International Sources
Down and out in Thimphu town – Kuensel Online
24 March, 2009 – He sits on the footpath gazing at the traffic. He smells of urine and his clothes haven’t seen soap and water in a long while. His shoes are covered in grime and dust. His nails are gnarly. Pema Wangchuk, 70, from Trashiyangtse … [read more]
Tibet’s Drukpa Buddhist sect to woo Indians – Hindustan Times
Drukpa, an 800-year-old Buddhist sect from Tibet, is coming out of its theological cloister to showcase its legacy — and it also wants to woo Buddhists in India. The sect is set to host its first annual Drukpa Council April 6-15 in Kathmandu to … [read more]
Bhutanese Show touches Japanese Hearts – Kuensel Online
26 March, 2009 – Japan and Bhutan share a bond more than friendship. This was felt when a cultural troupe from Paro, Phuntsog Drayang visited the Itami City in Japan on March 12. In its one week of stay, the troupe performed to a packed house at the … [read more]
Asian Art Museum puts Bhutan on display – Contra Costa Times
Dance plays an important role in spiritual life of Bhutan. A Cham ritual dancer is pictured. IT STARTS WITH a subtle vibration coming from deep within the lower galleries of San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, followed by chanting and the clashing of … [read more]
Cyber spies hack into government embassies globally – Gulf News
Toronto: A cyber spy network based mainly in China hacked into classified documents from government and private organisations in 103 countries, including the computers of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan exiles, Canadian researchers said. The work of the … [read more]
Network in cyber-espionage – Straits Times
OTTAWA – A SHADOWY cyber-espionage network based mostly in China has infiltrated secret government and private computers around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, Canadian researchers said on Sunday. The network, known as GhostNet … [read more]
Iran:Iranian football coach sacked – Global Voices Online.org
Regions and Countries » Americas » Central Asia & Caucasus » East Asia » Eastern & Central Europe » Middle East & North Africa » Oceania » South Asia » Sub-Saharan Africa » Western Europe Countries » Afghanistan » Albania » Algeria … [read more]
China-Based Cyberspy Network Targets U.S., World – NewsMax.com
OTTAWA — A shadowy cyber-espionage network based mostly in China has infiltrated government and private computers around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, Canadian researchers said Sunday. The network, known as GhostNet, infected 1,295 … [read more]
Cyber spies break into gov’t computers – China Post
TORONTO — A cyber spy network based mainly in China hacked into classified documents from government and private organizations in 103 countries, including the computers of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan exiles, Canadian researchers said Saturday. The … [read more]
China linked to vast cyber spy network – Brisbane Times
A cyber spying operation based primarily in China has infiltrated government and private computers in 103 countries around the world, including those belonging to two embassies in Australia. The report, prepared by Canadian researchers and published … [read more]
Kuensel – Bhutan’s National Newspaper
28 March, 2009 – This week, a year ago, we went to polls, elected a political party to power and got labelled the world’s youngest democracy.
When people ask, “How’s the first year been like?” what comes to mind are the momentous events of 2008. It is impossible to see our transition to a democratic system as separate from the historical events of the past year. [read more]
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28 March, 2009 – Their fingers dictate the rhythm on the dance floor. Heads bent over music station and perched above the dance floor, they scratch and spin song after song.
These are the disco jockeys (DJs), who are an integral part of the city’s throbbing nightlife. [read more]
Confusion over Land Act 2007 leads to overexploitation of forest resources
28 March, 2009 – Bhutan’s forests and agriculture is coming under increasing pressure with rural people felling trees in large numbers in the tsamdros (pastureland) and sokshing (forest land reserved for litter). [read more]
28 March, 2009 – There is an eerie silence enveloping Dorokha hamlet these days. All is still except for a few folks working on empty fields, getting ready for the approaching paddy plantation season. But the calmness belies a disturbed atmosphere stoked by the recent murder of a woman by a group of Christian converts in Dumtoe, about five hour’s walk from here. The victim had been labelled ‘evil’ by her ‘pastors’, and beaten and hanged to death from a tree. [read more]
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28 March, 2009 – The government this week agreed on various interventions to be doled out to the Pasakha steel industries, including the reduction of the penalty for late payment of power bills from 5 percent to 1.5 percent for a year and the deferment of repayment of loans to the banks by six months. [read more]
With the lowest bidder’s disqualification, a new contractor has to be identified
28 March, 2009 – The lowest bidder for the civil work in the Dagachhu hydro project, Maytas Infra, was disqualified from carrying out the construction.
The company had bid about Nu 4 billion for the work, which includes the dam, headrace tunnel and power station. [read more]
28 March, 2009 – Japan has committed technical support to strengthen the quality of vocational education and training delivery in Bhutan.
