Prince Norodom Ranariddh, former Cambodian PM, dies aged 77

Leader of royalist Funcinpec party was overthrown as prime minister by Hun Sen, who has ruled country as a despot ever since

Cambodia's former prime minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the king's half-brother who spent his later years in the political shadow of his one-time rival prime minister Hun Sen, has died in France. He was 77.

The information minister, Khieu Kanharith, said he had received the information from the royal palace. The prince, whose royalist political party won elections in 1993, was ousted in a 1997 coup by coalition partner Hun Sen, who remains Cambodia's authoritarian leader today.