Last ruler of remote Buddhist kingdom dies

The last king of the isolated Himalayan region of Upper Mustang died yesterday in Kathmandu, eight years after he lost his royal title when the centuries-old Buddhist monarchy was abolished. Jigme Dorje Palbar Bista, who was 86, reigned over the arid kingdom high on the Tibetan plateau for more than half a century before stepping down in 2008 when Nepal abolished its own monarchy.