Bombs in Bhutan stir refugee crisis (Asia Times)
CHENNAI - The orchestrated bomb blasts that detonated on Monday in the capital of Thimphu and three other locations across Bhutan are a powerful reminder of the simmering refugee problem that has long plagued the ruling government and tarnished the reputation of the tiny Himalayan kingdom often referred to as Shangri-La.

Explosions rock Bhutan ahead of first polls (AFP via Yahoo! News)
A string of blasts rocked the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan at the weekend, wounding one person and damaging shops and businesses, a spokesman for the Royal Bhutanese Police said Monday.

Explosions rock Bhutan (Gulf Times)
THIMPHU: A string of explosions rocked Bhutan injuring one woman and damaging shops and businesses, officials said yesterday.

India, Nepal, Bhutan should jointly solve Bhutanese refugee problem (New Kerala)
Siliguri, Jan 19: Forward Bloc General Secretary Debabrata Biswas today said India, Nepal and Bhutan should jointly solve the problem of the Bhutanese refugees, sheltered at Damakh in Nepal.

Explosions rock Bhutan ahead of first polls (Adelaide Now)
A STRING of blasts rocked the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, wounding one person and damaging shops and businesses, a spokesman for the Royal Bhutanese Police said.

Bhutan blames Nepal-based ‘militant groups’ for Sunday’s blasts (Nepalnews. com)
Bhutanese authorities have blamed “Nepal-based organisations” for a series of bomb blasts that rocked the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan Sunday, injuring one person.

Ethnic Nepalese blamed as bombs shake Bhutan (Independent)
A series of bomb blasts has shaken the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan just days after a date was set for elections that will end more than a century of absolute rule by its royal family.

Series of bomb blasts rock Bhutan, one hurt (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Four bomb blasts rocked the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan on Sunday, including one in the capital Thimphu, and a woman was injured, a spokesman for the Royal Bhutan Police said.

Violence haunts Bhutan’s refugees (BBC News)
The first Nepal-based Bhutanese refugees are to leave for the US - but those they leave behind are experiencing great intimidation.

Serial blasts rock Bhutan (IANS via Yahoo! India News)
Thimphu, Jan 21 (IANS) A string of explosions rocked Bhutan injuring one woman and damaging shops and businesses, officials Monday said.

Ten questions

24 January, 2008 - Pem Tshering, 21, from Dargaythang, Sarpang, has been working for the past three years with D D Electronics, a repair shop in Thimphu. He picked up the skill from his uncle and works from 9:00 am till 8:00 pm.

1. What kinds of electronic goods do you repair?
We repair any kind of electronic item except for radios.

Tableware trends - from functional to graceful

24 January, 2008 - Well, we all love to eat from our glossy traditional wooden bowls, don’t we? The food somehow tastes better and makes one feel at home. But, recently, city folks have picked up the trend of using imported cutlery and crockery. First, it was the entry of rice and curry cookers and water boilers, which slowly replaced our pots and pressure cookers.

New Age Garbage

24 January, 2008 - So, we’re all becoming gizmo geeks and techno savvy. We love using and, of course, owning the newest, fastest, sleekest and most-highly-functioning-est electronic gadgets. It’s a long list. Cell phones, MP3 players, flat screen computers and television sets, compact laptops and music systems, microwave ovens, thumb
drives, CDs, DVDs, digital cameras, dry cells,
bigger and taller dual door refrigerators and
automatic washing machines.

A sewerage system for Gelephu town

Gelephu town: dug up and dusty

24 January, 2008 - Gelephu town is all dug up, dusty and smells like a sewer with work in progress to give it a modern sewerage system. It will be the third urban centre in the country after Thimphu and Phuentsholing to have one.

Machey weave for the Bhutanese eve

A shop in Dadgari displays Machey handiwork

24 January, 2008 - It is a norm for residents of Gelephu town to regularly stream across the border to Dadgari, the adjoining settlement in the Indian state of Assam, and shop for vegetables and meat.

Appeal cases double in 2007
24 January, 2008 - The number of appeal cases to the High Court almost doubled from 173 cases in previous year to 304 in 2007, according to records maintained by the judiciary.

The party member
23 January, 2008 Around the world the nature of membership to political parties seems to be divided into many categories, two of them broadly contrasting. In communist countries a party member seems to “submit” himself or herself to the party in his or her political as well as personal life. The member pays dues and obeys party instructions. In the west, membership seems to mean that the voter shares the ideology or political philosophy of a party and votes for the party but does not sign up or pay fees.

Fire in Gasa dzong

The Gasa Trashi Thongmoen dzong (File picture)

23 January, 2008 - Gasa Dzong was on fire yesterday.

The fire started in the dzong at about 8.30pm and the people in the area were soon fighting the blaze that threatened to consume the dzong. The absence of effective fire fighting facilities was a problem, according to Gasa residents who had to bring water from about 100 metres from the dzong.

It’s now official
23 January, 2008 - Bhutan’s historic general election began quietly. Nothing happened on January 22, the auspicious 15th day of the 12th month of the fire hog year, that signaled the official commencement of the process.

A voyage of discovery and liberation

The wreck of the plane that crashed in 1950

23 January, 2008 - When Linda and Tara Bearcroft came to Bhutan last week, it was truly a journey into the past, their own past - and it took them 58 years.

The sisters from Britain were in Bhutan to pay homage to a father, who left the world when Tara Bearcroft, the youngest daughter, had not seen the world and Linda was just a two-year-old toddler.

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