"Bomb-Grade Material in the Boxroom"

Radioactive materials: A nuclear smuggler is now under investigation in Bavaria too. Many plants resemble a free-for-all, because the authorities underestimated the risk. The cases of Erlangen and Karlsruhe are a disaster for the environmental authorities. Apparently their contingency plans did not cover the case of petty criminals or oddballs simply pinching radioactive material from a nuclear factory.

"Israel Is Bringing Disaster upon the Region"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Ibrahim al-Naimi on the failure of the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, the explosive situation in the Middle East and Riad’s expectations towards the US government in Washington, as well as OPEC's new oil price strategy:

“We expect the American administration to be impartial and balanced. There is after all a difference between a people like the Palestinians struggling against an occupying power with stones in their bare hands, and the sophisticated military power Israel carrying out devastating attacks using the most up-to-date weaponry. … By using unnecessary violence, the Israeli government is playing with fire. … OPEC has changed completely since then. We are dealing with an entirely new organisation. … We are prepared for everything. When demand increases, we extract more, when it drops, the supply is reduced. This mechanism works quite well and the price of oil has fluctuated between 22 and 28 dollars as a result.”

"Traces of Death, Dead Trails"

Terrorist attacks: The attack shook the entire nation – after an explosion on a railway bridge in Düsseldorf, Germany finally took rigorous action against right-wing extremists. Now, a year later, the investigators have made some new discoveries, but still don’t know who carried out the attack. All they have is a vague idea: did the bomb perhaps come from Eastern Europe? The examination carried out by the Armed Forces revealed the most interesting detail of the entire mammoth investigation. The explosive used, TNT, contained a “minute quantity of TNB”, a similar explosive – probably an “impurity due to unclean conditions while manufacturing the explosive”. One investigator has suggested that “the explosives probably came from dubious, Eastern sources.”

Narcotics trade: Apparently, money has been laundered in Liechtenstein for the Cali drug cartel.

"System of the Dead Souls"

Slave labourers: Random sampling reveals that the checks carried out while processing the applications for compensation in the East are sloppy. Is Germany making the same mistake as it did in the early 1990’s? In 1993 Germany paid 400 million marks each in reparations to Russia and Ukraine, and 200 million marks to Belarus. As a lump sum without any checks. The Russians mislaid 130 million of it, the Belarussians about 100 million. It is not as if everything had vanished, though. No, the Nazi’s victims did receive a modest share. According to the shampuryi principle, as the Russians call it: shampuryi being the name for a kebab skewer. Everyone is allowed to take a piece, the slave labourers are the last in the line. The Russians are eager to start afresh. The leadership that was partly responsible for the Russian share in the scandal was replaced in May. Replaced by a new management which, admittedly, does not have an entirely clean record either.

"t's Madness"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Meg Whitman, 44-year-old boss of the on-line auction house EBay, on the future of e-commerce, those who are to blame for the stock market crash, and the world-wide expansion of her company, one of the very few to make money on the Internet:

“Today, nobody doubts that revenues have got to increase more rapidly than expenses. Unfortunately almost nobody has stuck to that law over the past two years. … EBay is one of the few entirely e-commerce companies in the world that is truly profitable. … EBay was and is a company programmed for sound growth and profitability. … The Internet is profoundly changing a number of industries right now – Napster is a good example of this. … But whereas we started charging fees from day one, Napster is still free. The exciting question will be whether Bertelsmann is also able to collect money from music freaks through Napster. … My strategy is clear: auction house plus fixed-price sales, that’s where the future lies. EBay should be expanded to become a leading e-commerce brand dealing world-wide in new and second-hand products.”

"The Grzimek of the East"

Behavioural research: Fifty years ago, a Berlin biologist started Europe’s largest archives for animal voices. The arduously hoarded tapes may seem strangely anachronistic in a time when orcas, spiders and jerboas can be heard on the Internet, but they are invaluable to traditional biological research. At conferences, the old professor has now revealed a new passion: he is conducting an unusual form of comparative study. Recently he explained that Goebbels’ famous question “Do you want total war?” – like Erich Honecker’s “Long live the 40th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic” – resembles the scream of an excited chimpanzee driving its troop to stand united during fights over social rank.

"Every Escape Opens up Your Eyes"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Austrian writer Christoph Ransmayr on walks with Claus Peymann and Reinhold Messner, writing in different surroundings and his first play “The Invisible” which opens at the Salzburg Festival, directed by Peymann:

“My attending the premiere is a gesture towards those involved, who are making “The Invisible” visible on stage. Apart from that there was an unspoken agreement that I would leave Peymann and everyone else in peace. … I’m quite certain that the director and the ensemble will do everything to make this story their own. … While he was still the theatre manager of Vienna's Burgtheater, Claus Peymann invited me on several occasions to write something for the stage. When he left Vienna I reminded him that my plays had long been completed and performed. Because they were produced verbally during our joint walks and rambles, whether in Ireland, Austria or elsewhere out in the open air, in the “Open-air Theatre” so to speak. … My travels and rambles with Messner sometimes pushed me to the limits of my own strength. I have no sporting ambitions whatsoever. … A lot changed with the invention of the notebook computer. When the window of the screen lights up I hardly care where I am, be it a hotel room or a departure lounge. And wherever it opens, I find myself inside my story.”