Verbatim

'The Shoah fills us Germans with shame. I bow before the victims. I bow before the survivors and before all those who helped them survive.' ANGELA MERKEL, German Chancellor, using the Hebrew word for Holocaust in the third speech ever delivered in German to the Israeli parliament

'I saw smoke and bodies.' MOHAMMED KADHEM, witness to a woman's suicide-bomb attack that killed at least 52 people in the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala, Iraq

'The past week has been an incredibly difficult time for Bear Stearns. This transaction represents the best outcome for all of our constituencies.' ALAN SCHWARTZ, president and CEO of Bear Stearns, which, as part of a federal bailout, was acquired by rival JPMorgan Chase for $236.2 million--a meager $2 per share

'I'm so, so happy with this.' HEATHER MILLS, on a $48.6 million settlement in her divorce from former Beatle Paul McCartney

'It's a message to Iran that the United States will never leave, even after Bush is gone.' WAEL ABDUL LATIF, Iraqi parliamentarian, on Senator John McCain's recent visit to Iraq

'My reaction is, O.K., now since it's over, it has no effect, it's not binding, let's get back to work.' KWAME KILPATRICK, mayor of Detroit, on the city council's nonbinding call for his resignation. Text messages surfaced in January that proved the embattled mayor had lied under oath about an affair with his chief of staff

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Sources: AP; Reuters; JPMorgan Chase; AP; New York Times; Detroit Free Press