Bhutan first private insurance company opens shop

October 8th, 2009 PARO - Bhutan has joined hands with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to bring together high level representatives from twelve countries in Asia to brainstorm on how countries can go beyond the notion of democracy as a process of holding regular elections by deepening and sustaining democratic norms and values in society. Today South Asia stands at a historic cross-road.

September 21st, 2009 GUWAHATI/KOLKATA/THIMPU - An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale rocked parts of Assam, other north-eastern states of India, West Bengal and neighbouring Bhutan Monday afternoon causing damage to various properties in both the countries. The tremors were felt at 2.26 p.m.

September 21st, 2009 LHASA - An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale jolted Bhutan Monday afternoon and the tremors were felt in Lhasa, authorities said. The tremors struck at 4:53 p.m.

September 21st, 2009 THIMPU - An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale Monday killed three people in Munggar in Bhutan, reports said. Kuensel, a government-run newspaper in Bhutan, said the three people were killed in Munggar, about 500 km from Thimpu.

September 16th, 2009 LONDON - A Brit thief reportedly used a pair of knickers to cover his head, in a bid to disguise himself during a drunken shop raid. Chelmsford Crown Court was told that Michael Callaghan, 43, had forced a shop assistant into a cupboard before taking 200 pounds from the till, reports the Daily Star.

August 23rd, 2009 THIMPHU -iLeading audit, tax and advisory services firm KPMG has reportedly identified eleven keys areas in which India and Bhutan can cooperate. Titled a 'Study of Investment Climate in Bhutan,' the KPMG report identifies environment management, tourism, agro processing, non-timber forestry, horticulture, ICT, education, medicinal plantations, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and automobiles as investment opportunity areas.

August 22nd, 2009 THIMPU - Visiting Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram called on Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck here on Saturday.

August 10th, 2009 MELBOURNE - A coffee shop in the US is said to be causing quite a stir, after it employed waitresses wearing only bikinis in a bid to entice customers. The Bikini Espresso cafe, a drive-through shop in Torrance, Los Angeles, has seen many men flocking to it ever since it opened last week.

July 22nd, 2009 THIMPU - Dressed in India's Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) fatigues and armed with AK-47 rifles, about 40 militants looted a house in Bhutan's Sarpang district, the second such incident in the area in three weeks. The attacks, which have spread fear among the people, are being attributed to the separatist Bodo militant group from the Indian state of Assam.

June 29th, 2009 KOLKATA - Visiting Bhutan Prime Minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y. Thinley said here Monday that the democratic process in his country was doing "fairly well" but was not yet firmly established.

June 25th, 2009 LONDON - Former high street store Woolworths has made a comeback as an online retail company called Woolworths.co.uk. The brand was taken over by Shop Direct, the online and catalogue retailer owned by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, after the retailer collapsed leading to the shut down of 800 stores and a loss of 31,000 jobs.

June 18th, 2009 PARO - Foreign Minister S M Krishna arrived in Paro in Bhutan on Thursday, for a two-day visit to the Himalayan kingdom. This is the first foreign visit by Krishna after he assumed charge of the Foreign Ministry.

June 18th, 2009 THIMPU - External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Thursday visited Bhutan, his first trip abroad after assuming office, and stressed upon the "special relations" between the world's largest and youngest democracies.

June 9th, 2009 BANGALORE - Gurgaon-based business process outsourcer (BPO) Genpact will train Bhutanese graduates to help develop the IT and IT-enabled services industry in the Himalayan nation, a company official said Tuesday. "We will begin with a batch of 50 graduates, who will be hired and trained at our operation centres," Genpact chief executive Pramod Bhasin told reporters here.

December 31st, 2008 THIMPHU - Bhutan has sounded a massive security alert after the killing of four forest rangers in a powerful landmine explosion by Nepal-based Maoist guerrillas, officials here said Thursday. A Royal Bhutan Police spokesman said the explosion took place near Singye village in the southern Bhutan district of Sarpang late Tuesday.