Bhutan News archive for 31 December 2008

International Sources

Most viewed on msnbc.com – MSNBC
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – A passenger jet bound for Toronto made an unscheduled landing in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday after an agitated passenger tried to tamper with an emergency door, an airline official said. The Boeing B757 …    [read more]

Blast rocks Bhutan, 4 foresters killed – That’s Cricket
Thimphu: Four Bhutanese foresters were killed and two injured when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blew up their tractor in Sarpang district and were later fired upon by suspected Maoists, a police spokesman said. The six forest personnel were …    [read more]

Bhutanese monk to spend weekend at Tibetan museum – Staten Island Advance
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Venerable Lama Karma Namgyel, a Bhutanese Buddhist monk, will be at the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art Jan. 3-4 for a weekend of special blessings, teachings, a fire ceremony and dance. Lama Karma is the founder …    [read more]

Recession hits Bhutan’s tourism industry – Times of India
THIMPHU: Global meltdown has hit Bhutan’s all-important tourism sector and tour operators have sought special measures from the government to deal with the crisis. The Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators (ABTO) has said that over 1,500 tourists …    [read more]

Immunising Bhutan – with Japan’s help – Kuensel Online
25 December, 2008 – The government of Japan will continue to support the expanded programme on immunisation (EPI) in Bhutan for the next three years. The health secretary, Dasho Dr Gado Tshering, the resident representative of JICA, Tetsuo Yabe, and …    [read more]

IT giants look at Bhutan for investment – Business Standard
Around 30 leading IT firms from India held strategy meetings here recently to explore investment possibilities in Bhutan. The IT leaders said that Bhutan can play host to an array of possibilities like data centre operation, disaster recovery centre …    [read more]

INDIA’S PNB RECEIVES IN-PRINCIPLE APPROVAL FOR JV IN BHUTAN – TradingMarkets.com
The Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan has accorded in-principle approval for setting up Druk PNB Bank Ltd, a joint venture bank between PNB and Bhutanese Promoters, PNB said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Earlier this year, the country’s …    [read more]

Round 18 and counting … – Kuensel Online
31 December, 2008 – The foreign minister, Lyonpo Ugyen Tshering, reminded the National Assembly that 18 rounds of meetings had been held on the Bhutan-China boundary since April 1984, and that the new government would hold the next round of talks on …    [read more]

Pakistan announces 5 percent duty cut on SAARC imports – Daily Times
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday announced a five percent reduction in customs tariff on the import of 4,803 items from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives under the Trade Liberalisation Programme (TLP) of the South Asian Free Trade …    [read more]

Year to remember in Hawaii’s entertainment world – Honolulu Star-Bulletin
As we bid farewell to 2008, here’s a quick look back at some of the places, faces and events that made it a year to remember: 1. Concerts: The Police two-nighter in Blaisdell Arena in February was 2008′s biggest show, but Earth Wind & Fire was …    [read more]

Kuensel – Bhutan’s National Newspaper

New ambassador to India

31 December, 2008 – “It is a great honour to represent Bhutan as ambassador to India, our closest friend and neighbour and our most important development partner,” Major General Vetsop Namgyel told Kuensel. He left for New Delhi today to take up his new assignment as Bhutan’s ambassador to India.

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Walk – but watch out!
Pedestrian accidents are rising in proportion to increased traffic

29 December, 2008 – The roads are narrow and the space limited. Still, the number of cars in Thimphu continues to rise. Compounded by an increase in incidence of unlicensed driving, this is increasingly becoming an issue when it comes to road safety for pedestrians.
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Bhutan Observer

The roar of a pregnant tigress
What are symbols? Just as we cannot have thoughts without language, we cannot illustrate meaning without symbols. A symbol is a signpost erected on the grounds of collective aspirations. It is a seed of conviction that will harvest the many fruits of hope. Symbols are important in our lives.
2008 will be etched in history as [...]    [read more]

Trading leaves for a living
For over a century, the farmers from Denchukha Gewog in Samtse have braved the vagaries of nature and
traded betel leaves with Haa. Rabi C. Dahal reports.
For the people of Denchukha Gewog in Samtse, how well the betel leaves grow in the subtropical forest around them matters a lot. Betel leaves is their lifeline. For nearly [...]    [read more]

First private free school for Thimphu
Starting 2009, Singye Group of Companies will start Thimphu’s first free community school in Bjemina.
The school will be a charity school. Books, stationeries and uniforms will be provided by the school.
“To begin with, we will start pre-primary classes and class one, which will slowly be upgraded in the future,” said Tshering Chhoden, Programme Officer in [...]    [read more]

I’m out the choppy waters of democracy, lads
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Give them their share They will remain there
Are we discussing rural-urban migration this time around? This social phenomenon forms the backdrop to many social issues on the parliamentary agenda.
We are discussing youth unemployment, which is largely an urban issue. Answers to this challenge are few given a stunted private sector and a zero-growth-policy-adopting civil service. The government’s much parroted answer to educated, [...]    [read more]

Opposition Leader slams PM’s government performance report
It was another elbow to the ribs in the course of what many perceive to be an already strained relationship when the Opposition Leader expressed disappointment with the Prime Minister on the opening day of Parliament on December 24.
Opposition Leader Tshering Tobgye criticised Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley’s report on the performance of the government, saying [...]    [read more]

Development issues high on agenda
Not too much fumbling with patangs and coloured kabneys, or shuffling about in stiff tshoglhams, or huddling into comfort-seeking groups this time around.
A been-there-done-that sense of familiarity prevailed when visibly more confident Members of Parliament attended the opening ceremony of the second session of the first Parliament on Wednesday, December 24, in Thimphu.
In an address [...]    [read more]

Bhutan gets 300- hour chham archive
The Honolunu Academy of Arts (HAA) has gifted a video archive of over 300 hours of high-definition footage on chham (Buddhist ritual dances) to the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs yesterday at the National Library, Thimphu.
The gift, presented to the Home Secretary by Mr Gerard Houghton, the official representative from the academy, comprised two [...]    [read more]

Drug abuse on the rise still
The narcotic control agency this year seized 13,526.5 items of pharmaceutical drugs illicitly trafficked from across the border along with 6,845 grams of marijuana. Kinley Dorji, the Executive Director said that most of the trafficking was carried out on the Thimphu-Phuentsholing highway.
The Bhutan Narcotic Control Agency (BNCA) seized 244 bottles of Corex (cough syrup), 4,745 [...]    [read more]

Five years for manslaughter
A woman in her early twenties was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison this month by the Dzongkhag Court of Pemagatshel.
Pema Lhamu from Murshing Gonpa, mother of a minor girl, was convicted for the death of her maternal uncle on the night of September 13. Her 44-year-old mother, who was [...]    [read more]