2015 in pics and quotes - January
- “The door opened and a guy burst in screaming ‘Allah Akbar!’ [God is great!] He was dressed all in black, holding a weapon with both hands.” — A survivor of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris recounting the moment when gunmen entered their newspaper office and started killing journalists at close range.
- “Conditions on the ground are challenging with strong winds and rain hampering restoration and making conditions unsafe for our technicians.” — A spokesperson for ESB Networks after Storm Rachel struck and resulted in thousands of homes losing their electricity supply.
- “Even before the euro, prices in pharmacies went up, I’m afraid to think about what will happen now.” — Pensioner Antanina Macijauskiene, selling homemade socks outside a shop in the capital Vilnius after Lithuania — joined the euro on the first day of 2015, following its Baltic neighbours Estonia and Latvia into the currency bloc.
- “I’m a very private person and I still am. I keep my private life to myself and that’s going to continue. But, I am a gay man — it’s not a secret — but not something that everyone would necessarily know, but it isn’t something I’ve spoken publicly about before.” — Health Minister Leo Varadkar talking on RTÉ radio to Miriam O’Callaghan on his 36th birthday.
- “Today’s SNB action is a tsunami for the export industry and for tourism, and finally for the entire country.” — Nick Hayek, the chief executive of Swiss watch firm Swatch, after Switzerland’s central bank ended its three-year policy of capping the Swiss franc against the euro.
- “Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.” — A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace in response to claims that the Queen’s son, Prince Andrew, after he was named in US court papers by a woman who claimed she was forced by American financier Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with the prince when she was a minor.
