ThisWeek TheySaid

This was not a security breach. Things like this happen in Baghdad once or twice a week.

This was not a security breach. Things like this happen in Baghdad once or twice a week.

- Jawad Bolani, Iraq's minister for the interior, plays down an insurgent rocket attack some 50 metres from UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, who was giving a news conference in Baghdad.

Whether the bigot is in our local pub or a thousand miles away, we should all stand up and speak out for these basic human rights.

- Elton John says homophobia is still all too prevalent.

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The worst known oppression of a citizen by the State.

- Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman, describing the plight of Donegal nightclub owner Frank Shortt. He was wrongly convicted of allowing drugs to be sold on his premises, and served 27 months in prison. The Supreme Court this week increased the damages to be paid to Mr Shortt from €1.9 million to €4.7 million.

The day I'm able to explain to you North Korean thinking is probably the day I've been in this process too long.

- Christopher Hill, the US chief envoy to North Korea, as talks over Pyongyang's nuclear programme stall.

Some of the cricketing fraternity, fans, are extremely volatile and passionate about the game and what happens in the game, especially in Asia, so I suppose there is always the possibility.

- Gill Woolmer, widow of the late Pakistan cricket coach Bob, asked if she thought he might be a victim of foul play.

I want to testify today about what I believe is a planetary emergency - a crisis that threatens the survival of our civilisation and the habitability of the Earth.

- Al Gore (left), testifying on the impact of global warming before the US Congress.

He was scared, terrified, very terrified. You know how a man feels when he is about to be executed.

- Bassam Ridha, adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, describes the mood of former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan as he was led to the gallows.

She came ready to work. I understand she came in stiletto heels, but she changed into her combat boots.

- A spokesman for New York's sanitation department as Naomi Campbell starts a five-day sentence to mop floors and clean toilets after pleading guilty to assaulting a housekeeper.

We have had enough analysis.

- George Quigley, chairman of Northern Ireland's industrial tax force, after British chancellor Gordon Brown announces a review of business tax policy in the North. Mr Quigley and others are campaigning for the North's corporate tax rate to be brought into line with the Republic's 12.5 per cent rate.

People say Irish fans love singing songs and a few pints, and winning doesn't matter. But it really does. If you win, you will drink more and sing more.

- Roy Keane says Ireland soccer supporters deserve a winning team.

I really wanted to allow myself to rise and fall on my own merits.

- Joe Hill, author of the horror novel Heart-Shaped Box. After a decade of writing, he has revealed that he is the son of Stephen King.

We want a better standard for living creatures. It's as simple as that.

- Celebrity chef Wolfang Puck, who is to ban foie gras from his restaurants.

We think that by end of the year you will notice a new, fresh look when you are intercepted by one of our men.

- J Mahapatra, police commissioner of Ahmadabad, India, on a new lightweight, rose- and lemon-scented fabric being developed for the city's police uniforms.

But if they take illegal actions, we too can take illegal actions and will do so.

- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's leading cleric, says it will pursue nuclear activities outside international regulations if the UN Security Council insists it stops uranium enrichment.

I really thought a lot more of you, my so-called friends, would turn up to pay their last respects. It just goes to show who you can really count on.

- Bosnian Amir Vehabovic (45), who faked his own death to see how many people would come to his funeral. Only his mother attended.