Perspectives

"It's kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari."
Team Obama spokesman Bill Burton, on adapting to the White House's outdated computer technologies and rules prohibiting staffers from using social-networking sites and instant messaging

"This is democracy. Each sheik wants to have his say."
Mamoon Sami Rashid, the governor of Iraq's Anbar province, on the regional elections that have become mired in tribal infighting

"This was the last thing I wanted to do—grace an exhibition of my own fake paintings."
Leading Indian artist S.H. Raza, who was attending a show of his work in Delhi when he noticed that several paintings were fakes

"We were already aware the animal was unpredictable and [it is] being treated with pills for depression."
Bernadette Chirac, whose husband, France's former president Jacques Chirac, was mauled by his bipolar Maltese dog

"I was in the airport in Malaysia … and a man approached me and asked, 'Are you Obama?' I was very surprised when he asked to take a picture together and bought me a meal."
Ilham Anas, an Indonesian man who bears a resemblance to the new U.S. president and who is now receiving marketing offers from local companies and invites to Indonesia's top talk show

"There are five reasons for owning newspapers and all begin with a P: profit, propaganda, political influence, prestige and public service. There's no profit in The Standard, so you've got to look at the other things."
Roy Greenslade, a columnist for the London tabloid, which is being bought by an ex-K.G.B. agent who used to spy on the Brits