Some people put their hair yellow, some people wear rings in their nose, it's not the normal thing. I decided to cash my cheques, full stop.
- The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, explains to the Mahon tribunal why he didn't have a personal bank account when he was Minister for Finance in the early 90s.
It is right and proper on occasion for counsel to put to a witness an alternative version of events to that put forward by the witness.
- Judge Alan Mahon, after the Taoiseach asserts that lawyers for the tribunal were pursuing an agenda against him.
They left me militia, they left me gangsters, and they left me all the troubles in the world.
- Jalil Khalaf, police commander in Basra as British forces withdraw from the Iraqi city.
We treat it as an acknowledgment of the role that was played by President Putin in helping to pull Russia out of the social troubles and economic troubles of the 1990s.
- Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has been named Time magazine 'person of the year'.
They engage in criminal and amoral activities, driven by the hunger for personal gain.
- Thabo Mbeki, South African president, on how members of his party, the African National Congress, get ahead. Mbeki this week lost an ANC leadership challenge from former deputy Jacob Zuma.
They appear totally bereft of ideas. Resorting to crucifying the low paid and poorest sections of the workforce, they offer nothing whatsoever to address the competitiveness challenge.
- Siptu general president Jack O'Connor responding to a Fás report which suggested that, in light of deepening economic instability, it might be prudent to lower the minimum wage.
The findings confirm that management, players and the IRFU alike accept that individually and collectively we underperformed at the World Cup.
- IRFU chief executive Philip Browne as the Genesis Report into Ireland's World Cup flop is published.
Dublin City Council and An Garda Síochána owe the public a full explanation as to how this happened.
- Labour transport spokesman Tommy Broughan after an overturned truck causes a 23km tailback in Dublin.
Thank you Officer . . . For the tools needed. You're a real pal. Happy holidays.
- A note left for a prison guard by two New Jersey jail inmates who escaped through a hole carved in the cell wall and hidden behind photographs.
What are we going to do with them? Release them again on an unsuspecting population? I don't think so.
- US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice rules out unilaterally setting free the 'bad people' being held at Guantánamo Bay.
As long as I am president of Serbia, I will never accept the independence of Kosovo.
- Boris Tadic, Serbian president.
Within the next few days, there will be sufficient cash to go about our business.
- Gideon Gono, governor of Zimbabwe's central bank, says he will put more banknotes into circulation after inflation reaches 8,000 per cent.