Briefing

Monday, May 23, 2011

    • 'We will sit here. We call it a fight until the end.'

    1. RAMI MAKHLOUF, Syrian tycoon and cousin of President Bashar Assad, on the ruling family's determination to stay in power despite widespread protests across Syria; the E.U. imposed sanctions on Makhlouf and 12 other Syrians on May 10

    'It is still the intention of the President, and it is still my intention, to close the facility that exists in Guantánamo.'

    2. ERIC HOLDER, U.S. Attorney General, on whether the death of Osama bin Laden would affect the Administration's pledge to shutter the detention camp

    'Graceland is safe. And we would charge hell with a water pistol to keep it that way, and I'd be willing to lead the charge.'

    3. BOB NATIONS JR., director of the Shelby County Office of Preparedness in Tennessee; the swollen Mississippi River crested in Memphis at nearly 48 ft. (15 m) on May 10--almost a record

    'I am somewhat sheepishly concerned that it was my preventing one of my early spring allergic coughs.'

    4. HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. Secretary of State, on the now famous photo of her alongside President Obama and others in the White House Situation Room as they watched the attack on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan

    'Daddy, you're so handsome.'

    5. DALLAS WIENS, the first person in the U.S. to receive a full face transplant, recounting at a press conference what his young daughter Scarlette told him when she laid eyes on him after his March operation

    25

    Years that Norberto Gonzalez-Claudio, arrested in Puerto Rico by the FBI on May 10, had been on the lam; he was wanted for taking part in a 1983 robbery of $7 million

    15

    Number of U.S. states that, along with Amtrak, will receive a share of the $2 billion intended for Florida before it canceled its plans for high-speed trains

    7.5 MILLION

    Approximate number of U.S. Facebook users under 13--the minimum age to register for the site--according to Consumer Reports; some 5 million of those are under 10

    9.3 BILLION

    Projected world population by 2050, according to a recent U.N. report; the world's current population is nearly 7 billion

    Sources: New York Times; Politico; AP; Reuters; CNN