Asian Heroes (Cover Story)
TIME celebrates the people famous and unknown who remind us what the human spirit can achieve

Asian Heroes: The SARS Doctors (Asian Heroes)
Staring down a deadly disease

Asian Heroes: Yao Ming (Asian Heroes)
China's Incredible Hulk of the hardcourt becomes an NBA sensation

Asian Heroes: Sister Maria (Asian Heroes)
Salvaging the memory of China's martyred Catholics

Asian Heroes: Yo-Yo Ma (Asian Heroes)
Taking flight on a musical journey without borders

Asian Heroes: Mo Shaoping (Asian Heroes)
Defending those who have already lost

Asian Heroes: Liu Binyan (Asian Heroes)
Fearless and incorruptible, China's conscience speaks the truth

Asian Heroes: Kim Sang Hun (Asian Heroes)
One man against Kim Jong Il

Asian Heroes: Cambodia's Samaritans (Asian Heroes)
On a night of savagery, they risked death to save life

Asian Heroes: Ranil Wickremesinghe (Asian Heroes)
The Peacemaker

Asian Heroes: Agus Bambang Priyanto (Asian Heroes)
Fighting terrorism with faith and tolerance

Asian Heroes: Christine Hakim (Asian Heroes)
Indonesia's movie queen shines offscreen

Asian Heroes: Cut Syamsurniati (Asian Heroes)
In Aceh, a woman warrior fights against fear

Asian Heroes: Wu Shu-chen (Asian Heroes)
Standing up for those less fortunate

Asian Heroes: A-kuei (Asian Heroes)
The animated boy who keeps us young at heart

Asian Heroes: Stephen Chow (Asian Heroes)
The star of Shaolin Soccer doesn't mind if the joke is on him

Asian Heroes: Virender Sehwag (Asian Heroes)
A man and his bat carry the hopes of a nation

Asian Heroes: Elattuvalapil Sreedharan (Asian Heroes)
Getting New Delhi on track

Asian Heroes: The Good Women of Gujarat (Asia)
A sisterhood nurses the wounds of a battered state

Asian Heroes: Dolgorsuren Dagvadorj (Asian Heroes)
Possessing the strength to lift an entire nation

Asian Heroes: Chin Chin Gutierrez (Asian Heroes)
A Natural Beauty

Asian Heroes: Dr. Cynthia Maung (Asian Heroes)
Healer of broken souls

Asian Heroes: Hideki Matsui (Asian Heroes)
Godzilla Vs. the Americans

Asian Heroes: Satoshi Fukushima (Asian Heroes)
Sightless Visionary

Asian Heroes: Yoko Ono (Asian Heroes)
Rebirth of a renaissance rebel

Asian Heroes: Ryuichi Sakamoto (Asian Heroes)
Good deeds on the cutting edge

Asian Heroes: Asma Jahangir (Asian Heroes)
The pocket protector

Asian Heroes: Surayud Chulanont (Asian Heroes)
A soldier who answered to the people

Asian Heroes: Paradorn Srichaphan (Asian Heroes)
A rising Thai tennis star wins—and smiles—big

Asian Heroes: Gulla Jan Hairran (Asian Heroes)
Kabul's Prometheus


Regional Affair
As officials kept up the denials, China's SARS epidemic was spreading to regions ill-equipped to fight the bug

Silent For Too Long
Beijing is calling for an end to the SARS cover-up, but the damage to China's credibility has been done

Why Viruses are Hard to Kill
The latest SARS science

Where the Scrubbing Never Stops (Essay)
There are fewer jobs, concerts and karaoke. But Hong Kong can enjoy the swabbing

To China with Love (Crime)
A case involving sex, double-crossing and pilfered secrets exposes embarrassing lapses at the FBI


Reprocessing Talk
On the eve of talks, the Dear Leader reminds us he's as dangerous as ever

Verbatim
Quotes of the week


Golf of Siam
Thailand's caddies are its best-kept secret

Keeping Time
TIME picks the best fêtes in Asia this May