters are willing to use violence to protect supplies. A human rights organization in Hong Kong reported that earlier this month, gunfights broke out among groups of ethnic Tibetans fighting over the right to harvest cordyceps in southwestern China.

Bhutanese exporter Karma Yangzom and other buyers, hoping to satisfy a swelling demand overseas, are not satisfied with what has been brought to this season’s auctions.

“Usually the price is very much based on the quality,” she added. “But this year in the auctions everything has become so crazy. In some cases, even the poor quality cordyceps is fetching very high prices because the competition is more, because the demand is high in the five auctions that we’ve attended not much has come into the auctions in terms of quantity. It has been very low, so everybody is competing for it.”

Officials here say some 700 kilograms is exported annually - about one-third of Bhutan’s estimated potential yield. But many of those hardy enough to brave the climate to search for it come up empty-handed. The lucky ones make it to the auctions, some clutching as little as a few precious grams. But even that now brings enough to provide several months of food and other necessities for a typical rural Himalayan family.

Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-07-21-voa10.cfm

Goal.com

Juventus Paro Rejects Empoli, Wants Genoa Goal.com, Netherlands - Jun 27, 2007 Paro Rejects Empoli, Wants Genoa The young Juventus midfielder is very close to join the Rossoblu according to the latest transfer speculation coming from …

The Way Ahead
contd.

23 July, 2007 - Druk Yellow Party,
which stood for the preservation of tradition and values, came out as the overwhelming winner. We all knew Yellow would win, because it had our unconditional support. Every true Bhutanese is for heritage. It is more than just important. We live with it. We live by it. We live for it.

Nu. 3.5 billion Punatsangchhu-I
23 July, 2007 - The government of India’s (GOI) UnionCabinet approved on July 20, the signing of the inter-governmental agreement between India and Bhutan on the Hydropower Project in Bhutan, according to a news release from the GOI’s Press Information Bureau.

A boy drowns

The swollen Wangchhu

23 July, 2007 - Ever so often Thimphu’s Wangchhu claims a child. This time it was a nine-year-old student Kencho Tshering.

ACC commissioner joins PDP

Dorji Choden

23 July, 2007 - The Anti-Corruption Commissioner, Dorji Choden, became the second ACC official to resign and join politics. After in the civil service for 22 years, Dorji Choden resigned last week to join the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Sarpang candidate no. 3

D B Rana

23 July, 2007 - Sarpang became the first dzongkhag to produce three candidates for the National Council.
The latest aspirant is Retired Major D B Rana from Gangatey village in Hilley. He said that the people in his village urged him to stand for the elections.

Yusipang livestock complex to help farmers

Ambassador Sudhir Vyas (left) with the agriculture minister

23 July, 2007 - The Indian Ambassador to Bhutan, Mr. Sudhir Vyas, and Bhutan’s agriculture minister, Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup, on July 19, inaugurated the National livestock Breeding Complex in Yusipang, which will house the office of the National Livestock Breeding Programme, the National Pig Breeding Centre, and the horse and dairy unit.

Until The Bitter End
23 July, 2007 - Tring! Tring! The alarm
went off, breaking the
Sunday morning silence. 6 A.M. Kinley groans, stretches and indulges herself for another hour in bed.

Two parties on the road to election

PDP’s secretary general, Lam Kezang receives a khadar from the party’s would be president Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup

21 July, 2007 - Bhutanese politics is evolving, spiced with speculation, assumptions, and allegations,
creating both excitement and concerns along the way.

With the Bhutan United People’s Party (BPUP) and the All People’s Party (APP) agreeing to work together under a new name two political parties are being formed, the People Democratic Party (PDP) having already been formed.

The ECB announced that registration began on July 1, and its rules say that the political parties should register within one month of their formation, but no party has registered yet.

But the recent weeks have seen many developments in the political scene.

National Council: No choice of candidates
21 July, 2007 - From candidates who want to
“pay tribute to the dynasty” to
others who want to “form the strongest democratic institution” Bhutan’s National Council will be formed in December.

“We are in dilemma”:Judiciary
21 July, 2007 - The enactment of the revised
Land Act of Bhutan 2007,
by the National Assembly last month, has led to people rushing to court to clear land related cases.

District courts in Thimphu, Paro, Punakha, and Gelephu are registering an average of five land related cases every day, according to judiciary officials.