Complete smoking ban introduced in Bhutan

STARTING in mid-December, it will be illegal to buy or sell tobacco or to smoke it anywhere in public in the tiny Himalayan monarchy of Bhutan.

Individuals will be allowed to bring tobacco into the country for personal consumption, but only after paying 100% on the cost price.

In July, the country's parliament passed a resolution to ban tobacco sales across the country, and the royal government has framed a set of rules to bring the ban into effect from December 17.

If the new law sounds draconian, it apparently won't affect many people.

Kinley Dorji, editor of Bhutan's Kuensel newspaper, said only about 1% of the country's 700,000 people are thought to smoke.