Word: downplay
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There is one glaring difference Bayrou would quite like to downplay: even if he becomes President, his party is unlikely to secure a majority in the next Parliament, which will emerge at elections in June. His opponents predict Italian-style political confusion. Bayrou simply says he'll address that problem if and when it happens. Meanwhile, he's set about showing the snobs who looked down on him just who has the measure of the French electorate. "Millions of people in France feel the same look from those on top," he says. "They need to know that the people giving...
...also surrendered some of the moral high ground last week when he publicly expressed doubt that the Japanese military during World War II had coerced citizens of occupied countries into becoming "comfort women," a euphemism for sex slaves. Though Abe's aides scrambled to downplay his statement, he announced today that his government would assist a group of right-wing Japanese lawmakers in their efforts to reinvestigate the comfort women issue - which could be the first move in overturning a 1993 government apology on the subject. That Japan's Prime Minister is seen as calling on North Korea to come...
...course, most consumers would downplay the significance of such purchases. The idea that there is some connection between their inner most beliefs and a brand, they might say, is laughable...
...That's not likely to happen. Even though Riley and Jordan downplay the friction between the two organizations, the tension was apparent at this week's meeting. "I think that was confirmed," said Rafael Goyeneche, president of the nonprofit watchdog group Metropolitan Crime Commission. "People who were at that meeting who hoped to walk out with a sense of hope were disappointed. If there is a disconnect between police and state prosecutors, the only winners are the criminals...
...Security Council's Feb. 20 deadline to cease uranium enrichment will be the first real test of whether Iran will blink. But even if officials here are increasingly anxious about the approaching deadline and rising tension with Washington, ordinary Iranians - mostly relying for information on newspapers that downplay the crisis - feel secure. "America has already shown in Iraq that it can't do anything," say Jaleh Momeni, a 26-year-old secretary in Tehran. "They don't dare attack...