COVER

The Good Samaritans (Persons of the Year)

For being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow, Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono are TIME's Persons of the Year.

The Constant Charmer (Persons of the Year)

The inside story of how the world's biggest rock star mastered the political game and persuaded the world's leaders to take on global poverty. And he's not done yet

From Riches to Rags (Persons of the Year)

Imagine a kinder, humbler Microsoft—one designed to spend money, not make it. That's the kind of philanthropy Bill and Melinda Gates have invented. The story of a very risky venture

Standing Tall (Persons of the Year / Asian Newsmaker)

Mixing statecraft and stagecraft, Junichiro Koizumi has Japan feeling good againbut he's straining regional relations

"We Just Go Off" (Persons of the Year/Interview)

Bono, Bill and Melinda Gates talk to TIME

MILESTONEES

A Fond Farewell (Persons of the Year / Milestones)

Saying goodbye to Pope John Paul II, Peter Jennings, Rosa Parks and many others the world lost in 2005

SOUTH PACIFIC

End of a Highway to Hell

His killer has been convicted, but a British tourist shot in the Australian Outback is still not laid to rest

Culture War on the Beaches

Mobs of young men bring mayhem to a southern Sydney suburb, prompting Australians to wonder what's happened to their live-and-let-live country