MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, Iranian President, claiming that his country had begun operating 3,000 of a planned 50,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges. While skeptical, Western observers worry that if Iran is actually able to produce nuclear material, it could be used to make weapons
'No weirdness, no vulgarity, no low taste.'
CHINA'S STATE ADMINISTRATION OF RADIO, FILM AND TELEVISION, in its guidelines for a new Chinese adaptation of American Idol. The media watchdog said that contestants' physical appearance must reflect 'mainstream' values, and forbade Simon Cowell-esque barbed critiques of contestants by judges
'I think it was a major mistake. It would be like me saying I've been a lifelong golfer because I played putt-putt when I was 9 years old and I rode in a golf cart a couple of times.'
MIKE HUCKABEE, former Arkansas Governor and Republican presidential candidate, on rival Mitt Romney's claim to be a lifelong hunter when he had only been on two hunting trips
'I think the animals have just accepted me.'
MARTIN STREL, Slovenian endurance athlete, who last week completed a record-setting 5,268-kilometer swim of the Amazon River. The 52-year-old swam alongside snakes, crocodiles and pirhanas during his 66-day journey, but was never attacked
'Nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees.'
POPE BENEDICT XVI, in his Easter Sunday address at the Vatican, in which the Pontiff included the Iraq war in a list of human tragedies in the world, also making note of other conflict zones such as Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Darfur and Afghanistan
'They say a giant has to fall at some point.'
ZACH JOHNSON, who won his first major golfing title by beating world No. 1 Tiger Woods at the 2007 Augusta National Masters Tournament
'They ought to do it quickly. They ought to get the bill to my desk as quickly as possible, and I'll veto it.'
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, accusing Democrats in Congress of delaying an emergency-funding bill for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Included in the bill are timetables for an Iraq withdrawal, which Bush has refused to consider
'He should become in tune with the fact that he is President of the United States, not King of the United States.'
HARRY REID, U.S. Senate Majority Leader, on President Bush; Reid added, 'And he has another branch of government, namely a legislative branch of government, that he has to deal with'
NumbersART
9.2 million Amount paid at auction for Put Down Your Whip, a 1939 oil painting by Xu Beihong—the most ever for a painting by a Chinese artist
$190 million Total sales of Asian contemporary art by auction houses Christie's and Sotheby's last year, up from $22 million in 2004
BASEBALL
125 Number of Japanese reporters covering pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka's first game for the Boston Red Sox against Kansas City on April 5. The Red Sox renovated their press box to accommodate journalists following the Japanese superstar
10 Number of strikeouts "Dice-K" recorded in his first start, one less than the team record for a major league debut
RAISES
$2 million Estimated annual salary of Singapore's Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, after the government announced it would increase ministers' pay by up to 60%
$400,000 Annual salary of U.S. President George W. Bush
JUSTICE
9 Months that David Hicks will serve in an Australian jail, after five years held without trial at Guantánamo Bay, upon pleading guilty to providing material support to terrorism
20 Years American John Walker Lindh is serving in federal prison for serving in the Taliban army and carrying weapons. Lindh's lawyers are seeking a reduced sentence in light of Hicks' punishment