"I don't know what's going to happen next. Maybe the next bomb will fall here, maybe the next person killed will be one of us."

Amal Hassan, 38, a mother of three children in the Gaza Strip, quoted by the Associated Press in a report on December 28, 2008. Israeli's airstrike on Gaza that began on December 27 killed at least 375 Palestinians in four days

"We have some ups and downs, but we've come a long way. From January 1979 to January 2009, (we've made) a lot of progress. It's terrific..."

U.S. Ambassador to China Clark Randt, before the 30th anniversary of China-U.S. diplomatic relations on January 1, 2009

"The debt level of Chinese households is quite low, and their balance sheets are very healthy compared with those for U.S. and European households, promising great potential for the expansion of consumer spending."

Yi Gang, Vice Governor of the People's Bank of China, revealing at a financial forum on December 26, 2008, that consumption loans of Chinese residents now account for less than one fifth of their $2.9-trillion bank savings

"The euro became a convenient scapegoat that enabled reforms that were needed, but Europe did not have the political will to do."

Randall Filer, a visiting professor of economics at Charles University in Prague and Hunter College in New York, hailing the euro's role in prompting necessary labor market and fiscal reforms in the eurozone before the shared currency's 10th anniversary on January 1, 2009

"My argument remains that cultural identities, antagonisms and affiliations will not only play a role, but play a major role in relations between states."

Political scientist Samuel Huntington, in an interview with Islamica magazine in 2007. Huntington, whose "Clash of Civilizations" thesis on Islam and the West proved highly controversial, died on December 27, 2008, at age 81