Perspectives

"Do you think a black candidate would be allowed to be president in the U.S.? [And the] presidency of a woman in a country that boasts its gunmanship is unlikely."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, opining that neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton can win the U.S. election

"It makes the cars smell like a kitchen — you feel like falafel is following you."
Ahmed al-Beltaji, a Gaza falafel-stand owner who is selling used cooking oil to gasoline-starved drivers for fueling their vehicles

"I'm even selling my bulletproof car, that's how bad it is."
Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of France's far-right National Front, on putting his armored Peugeot on eBay in order to pay party debts

"Rome is beginning a new phase."
Gianni Alemanno, the first rightist politician to be elected the city's mayor since World War II

"The market wants growth, growth and growth."
Paul Sankey, a Deutsche Bank analyst, explaining why Exxon-Mobil shares fell 5 percent after announcing a first-quarter profit of $10.9 billion, its second highest quarterly profit ever