The week in quotes
Young people need to realise that consumption of amphetamines is the equivalent of Russian roulette . . . The chances of a bullet in the brain are very high.
Antonio Maria Costa, director of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, as a survey shows the Republic has one of the highest rates of ecstasy and amphetamine use in Europe
It means we're better than Japan.
A Chinese teenager as Beijing sends its first astronaut into space
I do not see you or your colleagues negotiating a better agreement.
Tony Blair hits out at DUP opposition to the Northern peace process
Pretty weak and pretty pathetic.
Peter McLoone, ICTU vice-president, on arguments against a smoking ban in pubs
Whether he walks out or he has to be assisted we will have to wait and see.
A spokesman for illusionist David Blaine, who completes his 44-day fast in London tomorrow
If entering politics means gaining power, God save me from the day I become tempted by power.
Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and Iranian lawyer, is asked if she will enter politics
Divorce was catastrophic in my life. It would have been easier if he had died.
Madeleine Albright on the end of her marriage, before she become US secretary of state
Ill fortune every year and trouble every day.
The text-message curse for which a businessman in China was fined 1,000 yuan (€103) for sending to a rival
Christ, even though He is aware of my human frailty, encourages me to answer as did Peter.
Pope John Paul II tells the faithful he will not shirk his duties despite his growing feebleness
It was as if an angel had come down on a cloud and whisked me away.
Matthew Scott, who survived for 12 days in the Colombian wilderness, on the moment army helicopters came to rescue him
Every time I read Jeremy Clarkson, I thank God for the Booker.
D.J. Taylor, novelist and Booker Prize judge
Cheating in bed is settled with lead.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the writer, on an affair that ended in a game of Russian roulette
The number of suicides has caused the army to be concerned. Is there something different going on in Iraq that we really need to pay attention to?
British army psychiatrist Elspeth Ritchie on why the US army is sending mental health specialists to Iraq to deal with the high suicide rate among troops.
Christopher Columbus was the spearhead of the biggest invasion and genocide ever seen in the history of humanity.
Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, urges Latin Americans to boycott Columbus Day, claiming the conquistadores were "worse than Hitler"