61.   In recent weeks, authorities in northern Thailand have launched a crackdown on the cross-border drug trade.

62.   In recent months, the government launched a crackdown on illegal metal reception points.

63.   In recent weeks, Thailand has launched a crackdown on the drug trade and made several seizures of a million or more methamphetamine pills near the border.

64.   In response to severe international criticism, the government launched a crackdown on the drug business.

65.   In neighboring Russia, the government has launched a crackdown on illegal alcohol, which remains widely available in many of the former Soviet republics.

66.   Israel launched a crackdown in which the suspected mastermind of the bombings, Abdel Nasr Issa, was arrested.

67.   Interior Minister Elias Murr said Sunday police had launched a crackdown on opium and would destroy drugs and bring growers and dealers to justice.

68.   It gradually assumed control of areas of the Kosovo countryside, prompting Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to launch a crackdown in February that brought heavy fighting to the province.

69.   Karimov blamed Islamic radicals for the killings, and launched a crackdown against the alleged militants.

70.   Japan launched a crackdown on stalking Friday as the national police set up a task force to fight the crime and a tough new anti-stalking law went into effect.