鈥淚 wonder whether you know that whales consume more than three to five times the maritime resources [that humans do]. I also have to point out that there are 800 million human beings who are undernourished.鈥�
Japan鈥檚 agriculture minister Tsutomu Takebe (Reuters, 4 July)
鈥淭he reason for the accident was a thermal explosion of torpedo fuel components. It occurred as a result of a leak of hydrogen peroxide.鈥�
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Russia鈥檚 Industry and Science Minister Ilya Klebanov announcing the results of an inquiry into the Kursk submarine disaster, the first official admission that it wasn鈥檛 caused by a foreign vessel (Interfax news agency, 1 July)
鈥淭here is a great Australian silence over the crisis of black life expectancy.鈥�
Rosemary Neill whose book documents the plight of Aboriginal Australians, including the 20-year gap in life expectancy between whites and blacks (The Australian, 3 July)
鈥淭hey say [the] risk is minuscule, but that does not mean it is safe.鈥�
London mayor Ken Livingstone wades into the debate on the alleged link between MMR vaccine and autism (BBC Radio 5 Live, 2 July)
鈥淩est is a serious business.鈥�
French President Jacques Chirac (Le Figaro, 4 July)
鈥淗ere we have a new crop that鈥檚 really helping the environment and we can use it for something constructive like posh frocks.鈥�
Melvyn Askew of Britain鈥檚 Central Science Laboratory on the advantages of stinging-nettle fibre over cotton (Reuters, 2 July)