The Great Game (Cover Story)
Macau is in the middle of a building spree that will turn the former colony into Asia's Las Vegas—or maybe something even bigger

Asia's Next Strategy (Cover Story)
Betting on Casinos

Synergy (Cover Story)
Spreading that old Disney magic


The Common Touch (Cover Story)
He's tough and controversial, but Thaksin Shinawatra looks poised to ride massive popular support to a second term as Thailand's Prime Minister

Can Thaksin Lead Southeast Asia? (Viewpoint)
Thaksin needs to reach out to the region's Muslims if he wants to play a leadership role

A Mixed Record (Timeline)
Since he became Thailand's Prime Minister four years ago, Thaksin Shinawatra has inspired both adulation and animosity


Missing in Action
Is Pyongyang still in the kidnapping game?

Evil Ant Invasion!
As a plague of insects descends on southern China, authorities wonder how to stop them — and who's to blame

An Olympian Takes a Dive
Star athlete Tian Liang is kicked off China's national diving team

Milestones
Philip Johnson, architectural icon

Verbatim
Quotes of the Week

Letters
Reader's Letters: Sea of Sorrow


Emergency Measures
Avian flu is on the rise in Vietnam and is now endemic in much of Asia. Can heightened vigilance keep it at bay?

Code of the Frontier
An alleged rape by four soldiers rallies the tribes of Baluchistan province against the Pakistani army

China's Market Maladies
Despite a roaring economy, mainland stocks are in the dumps, and Beijing's remedies aren't working

A Chance to Talk (Global Agenda)
From poverty to disease, the Europeans once again set the Davos agenda


It's Raining Sardines
Haruki Murakami's novel Kafka on the Shore is a sublimely weird, compulsively readable blockbuster


Elvis Has Left the Barracks (TIME Global Adviser)
The King's army career is commemorated in a new German exhibition

House of Calm (TIME Global Adviser)
An Asian style that preaches beauty in imperfection

Cutting-Edge Ceramics (TIME Global Adviser)

State of the Art (TIME Global Adviser)
ARCO showcases the latest and greatest contemporary art from all over the globe

Tito's Tank Engine (TIME Global Adviser)
Follow in the tracks of Yugoslavia's former leader with a day trip on the Blue Train