11.   President Nelson Mandela and Zulu nationalist leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi exchanged smiles and handshakes Thursday, trying to defuse a dispute that could set off more fighting among their followers.

12.   A delegation from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry was in Riyadh over the weekend to try to defuse the dispute, diplomats said.

13.   Annan, a Ghana native, was praised Monday for his work in defusing the dispute among U.N. weapons inspectors, the United States and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

14.   Both sides sent warships to the region, but the dispute was defused in April when Canada and the European Union reached agreement on sharing fishing quotas.

15.   But the move apparently failed to defuse the dispute with part of the Austrian government.

16.   German Finance Minister Theo Waigel said the two sides had defused a dispute over when the EU should apply the criteria for membership in the Eurocurrency.

17.   Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee fired Monday a Cabinet minister accused of corruption in hopes of defusing a dispute with a key ally.

18.   Manager Bobby Valentine and general manager Steve Phillips tried to defuse the dispute.

19.   Seeking to defuse the dispute, which threatened to thwart the peace process, the parliament decided Wednesday that Ziyeyev could be offered the job of emergency situations minister.

20.   The ASEAN free trade council at least temporarily defused the dispute Sunday to giving Indonesia more time to come up with tarriff reductions.