"Fundamentally, the improvement of air quality relies on our own efforts, while it is beyond foreign embassies' capability and willingness."

Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai, responding to foreign embassies' monitoring and issuing of air quality data for fine particles in China, in an interview with Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV on June 13

"We wanted to show with actions in our country that we do not need the paralyzing protection of others."

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, declaring that Italy does not need a bailout from its European partners during a Senate briefing in Rome on June 13

"We are now in the early stages of the project to build nuclear submarines. In view of the advances we are making in the related areas, we hope that we will see the use of nuclear submarines by the navy in the future."

Rear Admiral Abbas Zamini, Deputy Commander of the Iranian Navy, in an interview with the semi-official Mehr News Agency in Tehran on June 12

"It's unfair to students from rural areas who have never seen an iPhone or iPad. If the [people who set the questions for] gaokao need to be more creative, why not include [a question about] breeding pigs and sheep?"

Li Yi, a professor at Beihang University in Beijing, accusing exam chiefs in Sichuan Province of discriminating against rural students by including references to Apple Inc. and micro-blogging in this year's national college entrance exam in his micro-blog on June 9