21.   Even before the murders, the British government had taken some constructive steps to defuse the tension.

22.   He also urged India to accept dialogue with Pakistan and said other nations must play a bigger role in defusing tensions between the two rivals.

23.   His comments were echoed by other Latin leaders, who said resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would defuse tensions in the Middle East.

24.   Humor appropriately injected in conflict situations can rapidly defuse tension and shift the focus from anger and destructive communication patterns to less tense and more creative thinking.

25.   If past crises in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations are a guide, Mubarak may also meet with Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel to try to defuse tensions.

26.   In Congress, he was renowned for his wit, and his former colleagues report that in closed-door sessions he often used carefully timed one-liners to defuse tensions.

27.   In the space of a minute, Leibovitz has defused the tension in the room.

28.   Instead, he defused racial tensions, including a near riot at Camp LeJeune, N.C., with programs to enhance cultural awareness and eliminate discrimination.

29.   It has been enough of a cauldron that a Quaker group in Syracuse recently sponsored public forums to try to defuse tensions in anticipation of the Onondaga claim.

30.   It was a welcome promise that could defuse tensions.