PARIS, France?Best quotes from around the world over the past week:
HELL "Guantanamo Bay is like hell on Earth.??Mohamed Saleban Bare, 44, upon his return to Somalia after being imprisoned at the United States detention camp for eight years.
BANK ON IT "If the climate was a bank, they would have already saved it."?Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez addressing the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen.
SPEECH CRIME "We pleaded not guilty?his crime is a crime of speech."?Chinese attorney Mo Shaoping, the head of the firm representing leading dissident Liu Xiaobo, who was tried and sentenced to 11 years in prison in Beijing on subversion charges, after co-authoring a bold petition calling for political reform.
JUST AN ORDINARY GUY "I am an ordinary person, a father, a husband, a brother, an uncle, a friend. I have a family, made up of a wife, two sons, and a daughter. We go to family get-togethers, we go out. We play sports."?Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in response to comments about how he is viewed as a bogeyman in the West.
ALL WHITE ON THE NIGHT "It's a white Christmas for us too, but this is ash, and we have to wear face masks.??42-year-old taxi operator Narciso Marama, one of the tens of thousands of people affected by the ash and lava spewing from Mount Mayon, the most active volcano in the Philippines.
BAH! HUMBUG! "To clarify, I am not a Santa researcher... I hoped to spread a bit of Christmas cheer, but with a tinge of seriousness to provoke a bit of healthy Christmas dinner table conversation."?Australian researcher Nathan Grills, who wrote a study blasting Santa Claus as a bad role model for children who promotes obesity, drink-driving, speeding, and an unhealthy lifestyle, defends himself as a believer.
GLUM IN GAZA "The real holiday will be when we break the blockade. Me and my family have nothing, no sweets, no Christmas tree, not even visits from family members. How can we celebrate the holiday when people are living in tents."?Samir Abu Elias, a Palestinian Christian on celebrating Christmas in Gaza, which is still suffering from an Israeli blockade and the effects of the December-January war.
