There has been some controversy about my background, so today I want to put all these rumours to rest. It is true my great-great-great grandfather really was from Ireland . . . Moneygall to be precise. – US president Barack Obama sticking it (tongue in cheek) to the "birthers", an extreme right-wing clique in the US who question whether he was born in America, by way of confirming his forthcoming visit to Ireland
[This is] a very significant statement of confidence [in Ireland] by the most powerful political office in the world . . . – Taoiseach Enda Kenny, delighted at his good fortune
Please continue to live well, I can't be home for a while. – Message to his wife from a worker at the Fukushima nuclear plant where he and colleagues are trying to regain control of reactors. They are said by Japanese media to be on a suicide mission
Any foreign military act against Libya will expose all air and maritime traffic in the Mediterranean sea to danger, and civilian and military [facilities] will become targets of Libya's counter attack. – Libyan defence ministry before the UN Security Council no-fly zone vote
We [have] decided on an immediate ceasefire and on an immediate stop to all military operations. [Libya] takes great interest in protecting civilians. – Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa after the vote