Quotes

Prince Ranariddh returns

Doing politics is the same as being addicted to opium.

- Prince Norodom Ranariddh, explaining the motivation

behind his announcement to return to political life.

You can do whatever you want, but there is one thing: If you do politics it will be linked to the monarchy, you have to be clear on this point.”

- Hun Sen in a warning to his political rival.

Ranariddh

INSIDE THE NUMBER

7

Years since the 1993 elections, when Norodom Ranhariddh and his party won the most votes.

4

The number of seats that the Funcinpec party won in 2008, when Norodom Ranariddh was sentenced to jail and fled the country.

4

The number of years that Norodom Ranhariddh served as Prime Minister alongside Hun Sen, before he was ousted by Hun Sen, who remains in the top spot.

2013

The year of the next national elections. Ranhariddh said he hopes to bring together opposition forces.

0Seconds it will take for Hun Sen to remove them from their government post.

TALKING POINTS

Speak your mind online @

facebook.com/liftcambodia

Questions

1. What should Cambodia do with the Vietnamese refugees?

2. What is the best hope for Prince Norodom Ranhariddh in the 2013 elections?

3. What crimes should juveniles in the Kingdom still go to jail for?

1. The government will close a UN-administered refugee camp for Vietnamese Montagnard people.

2. Norodom Ranariddh is beginning to build his alliances, officially without the help of Hun Sen.

3. Cambodia’s government and civil society groups are in the final stages of a draft law on juvenile inmates.

News Briefs

WHALE OF A MEAL

WHEN giant blue whales lunge deep in the ocean and open their chompers wide they can swallow enough fish to feed more than 200 people – and possibly get a food coma, scientists have discovered.

Blue whales, believed to be the largest mammals on Earth, feed mainly on tiny fish called krill. Each time they dive for food, the effort lasts between three and 15 minutes.

STITCHING TOGETHER SAVINGS

A TAIWAN forensic scientist nicknamed the “jigsaw expert” has helped one fortunate man recover cash he accidentally shredded, piecing together the remains of 200 bills in just seven days.

The man, surnamed Lin, dropped a bag containing T$200,000 (US$6,600) in T$1,000 bills into his plastics factory’s shredding machine last month.