Word: clampdown
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...handling some 300 wagers a second. The small cut the firm takes from the bettors' winnings these days adds up to big profits: Betfair pocketed $39 million in net earnings last year. And in refusing wagers from the U.S. - where online gambling is outlawed - Betfair has dodged a recent clampdown on rival Internet operators. Here is their story, as told to TIME's Adam Smith...
...world one of the most important stories of the year. Chinese enterprise has transformed Tibet in recent years, bringing material benefits to Tibetans but also feeding anxieties about the erosion of their cultural freedoms. Those resentments exploded in the streets of Lhasa and other cities this month, prompting a clampdown by Chinese authorities. That has provoked talk of a partial boycott of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing. But by seeking dialogue with the Dalai Lama, as called for by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, China's rulers can show the world their commitment to promoting freedom...
...president is also looking for rewards from north of the border for his clampdown. The U.S. Congress is currently debating a two-year, $1.4 billion anti-drug aid proposal for Mexico, including high-tech phone-tapping equipment and possibly Black Hawk helicopters. Calderon argues the U.S. government has a responsibility to help because it is U.S. drug consumers that effectively fund the cartels. But skeptics fear that U.S. equipment could fall into the wrong hands. The drug cartels have turned many former police and army officers. One entire unit of army special forces deserted in the late 1990s to form...
...Sundaravej, says he will pardon Thaksin and bring back his populist agenda. But bringing Thaksin back is easier said than done. It risks antagonizing military leaders, who fear the former Prime Minister will seek revenge for the coup; Muslims in Thailand's restive south, who suffered under the military clampdown imposed during his rule; southerners in general, who traditionally vote for the Democrats and felt ignored by Thaksin's government; and his longtime foes, the urban, Bangkok-centered middle class. Some who led the anti-Thaksin demonstrations in 2006 have threatened to do so again if he returns. Rosana Tositrakul...
...Since then, most parties in the Dutch parliament have been calling for a clampdown on magic mushrooms. In dried form, the fungi are already prohibited, but fresh mushrooms can still be legally sold in the Netherlands. The country's public health minister, Ab Klink, has so far steered clear of banning psilocybin mushrooms altogether, in part because his ministry considers it legally problematic to ban a product that grows naturally. But in May he commissioned fresh research into the risks of "paddo" use, and has said he would consider the results, due next month, in deciding...