International Sources

PM’s visit to India - Bangladesh News 24 hours
She will operationalise deals with India to get transit facilities to Bhutan and Nepal,” she said. The foreign minister said Dhaka and Delhi would also “operationalise” the agreement on allowing India to use Ashuganj as a transit point under an …    [read more]

Vulnerable Nations For Climate Change - OfficialWire
Leaders of 11 nations vulnerable to climate change called on the developed world Tuesday to pledge 1.5 percent of their gross national product annually for climate action in the developed world. The new 11-nation group — referred to as V11 …    [read more]

South Asian inflation risk from money printing: economist - Lanka Business Online
WASHINGTON, November 11, 2009 (AFP) - Rising inflation is posing a threat to South Asia, with the situation most worrying in the Maldives where a foreign currency black market has emerged, a senior World Bank economist has warned. Noting that the …    [read more]

Rwanda : Country Vows Resilience on Climate Change - AllAfrica.com
The eleven countries that are most vulnerable to climate change are Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, the Maldives, Nepal, Tanzania, Vietnam and Rwanda.    [read more]

Dalai Lama ends public teaching in northeast India - KTVZ.com
TAWANG, India (AP) - The Dalai Lama exhorted thousands of his followers to maintain Buddhist culture as he closed a series of public teachings Wednesday in a northeastern Indian region near his homeland of Tibet in a visit that has drawn protests …    [read more]

Ministry means business - Kuensel Online
12 November, 2009 - The education ministry is serious about sending Thimphu teachers, who have been in the capital for more than 20 years, to other dzongkhags, besides Paro and Phuentsholing. In the latest development, education officials said that …    [read more]

Falling oranges, fall in yield - Kuensel Online
But Bhutanese exporters said that they were aware and prepared. “We know about the syndicates, but they’re not going to succeed this time, because there are many new importers. We also have our own individual partners,” said an exporter.    [read more]

Climate change challenging China’s Yangtze: report - Terra Daily
Rising temperatures will expose China’s Yangtze River basin to extreme weather such as severe floods, drought and storms that could threaten cities such as Shanghai, a new report has said. In the coming decades, global warming will increase glacier …    [read more]

Dalai Lama Rejects Chinese Criticism of Monastery Visit - Voice of America
The Dalai Lama arrives at the Tawang monastery, in Tawang, in the northeastern Arunachal Pradesh state, India, 08 Nov 2009 Despite objections from China, which claims the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh as its own, the Dalai Lama has begun a week …    [read more]

Tibetans Rounded Up - Radio Free Asia
Tibetan service director: Jigme Ngapo. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written for the Web in English by Sarah Jackson-Han.    [read more]

Kuensel - Bhutan’s National Newspaper

Picture story

12 November, 2009 -
Gasa dzongkhag’s health officials together with SNV and the health ministry initiated a five-day health campaign in Laya. The team is sensitizing the Laya people on sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, PAP smear and IUD insertion, and the use of condoms to prevent STIs
   [read more]

Falling oranges, fall in yield

12 November, 2009 - Premature falling of oranges in many orchards in Phuentsholing and lower Tsirang has worried both exporters and orchard owners as they gear up for a yet another orange season, which starts next week.
   [read more]

Himalayan bear killed by tiger
Is it effect of climate change on habitat?

The remains of the bear

11 November, 2009 -
In the first recorded incident of its kind in Bhutan, a Himalayan black bear was killed and eaten by a royal Bengal tiger in the Jigme Dorji national park.    [read more]

Bhutan Observer

Vocational education gets quality boost
With 15 million Danish kroner having been earmarked for vocational education and training between 2008 and 2013, vocational education in the country is expected to improve in quality.
Soon, a competency-based curriculum will be in place to make the vocational training institute (VTI) graduates more employable.
According to the Director of Department of Occupational Standards (DOS), Sangay […]    [read more]

Chortens need a change of guard
“ Dhue ne mejur menam jur” Thus prophesied Guru Rinpoche in his biography – Katangdepa. Rendered in English, it’s the peoples’ behaviour that change, not time.
Our country has seen calamities of kinds and kinds this year. The cause of it all is yet to be fathomed with our simple minds. Moreover, going by our media […]    [read more]

Seismic designs, a far cry?
Most of the houses in Bhutan’s largest dzongkhag, Trashigang, are not retrofitted or built with seismic designs leaving them susceptible to earthquakes, according to Palden Norgay, the dzongkhag engineer. Out of 10,281 houses in the dzongkhag, only a few are built with seismic designs. According to Palden Norgay, most of the houses were built before […]    [read more]

Of unending lines at hospital
I just want to urge people not to compromise your health for the lines in the hospital. It would be very wise to take the pains of being in line but be healthy by being cautious, while we really hope and wait for a time when we have better facilities, better systems, more doctors and […]    [read more]

Knowing Phurpa Thinley better
I f humour could be found in an inexhaustible package, it should be him. He is funny and witty. The moment he opens his mouth, everybody breaks into a laughter.
Born in Talo in Punakha, Phurpa Thinley, 42, is the most popular comedian in the country. He has been in the film industry for almost two […]    [read more]

Quake early recovery costs Nu 87 m
The early recovery activities in the earthquake affected places should start immediately and continue for the next six to 12 months, according to the joint rapid assessment for recovery, reconstruction and risk reduction report prepared by the government, the World Bank and the United Nations. The assessment team ascertained the early recovery priorities on the […]    [read more]

Rising to feet with thagchung in hand
Tandin Wangchuk, a shopkeeper in Gyalpoizhing town, Mongar, is a popular figure in his neighbourhood not only because he weaves, but also because of his affable nature.
Originally from Wamrong, Trashigang, Tandin says weaving had come to him naturally. He had never taken any lesson on weaving. As a year-old toddler, he first rose to his […]    [read more]

Group lending starts
Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), for the first time, will serve as a guarantor for those who avail the group lending scheme of Bhutan Development Finance Corporation Limited (BDFCL).
A loan amount to the maximum ceiling of Nu 100,000 to a group member will be given at 10 percent interest a year for three […]    [read more]

Farmers’ group to export forest products
After diseased mandarin trees stopped fruiting, the farmers of Lhamoizingkha turned to mother nature for cash income. About 139 households in Lhamoizingkha Dungkhag in Dagana Dzongkhag will harvest non-wood forest products (NWFP) and export them to India from this year. The group –Farmers’ Group of Lhamoizingkha – has already explored the market in Siliguri, West […]    [read more]

The other side of the ban
If ‘seeing is believing’, then certainly something is gone awry somewhere with banning of things. Just look at how many ‘bans’ we had and how effective they are.
It started with the plastic ban on April 20, 1999. Selling and using of plastic bags were banned. Shopkeepers were told that they would be fined if they […]    [read more]

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