To Our Readers

For the past few months, we’ve been quietly trying to shake things up at TIME’s Asian edition. We have expanded the staff, bringing in many talented correspondents, writers and editors who are already making waves. We’ve hired several new reporters to improve our coverage of the region and particularly of its business and technology. And with this issue we’re starting to roll out some new features. Check out the opening editorial pages, now called Starting Time. We’ve introduced a smarter look and a few new items. For example, we’re building on TIME’s Person of the Year and Person of the Century franchises to designate a Person of the Week. Similar to those other honors, it will go to the person who, for better or worse, has created the biggest splash during the previous seven dayswhether it’s by doing good, making headlines or just keeping us all entertained. Our initial winner is a baddy, Abraham Abdallah, the audacious busboy in New York City who allegedly managed to accumulate phony credit cards of Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and countless other rich folks to pull off one of the simplest, yet most outrageous, frauds ever. The front of our book is now also filled with lively, amusing and often irreverent takes on the news, an effort led by Anthony Spaeth, our Senior Writer/Editor who recently relocated to Hong Kong from New Delhi. Spaeth is a talented wordsmith and, no less critically for this job, one of the world’s truly funny people. Assisting him is Brian Bennett, a recent recruit to TIME who, in just a few months on the job, has shown considerable flair in reporting, writing and finding the offbeat side of things.

The other feature we’re debuting this week is Global Agenda, Michael Elliott’s new weekly column. Elliott, who lives in New York, is one of the great journalistic talents of our time, having held top jobs at the Economist, Newsweek and, most recently, eCountries. Over the years he has also served as a law professor, a civil servant and a TV documentary filmmaker. The column will focus on the global economy and how it’s changing all of our lives. This week’s effort starts with news of a recent catamaran circumnavigation and ends up making some insightful observations about the state of world trade. It’s classic Elliott: smart, entertaining and on the mark.