SWEET TALKER: After stealing the Big Apple's heart with his tear-jerking tale, Edwin Sabillon, a 13-year-old Honduran, admitted that his saga--of hitchhiking across America to find his long-lost father after the rest of the family had been killed--was all sham. Impressed by his audacity, many New Yorkers were quick to forgive. Illustration for TIME by Glynis Sweeny

W I N N E R S WANG ZHIZHI Dallas Mavericks sign Chinese Army star, making "Big Zhi" the first Asian drafted into the NBA TERRY FOX Runner who lost leg to cancer, ran marathon fund-raiser and died in 1981 is voted Canada's No. 1 hero GIEPIE Rare Barbary lion rescued from Egyptian circus, now happily awaiting his mate

L O S E R S MANUEL ANTONIO NORIEGA French court adds 10 to jailed dictator's 30 years and a $33 million fine for laundering drug money NDAWENI MAHLANGU South African provincial governor says it's O.K. for leaders to lie. Example? He cites Bill Clinton TIMOTHY LEARY Late counterculture icon of the '60s was an FBI informer. Put that in your pipe and smoke it

V E R B A T I M

"No ifs, no buts, no excuses. Just a simple, clear statement." David Trimble, Ulster Unionist leader, demanding the Irish Republican Army disarm or else lose any chance for peace and a Northern Ireland Assembly "You can meet 40 of us in your office, or you can have 4,000 of us in the street." Wardah Hafidz, Indonesian activist, addressing officials accused of corruption, exercising the new social freedom of post-Suharto Jakarta

"I hear bombing, and everything I learn just goes right out of my head." Rana Shamseddine, 17-year-old southern Lebanese student, on Israeli troops and Islamic guerrillas battling near her school "They're very rare, but when they happen, they are dramatic." Jean-Charles Simiand, gondola operator, on the cable car crash that killed 20 in southeastern France

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