The pilot project, for which a record of discussion was signed on Wednesday, will be implemented in the electrical engineering field. [read more]
28 March, 2009 – Bhutan National Bank limited (BNB) clients can now check their bank balances from home or any place through their mobile phones, with the bank launching the nationwide SMS mobile banking service yesterday.
The service is available to both B-Mobile and Tashi Cell subscribers for access to balance inquiry, information on all accounts and stopping a cheque. [read more]
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| SOUL SURVIVOR – The farm-road below sounded the death knell of an once auspicious settlement |
27 March, 2009 – Except for a monastery, the other houses lay in ruins. The ragged edge of its ancient mud wall looks as if it’s been chipped by too many careless swings of a blunt axe. Roots of wild bushes sprout from its foundations. Empty patches of fallow fields surround it. A few houses still stand but they are empty. The clustered ruins lie on a hilltop. Below is another village. Above it extends high mountains of shrubs and scree. [read more]
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27 March, 2009 – Lam Shenphen Zangpo answers basic questions that every Bhutanese man, woman, and child on the street wants to know.
I have a friend who had a very unhappy childhood. Now he is bitter and angry towards everyone. Are there any Buddhist practices that could help him let go of his anger and move on with his life?
Well, there needs to be some acknowledgement of the situation by your friend. Many people with this kind of attitude either do not recognize or do not accept they have a problem. They are in denial. The first step is to awaken your friend to the problem. Only then can remedial action begin. [read more]
Bhutan Observer
Briefly
The five-day annual Paro Tshechu will be held from March 30 to April 3 during which all government offices and institutions will remain closed. No stalls or fairs will be allowed at Dheyangkha but handicraft stalls will be allowed at Tshongdue acrchery ground, but no gambling will be permitted.
“In the current year alone, the Office [...] [read more]
Shedra expansion going slow
The expansion work of Pema Shedrup Choeki Gatsheling Shedra, the nunnery of Tang in Bumthang, is past its deadline. The 59 metres long and 40 metres wide building was started in 2004 with the plan to complete it in 2008. Now, the deadline has been extended by three years.
Occasional volunteers from the village and about [...] [read more]
Gomtu going thirsty
The 10-year-old water supply system from Suktikhola in Gomtu, Samtse, constructed by Penden Cement Authority (PCAL), is grappling to meet the demand of the residents.
According to PCAL officials, due to population increase, the present water source is unable to meet the demand. The cement factory needs continuous water supply for its operation.
PCAL has identified a [...] [read more]
Bumthang youth go for video games
During the day, Kinzang Tshering’s video game parlour in Chamkhar town in Bumthang is empty and deserted. After 4 pm though, it is pulsating with life. School children aged between 12 and 25 years and a few young monks throng the place until 8.30 pm.
The four PlayStation sets excite the children into a cacophony of [...] [read more]
Children learn to meditate
While most children in Thimphu spend Sundays watching television or visiting video game parlours, some are into a serious mental training. Tandin Pem reports.
A group of young children sit on cushions in a circle in the lotus position. Lama Shenphen Zangpo, their spiritual master, rings a bell, and all of them straighten their backs and [...] [read more]
Lunch at Karma’s home
For most farmers in Lhuentse, His Majesty the King’s visit to their villages and granting land kidu marked the end of share-cropping and years of heartache. But it meant much more than that. Tempa Wangdi reports.
As His Majesty settled for packed lunch, Karma Yangzom from Magar had an opportunity to share His Majesty’s lunch. “Never [...] [read more]
BAFRA steps up for bird flu
Following the continuing and widespread outbreak of bird flu across the border in the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal, Bhutanese authorities have stepped up their effort to curtail its spread into Bhutan by setting up improved disinfecting facilities along the border towns.
The border town of Phuentsholing was the latest to possess one at [...] [read more]
Viewers choose different artistes
Out of 10 categories for the viewers’ choice awards, only three went to the same artistes who won the film awards in the seventh national film festival organised by the Motion Pictures Association of Bhutan (MPAB).
Singye Galem was voted the best film and Tshering Wangyel, the best director. Chencho Dorji won the award for the [...] [read more]
Bars boom in Bhutan
If a person in Bhutan wants to get a drink, the person is lucky. For, though Bhutan is a small country, it has a large number of bars.
There are different kinds of bars. You see them everywhere, from tiny ones snuck in some dark corner of a shady building to the posh bars. People different [...] [read more]
Bhutanese perform in Netherlands
Namkhai Lhamo, Lhamo Dukpa and her husband performed in a two-day concert in Groningen, the capital city of the Northern Province of Netherlands . According to Arnold Pilon, the man who organised the concert, the show was a success and tickets were sold out.
Arnold said that he felt luck coming in from Bhutan in the [...] [read more]
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