W I N N E R S SALMAN RUSHDIE His book is still banned, but India grants novelist first visa to his motherland since the 1980s ZINEDINE ZIDANE Goal! France's World Cup star nets FIFA's Player of the Year with a record vote tally DENMARK Analysts nominate it as the E.U. nation best prepared to ring in the 21st century

L O S E R S TOM DELAY Sound familiar? Key Clinton foe in Congress is accused of lying in a 1994 sworn deposition DAN REEVES Cruel fate. Falcons coach survived mid-season heart surgery but lost in Super Bowl for fourth time MORSE CODE All tapped out. Fabled global distress signal gives way to satellite-based system

V E R B A T I M

"I never like to use the words 'optimism' and 'Balkans' in the same sentence, but I believe we have a very good process here." Christopher Hill, U.S. envoy to Kosovo, on the prospect of peace talks between ethnic Albanian rebels and the Kosovo Liberation Army "We'll use American money, but only if they put Evita on the $100 bill." Antonio Gatti, Argentine office assistant, on the proposal to replace the peso with the U.S. greenback

"Currency systems are like marriage: whichever one you find yourself in, you think another one might be better." George Soros, international financier, on flaws in the world's exchange-rate system "I came to China because my stomach hurt so much I couldn't stand it." Kang Ming-hwa, 16-year-old North Korean beggar, at the Tumen River boundary between the nations