*** "I AM NOT interfering with the political process. The political process is on in the country and the government has no role in it."

(President Pervez Musharraf saying that his government was not responsible for the delay in government forming 20 days after the general elections on October 10)

*** "86"

(Number of French companies taking part in yearly international trade fair beginning on November 1 in Baghdad oblivious to looming US-led strike against Iraq)

*** "THE ECONOMY OF NATIONS whose people hold firm religious beliefs, especially with regard to heaven and hell, tend to grow faster."

(Finding of a study conducted by an Economist and Political Scientist at Harvard University which shows that religious beliefs spur economy. The study showed that growth of GDP in Muslim countries including Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey, where belief in hell is often stronger than in Christianity, runs about 0.5 per cent higher than average)

*** "HOW MANY in your organization has been held accountable for failures."

(US Senator Carl Levin blasting chief of country's top intelligence agency CIA, George Tenet, for failure to security lapses)

*** "STOP BEGGING. Ever since 1957 the Arabs have been negotiating for (the return of) 42 per cent of Palestine, while the Africans have not let go of an inch of their territory."

(Libyan leader Moamer Qaddafi threatening to quit 22-member Arab League for being docile to stop Israeli aggression against Palestinians and US threats against Iraq)

*** "$ 3.86 Billion"

(Funds approved by the US Congress to revamp the voting system to avoid "the 2000 election fiasco in Florida")

*** "THE FIRST LADY represents the country. We should not tolerate this humiliation."

(Taiwanese parliamentarian Lee Chaun-chiao demanding the country's ambassador to the US to resign over the body-search of the wife of Taiwanese President during her trip to the US recently)

*** "MANY CHRISTIANS here feel that the U.S. is arrogant and unjust."

(Indonesian Catholic priest and journalist Sindhunata saying that Indonesian Christians feel threatened by the US, just like their Muslim counterparts in the country)

*** "I BEG the French people to stop eating horses."

(Actress-turned-animal-rights-activist Brigitte Bardot begging her fellow Frenchmen and women to stop eating horsemeat and demanding the authorities to ban transport of the animals for consumption. In many French restaurants the horsemeat is considered a delicacy)

*** "OPPRESSED PEOPLES, must confront the development of this new arrogance that is transforming the biggest superpower into something resembling a new Nazism."

(Top Lebanon cleric Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah comparing the US to Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler)

*** "ONCE AGAIN THE U.S. is flouting international law and acting as judge and jury."

(Leader of Opposition in the Canadian Parliament Alexa McDonough criticizing the US for deporting a Canadian citizen of Syrian origin to his native country during his visit to New York without knowledge of the Canadian government)

*** "HE THINKS life is of value wherever it is. In his cell he can enjoy praying and reading. He will now have time to memorize the two-thirds [of the Quran] he had left unfinished when he headed for the mountains."

(Spiritual leader for Muslim inmates at the Alexandria Detention Centre talking about that convicted American Taliban, John Walker Lindh)

*** "SMART CLOTHES would make life easier for a lot of people."

(Senior researcher at Germany's Hohenstein medical research center, Dirk Hoefer, announcing plans to develop medicine-enriched clothes that could treat ailments as well as help cure diseases)