Verbatim

Thursday, May. 08, 2008

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'I want Barack Obama to be the next President of our country. As an official celebrity, I know my endorsement has just made your mind up for you.'
TOM HANKS, endorsing the Illinois Democrat on his MySpace page

'We are closer to the end of this problem than we are to the beginning.'
HENRY PAULSON, U.S. Treasury Secretary, on the country's economic troubles as the credit crisis enters its ninth month

'We stand at a new starting point.'
HU JINTAO, President of China, after his arrival in Japan on May 6 for the first China-Japan summit in Tokyo in a decade. Relations between the two Asian neighbors have long been strained by historical and security issues

'I can happily switch to margarine.'
TSUYOSHI HASHIMOTO, of Japan's Agriculture Ministry, after the government ordered Japanese dairies to increase butter production by up to 20% because of a shortage of the popular staple

'I know there will be many whose pencils hovered for an instant before putting an X in my box, and I will work flat out to repay and to justify your confidence.'
BORIS JOHNSON, British journalist turned politician, after defeating incumbent Ken Livingstone in London's mayoral election

'I don't see how my measurements have to do with Tibet.'
CHRISTINA CHAN, Hong Kong University student, after netizens angered by her criticism of China's Tibet policy posted revealing photos and her body measurements online

Numbers

SPYING
2,370 Number of requests approved in 2007 by the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to search or eavesdrop on suspected terrorists — a record. Annual warrant requests have more than doubled since 9/11
3 Number of requests denied by the FISC during the same year

PRIVACY
40 million Number of Italians whose 2005 tax returns were posted online by the outgoing government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi. Italy's treasury department eventually shut down the site following privacy complaints
$29 million Amount paid in taxes by Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who filed one of the largest tax returns that year

WILDLIFE
92% Estimated drop in king-salmon yields from California's Sacramento River from 2002 to 2008
160 Years since the U.S. government last banned West Coast salmon-fishing. This year's ban came after authorities declared the region's king-salmon fisheries a federal failure

AVIATION
8 Minutes added to a Northwest Airlines transatlantic flight by flying 10 m.p.h. (16 km/h) slower, saving 162 gal. (613 L) of fuel during the flight
$42 million Projected savings in fuel costs that Southwest Airlines expects this year by reducing speeds, adding 1 to 3 min. to its flights

Sources: Boston Globe; Bloomberg; A.P. (2); Guardian; Standard
Numbers Sources: ABC News (2); New York Times (2); A.P.; San Francisco Chronicle; A.P. (2)