"We are now predominantly committed to peaceful development and we will not and could not challenge or threaten any other country."

Xu Caihou, Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission, speaking at a Washington think tank during his visit to the United States from October 24 to November 3

"The old growth model where, simply put, we have still to rely on consumption in the West for goods and services produced here, we feel will no longer serve us."

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, at the 15th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit in Thailand's seaside resort of Hua Hin on October 25, where Asian leaders agreed to a massive EU-style community covering half the world's population

"The blood of Iraqis is very cheap and I ask, how many victims will it take to convince the government that it has totally failed?"

Hameed Salam, a former Iraqi army officer now driving a taxi, complaining about the insecure situation in Iraq after twin suicide bombs on October 24 killed 155 people in Baghdad

"From the start, international humanitarian law focused on the refugee issue but not so much on the question of the displaced. So with this convention it's a case of enriching international law insofar as displaced people in Africa far outnumber refugees."

Ramtane Lamamra, Peace and Security Commissioner of the African Union, after African leaders on October 23 adopted the world's first convention on human displacement at a summit in Kampala, Uganda

"Direct and indirect land-use changes associated with an aggressive global biofuels program have the potential to release large quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere."

Jerry Melillo, a scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory, warning that the economic incentives for biofuels to be developed on land reclaimed from forests add to the climate change problem rather than helping to solve it