WHEN IN ROME: President Mohammad Khatami arrived in Italy last week on the first Iranian head of state visit to a Western country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The significance of the trip was evident in the stature of Khatami's hosts: Italy's Prime Minister, its President--and the Pope. Illustration for TIME by Hashim Akib

W I N N E R S GERI HALLIWELL Ex-Spice Girl gets $1.3 million to write memoir--but wasn't she responsible for the lyrics "zigazig ha"? DONNA SHALALA 1.5-m-tall U.S. health boss wards off would-be robber trio at an ATM and secures their arrest ELSIE LEUNG Legal system shaken, but Hong Kong Justice Secretary survives no-confidence vote

L O S E R S OLIVER STONE Must be a conspiracy. U.S. high court rules director can be sued for crime inspired by his Natural Born Killers SHOZABURO NAKAMURA Japan's Justice Minister resigns after letting Arnold Schwarzenegger enter without a passport GOLDMAN SACHS After analyst's report drives down a Thai bank's stocks, investment firm apologizes to the nation

V E R B A T I M

"Politicians are like gangsters. Unless you catch them red-handed, you never get them." Sylvie Rouy, French woman who contracted HIV from a 1985 transfusion, on the acquittal of three former ministers in a blood scandal "Every organ of my body is moving in a very bad way." Roberto Benigni, Life is Beautiful director, writer and star, expressing his happiness at accepting a Screen Actors Guild award

"I am ready for some beer now. It was a heck of an adventure." Andy Elson, British balloonist whose round-the-world bid was thwarted by bad weather "We have lived with our neighbor Germany for 1,000 years, but always back-to-back. Never face-to-face." Edward Pietrzyk, Polish military officer, on his nation's admission to NATO, which includes longtime adversary Germany