NewsTracker Answers for week of Nov. 19, 2018

Q: The last surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime that ruled Cambodia in the 1970s, when their reign of terror was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people, were convicted last week by an international tribunal of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes Where is the small southeast Asian nation of Cambodia?

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Q: After the Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975, they killed anyone who challenged them and forced millions of Cambodians to work in the fields where as much as one-quarter to one-third of the population died of starvation, overwork and medical neglect. The Khmer Rouge were forced out in a 1978 invasion by their eastern neighbor . . .

A. Burma

B. Laos

C. Thailand

D. Vietnam


D. Cambodia is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest. The Khmer Rouge were allied with Vietnamese communists during their war with the United States. During the war, U.S forces heavily bombed Cambodia along its border with Vietnam in an attempt to cut communist supply lines.


Q: The Khmer Rouge killed intellectuals and professionals, rejected Western medicine and ideas, emptied Cambodia’s cities and tried to rebuild the country's agriculture on the model of the 11th century. They modeled their movement on the “Great Leap Forward” in what nation?

A. Burma

B. China

C. Soviet Union

D. United States


B. In China, communist revolutionary Mao Zedong led an economic and social campaign from 1958 to 1962 aimed to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a socialist society through rapid industrialization and collectivization. However, it is commonly considered to have caused the Great Chinese Famine. The Great Leap Forward was blamed for 18 million to 55 million deaths.


Q: Along with other crimes, the two former Khmer Rouge leaders were convicted of genocide against Vietnamese residents and the Cham an ethnic and religious minority. What is the majority religion in Cambodia?

A. Buddhism

B. Christianity

C. Hinduism

D. Islam


A. Nearly 97 percent of Cambodians are Buddhists. The Cham Muslims suffered serious purges under the Khmer Rouge with as much as half of their population exterminated. They now account for about 1.2 percent of the population.


Q: The two convicted Khmer Rouge leaders, aged 87 and 92, were sentenced to life in prison. Unlike most of its Asian-Pacific neighbors, Cambodia does not have a death penalty. How many nations have completely banned the death penalty?

A. 23

B. 50

C. 106

D. 142


C. At the end of 2017, 106 countries had abolished the death penalty in law for all crimes and 142 countries had abolished the death penalty in law or practice, according to Amnesty International. Of the approximately 50 nations with the death penalty, 23 executed 993 people last year. China executes the most people, and the U.S. is the only developed western nation still carrying out executions