"China has set up economic and trade mechanisms in line with WTO rules and requirements, and become one of the most open markets in the world."

Yao Jian, spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce, saying on July 20 that China has now honored all the commitments it made when entering the WTO

"So far, China has avoided large-scale damage, thanks to its generally effective response. Few countries in the world are able to muster the leadership, manpower and resources needed to respond to natural disasters like this, but China is one of them."

CNN, in a July 14 report on its website titled "Chinese Floods Test Country's Resources"

"Madiba's (Nelson Mandela's) 67 years of uninterrupted and selfless service to the people of South Africa and the world culminated in the birth of a new South Africa, united in diversity."

South African President Jacob Zuma, in a speech to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 92nd birthday on July 19

"Let me remind you that over the last year, the same leaders had absolutely no problem finding the money on a moment's notice to bail out their corporate friends and the greedy Wall Street bankers, yet when it comes to global health, the purse is always empty."

Julio Montaner, President of the International AIDS Society, scorning world leaders who had pared the funding for AIDS at the six-day 18th International AIDS Conference that opened on July 18

"I remain determined that our Afghan national security forces will be responsible for all military and law enforcement operations throughout our country by 2014."

Hamid Karzai, Afghan President, speaking in Kabul at an international conference on the future of the country on July 20

"We're filling in the blanks on everything in the universe from near-Earth objects to forming galaxies."

Peter Eisenhardt, scientist with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, on the abilities of the new space telescope WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer). In six months, it found 25,000 new asteroids