But a threat this year to ban satellite dishes by imposing extortionate licence fees was not carried out.
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His taxi driver will refuse to start the meter, demanding an extortionate fare instead.
Icelanders claim that charging 5.5% interest over 15 years is extortionate in an era of near-zero base rates.
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Corruption may still be deep, but entrepreneurs no longer have to pay extortionate protection money to the mafia.
They then use threats or violence to force their victims to pay up at extortionate rates of interest.
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In Raba's experience, there continues to be widespread abuses committed by faith-healing "charlatans" offering quick fixes at extortionate prices.
One of the fastest growing businesses on the high street are the payday lenders, sometimes charging extortionate rates of interest.
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Many of these crimes are essentially a form of extortionate bullying, of a kind that previously would have gone un-reported.
In the meantime, millions of Americans would have to wait while a government agency pursued its extortionate demand through the courts.
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If companies charge extortionate prices because they can, perhaps they ought to get their own house in order before suing customers.
Unsurprisingly, convoluted tax rules combined with extortionate rates tend to encourage non-compliance.
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Some New Orleans neighborhoods remind me of pre-1980 Greenwich Village, offering a charming urban environment without either the extortionate price tag or oppressive density.
Many taxpayers already feel that taxes are extortionate and, fearing even higher levies, have withheld their spending, thereby reducing demand for goods and services.
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The pay-day industry stands accused of preying on the poor while making extortionate profits and misleading borrowers about the true cost of their loans.
The naval clash is likely to be top of North Korea's agenda, along with a demand for an apology and an extortionate sum in compensation.
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Beijing is showing other governments that extortionate behavior in fact works.
Sports teams and franchises often insure their star players for extortionate sums, and generally take the stand of insuring an entire player rather than their individual parts.
Isn't stickiness even slightly extortionate stickiness what these Google services aim for?
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In China's underground lending market, the most sensitive indicator of credit conditions, kerbside rates have reached extortionate levels of as much as 6% a month (see our report from Wenzhou).
At the moment, they are furious about having no say over what amounts to a "tax" levied in the form of extortionate fuel prices driven by the supply-manipulating OPEC oil cartel.
Many less fit and able men perished, while thousands more lived in appalling conditions in overcrowded camps back in Valdez, unable to go on to the diggings or afford the extortionate passage back home.
She also said the fees charged were sometimes "extortionate".
London 02 October 2012: Tep Wireless (www.tepwireless.com) has extended its reach to 17 more countries, offering global travellers unlimited, affordable internet access without the risk of running up extortionate cell phone bills.
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There may be something out there it badly needs: oil and gas for its expanding economy, or food for its growing population, at non-extortionate prices (and sometimes, maybe, at a special discount).
When the African National Congress came to power in 1994, it inherited big debts and a bunch of public utilities that guzzled subsidies and, for the most part, offered rotten service at extortionate prices.
Provident Financial Chief Executive Robin Ashton told Money Box that he was not in favour of a rate cap and rejected the claim that the 177 per cent APR his company charges is excessive or extortionate.
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Europeans, in particular, express sympathy for the argument that both serve the purpose of supplementing low wages, both are implicitly or expressly extortionate in nature and both are paid with the expectation of a quid pro quo.
But there is a belief it remains a decent investment for the long term - not least because rents are extortionate and the increasing number of people who have been moving to the city all need somewhere to live.
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