'I recognise the legitimate desire of Indians living abroad to exercise their franchise and to have a say in who governs India.'
- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while addressing the Indian diaspora in Delhi saying Indian passport holders will get voting rights by next general elections (due 2014). However, holders of Persons of Indian Origin cards will not be eligible to vote.

'A towering figure on the national scene, a tireless crusader against communalism and all sorts of obscurantism and a true patriot who always put national interest above everything else.'
- Congress president Sonia Gandhi paying tributes to the veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu, who passed away January 17 in Kolkata, aged 95.

'I don't want to say we're clueless, but we are.'
- A U.S. operations officer speaking on intelligence failure in Afghanistan after a double agent of Al Qaeda killed seven fellow CIA agents in a suicide bombing. (Source Newsweek).

'Iraq was yesterday's war. Afghanistan is today's war. If we don't act preemptively, Yemen will be tomorrow's war.'
- Senator Joe Lieberman, U.S. Homeland Security Committee Chairman.

'I'm not afraid to be one of the martyrs (who) people have offered in the struggle for their just demands.'
- Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Iran's opposition leader, saying he is ready to sacrifice his life to protect the people's right to hold peaceful protests against the government.

'We are indeed working with the Indian government on closer relations in the sharing of civil nuclear technology.'
- Lord Peter Mandelson, British Secretary of State for Business, expressing confidence that UK and India will be able to finalise an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation during India's Commerce Minister Anand Sharma's visit to London in February.

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