“Judgement on the Bosporus”

Cover story: Is there an element of truth at the heart of the legend of the Flood? Scientists have discovered a sunken Stone Age landscape on the floor of the Black Sea. Apparently a deluge 200 times more powerful than the Niagara Falls drowned the first farmers 7500 years ago.

“Incredibly Loud Roaring”

SPIEGEL interview with geologist Burkhard Flemming on the Black Sea’s prehistoric flood:

“We know that up to about 7000 years ago, this body of water was actually a fresh-water lake, and only filled up with sea water as a result of a sudden event, a cataclysmic flood.”

“The Ban on Bone Meal Will Remain”

SPIEGEL interview with German agricultural minister Karl Heinz Funke on the BSE crisis, government failings and the opportunities of ecological farming.

“He’s Down There”

Asylum: When the Berlin police stormed a therapeutic office with its guns drawn in order to arrest a Kurd, he jumped out of the window for fear of being extradited.

“Krenz versus Germany”

Justice: The European Court of Human Rights could inflict an embarrassing defeat on Berlin. The chances of the last head of government of the GDR to be recognised as a victim aren’t bad. Essentially the question that everything revolves around in the Alsatian metropolis is whether the reunited German state ignored a cornerstone of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms when it sentenced Krenz and Co. Article 7 states that there can be no punishment without a law – a categorical imperative which explains the famous “prohibition of retroactivity”. A judgement in Strasbourg that declared the “prohibition of retroactivity” to be sacrosanct would have far-reaching consequences. Not only in the case of Egon Krenz would a retrial be inevitable – the entire legal process of coming to terms with the past that went along with the country’s reunification would come apart at the seams.

“Yes, We Made Mistakes”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Thomas Haffa, boss of EM.TV, on his company’s breakdown, the forfeited trust of the investors, the role of Leo Kirch and his own future as an entrepreneur:

“We made mistakes during the acquisition phase, by not keeping step in operative terms with the scope that would have been necessary in view of the dimensions of our investments. … Formula One is an attractive topic for many people, which is why we also held intensive talks with two other interested parties. But we reached the conclusion that the Kirch Group fit best. … We are going to try to restore confidence by producing sound figures and reports. If that doesn’t succeed, then I’ll probably have to take the consequences – and resign.…”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Ibrahim Rugova on the relationship with Serbia and the independence of Kosovo

“Jerusalem Is the Key”

SPIEGEL interview with Arafat’s chief of security Mohammed Dahlan on terrorism and the path to peace:

“We are entitled to defend ourselves. Are we supposed to look on while Israel occupies our country again and again? Isn’t firing rockets at our towns an act of terror? … If Israel gives us our part of Jerusalem, Haram-El-Sharif, then we will once again have the possibility to talk.”

Article about the anger, rage and derision aimed at DaimlerChrysler boss Jürgen Schrempp. The message is usually the same: the German boss took the Americans to the cleaners and then even went on to make fun of them.

“Lethal News Fever”

Journalists: More reporters are killed in Columbia than in any other country in the world, nine so far this year. They are wiped out by guerrillas, paramilitary forces and drug barons – and sometimes simply destroyed by their own editorial offices under the pressure of circulation and audience rating figures.

“This Part Belongs to Me”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with actor Bruno Ganz on the long journey to Goethe’s “Faust” and the surprise success of his Italian cinema comedy “Bread and Tulips”:

“If anyone can tell me something about “Faust II” then that person is definitely Peter Stein, with his analytical capabilities and his highly developed sense of dramaturgy. That interested me. But I always told Stein that there were other parts that were much more tempting to me. No one other than Stein could have got me to do “Faust” … Like all of us I would have liked to end up in Hollywood. But I’d have had to go about it quite differently. I would have had to let myself in for things that I didn’t really want to do. … I was told 20 years ago that I shouldn’t be in cinema because I was so obsessed with language. I hope to have disproved that. But “Faust” is language, and you have to confront it. Everyday chatter does pose problems for me, that’s true. But I don’t have to speak with everyone as if Botho Strauß had written the dialogue. I often find I don’t need to speak at all.”

“It Strengthens Your Ego”

Body cult: More and more celebrities are getting tattoos – and proudly showing off their dermal adornment in public. The tattoo, once sneered at as a stigmatic stamp of the lower classes, has become a trademark of the trend elite in a narcissistic body-focused culture.

“Saving Your Skin”

SPIEGEL interview with cultural historian Stephan Oettermann on the significance of tattoos:

“I think tattoos are a sign of the crisis of the individual. … The possibilities for individuals to withdraw are dwindling; if you want to win through, you necessarily have to become a lone fighter. … Fundamentally, a key function of tattoos is to draw a dividing line, to separate the in-group from the out-group.”

“The Dictator’s Final Countdown”

Authors: The major new novel by Spanish writer Rafael Chirbes, “The Fall of Madrid”, spans a single day in November 1975 – a many-voiced literary recollection of the transition from dictatorship to democracy.

“Dealer in Valhalla”

Music theatre: With a dazzling production of “Rheingold”, the Canadian director Robert Carsen is starting a new Wagner “Ring” in Cologne – and 24 prisoners are taking part in the production.

“A Lashing Ball”

Medicine: Many patients are prescribed a neck collar after being involved in collisions. But the tight-fitting support usually does more harm than good.

“Clouds above the Love Nest”

No sooner have Stefan Kretzschmar and Franziska van Almsick made their relationship publicly known than the complaints are mounting. The Magdeburg handball players are worried about the championships. The fact that Franzi, of all people, the first media darling of a united Germany, should now be threatening to trample one of the few blossoms produced by the East, has cut the region to the quick.

“200 Operas by Mozart?”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with molecular biologist Jens Reich on modern biology and fundamental ethical values:

“Wanting to make people is something outrageously new. Optimising human beings in their biological foundations according to some criteria or other – be they of a biological, economic or political nature – would be more than just breeding. And we don’t want to breed human beings. … I’m one of those people who believe that we as human beings are more than just a biological species, that mankind is worth more than simply the sum of its biological constituents, including the genome. To me this basic position is sacrosanct.”