Safety first: “Believe me, Toyota cars are safe”

Some of the best quotes of the week from around the world.

PARIS, February 12, 2010 (AFP) - Some of the best quotes of the week from around the world:

SAFETY FIRST

"Believe me, Toyota cars are safe"

-- Toyota president Akio Toyoda after apologising for the recall of millions of cars around the world due to faulty accelerator pedals

ANGRY BEAR

"The Americans and their allies again want to surround the cave of the Russian bear? How many times must they be reminded how dangerous this is!? The bear will come out and kick the ass of these pathetic hunters"

Russia's NATO ambassador Dmitry Rogozin in a twitter message on Romania's offer to host a US interceptor missile base

DISSIDENT FREE CHINA

"There are no dissidents in China."

-- Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu after a court upheld an 11-year prison term for leading Chinese democracy activist Liu Xiaobo on subversion charges

MATING PANDAS

"We want them to do it right. We prefer to allow them to watch and learn how the other pandas mate."

-- Hou Rong, head of the Chengdu panda research centre in southwest China, on the use of "panda porn" to help the animals breed

SYMBOLIC WINE

"Wine is mentioned in the bible and Jesus gave it symbolic meaning by turning water into wine. So what we are doing is not unusual."

-- Brother Hanna Ghantous, 39, who oversees the winery at the Maronite monastery of Mar Moussa in Lebanon

SPORTING MORALS

"Listen, this is a special approach in the Anglo-Saxon countries. If this had happened in let's say Latin countries then I think he would have been applauded"

-- International football federation (FIFA) president Sepp Blatter in comments to the Press Association news agency about John Terry being stripped of the England captaincy for having an affair with a team-mate's former partner

GOOD TIME CHARLIE

"Charlie Wilson led a life that was oversized even by Hollywood's standards"

-- Texas Governor Rick Perry on the death of Charlie Wilson, the former lawmaker depicted in the book and film "Charlie Wilson's War" who funneled billions to Afghans fighting Soviet troops in the 1980s