“The Most Powerful Car in the World”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Volkswagen boss Ferdinand Piëch on his Stuttgart competitor’s disaster with Chrysler, his own strategy for a luxury brand and his successor as head of the group:

“A year ago, when I was asked how this wonderful merger would work I already said: I’m waiting for the interpersonal problems. They were bound to happen, as our experiences with Seat had shown. It wasn’t the fault of the company that was taken over, or of the group taking it over; but as a rule both partners make mistakes and the bottom line is the worst possible outcome. … This year we are going to produce the best figures in our company’s history. That isn’t so bad. … I wouldn’t build a Bugatti like that if we didn’t have the three-litre Lupo as a counterweight. We will be building 250 three-litre Lupos every week, and only a single Bugatti – so the Bugatti is not even noticeable in the fuel consumption of the fleet as a whole. … There is an abundance of self-proclaimed successors inside our group, and outside it. Two or three of them can be taken seriously. At some stage, in a year’s time we’ll see what happens.”

“My Life Has Become Crazy”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with the founder of Napster, Shawn Fanning, 20, on the fun of programming, the future of his free music-swapping Web site and the deal with Bertelsmann:

“I didn’t start Napster because I wanted to start up a business, but because I was hoping to improve an idea. Then the whole thing grew so quickly that we had to found a company. … You sit there, drink coffee and punch programming lines into the computer for three days in a row. That’s cool. … There will be a component that people will have to pay for if they want to become part of the Napster community. How much that will be we cannot say at the moment. And then there will be a free component that costs them nothing.”

“Ugly Events”

Anti-Semitism: The CSU in a Bavarian town is trying to prevent local attacks on Jews from being made public. Now the Chancellor is publicising them throughout the country. On Monday, Gerhard Schröder is visiting the Jewish community of Weiden and its chairwoman Gabriele Brenner (47), and will be declaring his solidarity. Four times this year Jews have been victims of attacks in the North Bavarian town. Attacks that Lord Mayor Hans Schröpf of the CSU party and his town council would prefer not to speak about, least of all in public.

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Swedish prime minister Göran Persson, who will be assuming the presidency of the EU on January 1, about his aims for Sweden’s period in office and what he intends to do differently from the French.

“When the Amelanchier Blossoms”

Chancellor’s office: The new government headquarters are almost finished. Their monumental size, high fences and cold exterior are provoking strong rejection. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder starts to shiver even as he approaches the fenced-in colossus made of concrete and glass – no homely places nearby, no shops, no apartments, no bars. Pedestrians are kept at a distance by stone bollards, a lattice fence and mighty walls. At eye level the building is nothing but a white block of concrete. At night the brightly illuminated strip of ground with its cold arc lamps arouses memories of East Germany’s old border. But the forceful outward impression fades away inside.

“Our Heart is Ablaze”

Lebanon: The south of the cedar nation is unable to settle down after the withdrawal of the Israelis. Hizbullah fighters, Palestinian refugees and its powerful neighbour Syria are obstructing peace in the Middle East.

“Sawdust in the Ointment”

Medicine: Pregnancy in spite of contraceptive pills, a meningitis epidemic after inoculations with water, infirmity due to watered-down antibiotics. Pharmaceutical pirates are ruining the health of the poor with drug copies. In some developing countries, half of all medicines are forgeries. The mafia for phoney medicines pockets well over 20 billion marks year after year. Churches and organisations such as “Doctors without Frontiers” have therefore long been calling for the pharmaceutical industry to lower the price of life-saving drugs and to issue licenses for so-called generic drugs – legal, inexpensive imitation products which are similar in quality to the original. One obstacle so far is a new passage in the world trade regulations which extends the duration of patents on medicines from ten to 20 years.

“Ravaging Mother Earth”

Environment: Almost a quarter of global land surfaces threaten to become wastelands or deserts. At a conference in Bonn, the United Nations is discussing measures against soil death. This is already the fourth meeting of its kind, but successes are slow in coming. Overgrazing, deforestation, and inappropriate farming methods are the main causes of the parched prospects. But even though the problem has been known for decades, projects aiming to combat the looming soil disaster have shown little effect so far.

“Generation XXL”

SPIEGEL cover story: Medical doctors are sounding the alarm. One German woman in three and one German man in two is overweight. World-wide, obesity has risen to become the number one health risk, ahead of hunger and infections. What is particularly threatening is that the epidemic is more and more prevalent among children too. In Germany, this widespread obesity is estimated to cost 50 billion marks a year, most of it spent on treating the numerous resulting health disorders.

“Signals from the Church Tower”

Musicians: Throughout his life, the pianist Sviatoslav Richter blamed his mother for his father’s execution. He was mistaken.

“The Audience Is Always Right”

Film business: In the United States and Germany, numerous films are currently flopping after being launched with high expectations. The anaemic trade is plunging the giants of the industry, the multiplexes, into a crisis. These multiplexes have been going up in German urban centres since the early 1990s – amusement palaces with an average of nine auditoriums, intended to offer their audiences a true “experience” with outstanding projection technology, spacious foyers and sumptuous culinary offers. However the result has often been cold, noisy and chaotic factories for reeling off films, in which discerning visitors have felt snubbed. The operators of the 122 German multiplexes have miscalculated on a grand scale: this year they wanted to lure 200 million viewers into their maxi theatres – instead of which the figure is only likely to be around 150 million.