Slovakia rejecting the participation in the loan for Greece
„I take note of the vote by Slovakia’s Parliament today against the participation of Slovakia in the conditional loan arrangement for Greece. It is a breach of the commitment undertaken by Slovakia in the Eurogroup to provide temporary and conditional financial assistance to Greece. The Eurogroup’s decision was a crucial act at a critical moment to safeguard financial stability of the euro area as a whole, including Slovakia. I can only regret this breach of solidarity within the Euro Area and I expect the Eurogroup and the Ecofin Council to return to the matter in their next meeting.“
Olli Rehn, EU-Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs
Presidential Elections in Rwanda
„This has been one of the most successful and peaceful elections.“
Charles Munyaneza, executive secretary of Rwanda’s National Electoral Commission
„We congratulate Rwanda for the organisation of the Presidential Elections on 9 August 2010, in particular the calm atmosphere and the very high turnout of voters.“
Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative
Andris Piebalgs, EU Commissioner for Development
“In recent months killings, arrests and the closure of newspapers and broadcasters has reinforced a climate of fear.“
Tawanda Hondora, Deputy Director Amnesty International Africa Programme
„Most independent journalists have been silenced, and the two main independent newspapers suspended.“
Human Rights Watch
War on Drugs
„Legalization does not mean that drugs are good … but we have to see (legalization of the production, sale and distribution of drugs) as a strategy to weaken and break the economic system that allows cartels to earn huge profits. (…) Radical prohibition strategies have never worked.“
Vicente Fox, ehemaliger Präsident Mexikos
„Prohibitionist policies based on eradication, interdiction and criminalization of consumption simply haven’t worked.“ Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Cesar Gaviria and Ernesto Zedillo,
the former presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico,
Februar 2009, Wall Street Journal
„You can arrest thousands of [traffickers] but if you don’t touch the financial enterprises, the business just goes on . . . and becomes more violent.“
Edgardo Buscaglia, UN-expert on organized crime
The Trial of Charles Taylor
Foto: Marco Ro on flickr
„I opened my door and two men were there and gave me a pouch and said, ‚A gift for you‘ (…) They were kind of dirty-looking pebbles (…). When I’m used to seeing diamonds I’m used to seeing them shiny in a box. If someone hadn’t said they were diamonds I wouldn’t have guessed … that they were.“
Naomi Campbell, Model
„She may not have used the word huge, but she did say a diamond.“
Mia Farrow, Actress
Russland brennt
„Wenn die Brände auf die Region übergreifen, könnte das radioaktive Material mitverbrennen: Das sind Partikel und Kleinstmaterialien, die bisher im Boden, im Torf, in den Pflanzen gebunden sind.“
Christop von Lieven, Greenpeace-Atomexperte
„Es gibt derzeit keine Gefahr für die Stadt oder die Anlage.“
Sprecher des russischen Atomkonzerns Rosatom
„In Moskau haben sie darauf gewartet, dass der Leiter der Forstbehörde aus dem Urlaub zurückkehrt. Er hielt das für unnötig, vielleicht sollte er nur noch Urlaub machen.”
Dmitri Medwedew, russischer Präsident