Bhutan has for the first time got a private-run weekly newspaper -- clear signs of the Himalayan kingdom transforming itself from monarchy to democracy.
The first edition of the Bhutan Times hit the stands on Sunday and recorded a total sell-out hours after it was published.
"With freedom of the press comes great responsibility," Bhutan's Prime Minister Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup was quoted as saying by the government-run newspaper Kuensel during the launch ceremony of the Bhutan Times in the capital Thimphu on Sunday.
The 32-page launch edition carried as its main story Crown Prince Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck's views on national issues and on the future of the kingdom as a multi-party democracy.
The crown prince said the king would continue to play role of a watchdog in Bhutan, known as the Land of the Thunder Dragon, despite the transition from absolute monarchy to democracy.
Until Bhutan Times hit the stands, the government-controlled Kuensel was the only newspaper in the Himalayan kingdom of about 635,000 people.
King Jigme Singye Wangchuck in December last year made a landmark decision to abdicate the throne in favour of his eldest son, Crown Prince Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, 25, before Bhutan adopts a constitution and elects a prime minister in 2008.
The transition began four years ago when the king handed over the powers of daily government to a council of ministers and empowered the national assembly to force a royal abdication if the motion was backed by three-quarters of its membership.
Bhutan last year unveiled a 34-point constitution, which is being sent to some 530,000 citizens for their views and is expected to be ratified after a referendum.
Once adopted, the constitution will replace a royal decree of 1953 giving the monarch absolute power.
King Wangchuck is the fourth ruler in the Wangchuck dynasty that came to power in December 1907.
