Word: draconian
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Once upon a time, the Communist government strictly enforced draconian laws against homosexuality, imprisoning and even executing those convicted. As China's economy opened to the world, so did the authorities' stance soften, with gay communities springing up in the larger coastal cities that benefited most from the boom such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. It's a process that had been accelerating along with the economy so that recent years have seen the sort of advances that allow young gay men like Xiao Wang the confidence to be blissfully ignorant of past problems the community has faced...
...roads and many, including the wife of TIME correspondent Jamil Hamad, were forbidden by soldiers to glance out the window of their own homes. At Manger Square, in front of Jesus' birthplace, American security experts were spotted prying up manholes to check sewage pipes for bombs. These draconian security precautions prompted one Palestinian official, who opposes his own President's close ties with Bush, to comment: "What's all this fear? Is it because the Americans and Palestinians running this show know they're doing something wrong...
...Russia might be metamorphosing from Stalinist communism into something milder, but the leadership is still draconian. People with dissenting views have disappeared and died on Putin's watch. You say your selection is not an endorsement, but it has that effect. Gary Clark, Lake Stevens, Wash...
...smokers, willpower now carries a badge: you can no longer light up in a car with a minor in it in California, or in most public places in Illinois. The most draconian measures have come in France, where it seemed cafés once had two smoking sections: one for smokers, one for heavy smokers. With a ban now in place, Paris authorities are handing out 10,000 "pocket ashtrays" to keep the streets from looking like gerbil cages...
Russia might be metamorphosing from Stalinist communism into something milder, but the leadership is still draconian. People with dissenting views have disappeared and died on Putin's watch. You say your selection is not an endorsement, but it has that effect...