October 11, 2004 | Vol. 164, No. 14

COVER

20 under 40 (Asia's Heroes)

TIME presents twenty members of a new generation taking the stage in Asia

Liu Xiang (Asia's Heroes)

A hurdler runs for his peopleand winsat Athens

John Wood (Asia's Heroes)

A former executive makes literacy his life

Pham Thi Hue (Asia's Heroes)

Vietnam's HIV-positive activist

Mukhtar Mai (Asia's Heroes)

A Pakistani woman defies tribal law

Ichiro Suzuki (Asia's Heroes)

America's new hit king is 100% Japanese

Ahmad Nader Nadery (Asia's Heroes)

The man Afghan warlords fear

Houch Houan (Asia's Heroes)

Cambodia's ranger protects a national park

Nigo (Asia's Heroes)

The founder of A Bathing Ape is Japan's model of cool

Shah Rukh Khan (Asia's Heroes)

India's hottest idol is an everyday guy

Sabriye Tenberken (Asia's Heroes)

She brings light to the blind in Tibet

Gautam Goswami (Asia's Heroes)

A bureaucrat saves India's flood victims

Jackie Hung (Asia's Heroes)

A Hong Kong woman battles for democracy

Yuan Yuan Tan (Asia's Heroes)

From China to San Francisco, a ballet star

Anoushka Shankar (Asia's Heroes)

Keeping Indian music classic

Song Aree (Asia's Heroes)

Korean women are sweeping golf's prizes

Muttiah Muralitharan (Asia's Heroes)

A cricketer spins into controversy

Royston Tan (Asia's Heroes)

Challenging the Establishment in Singapore

Hong Suk Chun (Asia's Heroes)

Not afraid to be gay in South Korea

Yuuya Yagira (Asia's Heroes)

A teen lights up the screen

Butet Manurung (Asia's Heroes)

Teaching the people of the forest

The Power of People (Asia's Heroes)

Heroism, in any age, is a mix of accident and idealism

ASIA

A Sickness Spreads

A tragic case in Thailand indicates that bird flu can be transmitted from one human to another

The City as Hope and Horror (Essay)

A new book about Bombay reveals the future for all of us

BRIEFING

Up in Arms (Notebook)

Taiwan says it will strike back in kind if China sends missiles its way

Keeping the Home Fires Burning (Notebook)

As the Australian election campaign winds up, domestic issues remain at the top of the agenda

Milestones (Notebook)

Geoffrey Beene dies; Britain's Gurkhas gain rights

Verbatim (Notebook)

Quotes of the Week

Letters (Notebook)

The Struggle Within Islam