"'Zico' and the 'Mosque Hopper'"

Terrorism: One of those killed in the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11 was the son of a German family that runs a restaurant. By an astonishing coincidence the victim and a man now under suspicion knew each other - one of the alleged helpers of the suicide pilots once worked for the family as a dishwasher.

"Living Corpse"

Accounting: Does Deutsche Bank cook its books? In its balance sheet, a high-loss US shareholding, which has largely been dissolved, is still valued at a grand 800 million dollars. If the company no longer existed, the entire amount would have to be written off - considerably reducing the bank's second quarter profits. Instead, the bank claims to have merged most of NDB's activities with Deutsche Bank's, while carrying on a small part under the established name. Hence, it says, there was no need to write off the asset.

"Fundamental Analysis"

Telekom: Four weeks after Ron Sommer's resignation, the new head of Telekom, Helmut Sihler, is presenting his cost-cutting package. Surprises are unlikely. Instead, new trouble looms with the public prosecutor. All in all, one billion euros are to be saved every year - yet that is scarcely a quarter of the annual interest payments. Apparently the new man, who has a doctor's degree in law, has not yet looked into other important issues such as a realistic portrayal of the company assets. The public prosecutor's office in Bonn and the Federal Audit Office in Berlin are studying a report they received a few weeks ago, which presents the exact circumstances surrounding the purchase of Voicestream, and which could get the telecommunications giant into very hot water.

"High Hurdles"

Aviation: For months, the developers of the superjet A380 at Airbus have been struggling to slim down the giant. Every excess pound put on by aircraft components, wings, tail unit or landing gear leaves potential customers with a costly price to pay: the dead weight has to be transported throughout the entire life of the aircraft. More weight means higher fuel consumption and accordingly less useful payload. From the start, Airbus went to the very limit of what could be achieved using current technology, in order to trim the A380 into a flying cost-cutter. From the tip of the nose to end of the tail unit, developers selected extremely light materials to exploit every conceivable saving in weight. But even the diet they have adhered to so far does not appear to have produced the necessary result.

"The Second Chance"

Russia: Surpluses in foreign trade and in the national budget, the return of many Western investors - and the ground-breaking adoption into the club of the world's leading economies. Has Moscow finally made it, and is the path to a social market economy clear at last, after years of predatory capitalism? Already, 70 percent of all economic productivity is attributable to the private sector. In 2002 Russia will, for the fourth year running, experience clear economic growth. Once again, the country finds itself at a crossroad. If it was only a matter of economic strength, Moscow could easily be ignored. Russia's share in world trade is less than 2 percent, lower than that of Belgium. But it is about much more than just economic figures: Russia is still the second largest nuclear power - and now a vital partner for the West in making arrangements for peace, from the Middle East to Central Asia and India. If this nation, which covers the largest area of land in the world, were to sink in a quagmire of social unrest and armed conflict, the world would face a conflict on an apocalyptic scale.

"I Must Not Give Up"

SPIEGEL interview with the Russian minister of trade and commerce, German Gref, about Russia's upswing, the new entrepreneurs and his German heritage:

"We have to shut down unprofitable state-owned enterprises. … We want to reduce inflation by 2 percent per year, but not stop it artificially. … Now we have to expand our exports of high-quality goods, such as mechanical engineering products, nuclear fuels, space technologies. … There is a new generation of entrepreneurs who work respectably, earning good money with their own companies in the high-tech sector but also in the food industry. … What we are lacking is capable management in the state and in the business sector. … We have to get better quickly."

"Natan the Orphan"

Israel: Jerusalem's deputy prime minister Natan Sharansky is regarded as being a confidant of the US government and a source of ideas for George W. Bush. He shares responsibility for Israel's tough stance and shows little compassion for the Palestinians - remarkable for a man who was in the gulag for six years. "I don't want to govern the Palestinians for ever, and I certainly do see their appalling living conditions," says Sharansky. But, he adds, cordoning off the autonomous regions is necessary in times of terrorism. And he believes that the destruction of houses in which terrorists once lived and the extradition of family members are also legitimate means of fighting against violence. And he remains optimistic: "Even if I soon end up being the last optimist left in Israel," Palestine will become democratic and will become a partner in peace.

"The Future's Looking Bleak"

Biotechnology: Martinsried is the breeding ground for German biotechnology. Nurtured by subsidies to the tune of millions, more companies have crowded into the southern suburb of Munich than anywhere else in the country. But recently, the first cracks have appeared in Edmund Stoiber's model project: insolvencies, unlet premises and resistance among the local inhabitants.

"Can This Still Be a Coincidence?"

SPIEGEL debate between the climatologists Mojib Latif and Heinz Miller about the increase in extreme meteorological conditions, the extent of the human contribution to global warming, and the weaknesses of computer simulations:

Miller: "The catastrophic floods have nothing to do with the greenhouse effect. … We should be wary about drawing premature conclusions from the temperature increase of the last one hundred years. … All the computer models that are used to simulate the climate are still very imperfect representations of the real world. There are many interactions that we don't properly understand yet. This means that entirely coincidental patterns can arise in the models."

Latif: "Our models clearly show that the likelihood of extreme rainfall is going to continue to increase. … Unfortunately, the impression often given is that our climate models keep on spitting out new predictions. But that isn't the case. We keep including more and more new processes. Yet in spite of all these refinements, the result is always the same: the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere will increase by about three degrees over the next 100 years."

"Easter Bunny and Work Horse"

Cars: Mazda is the last car maker in the world to continue to back the Wankel engine. The manufacturer claims that it promises extremely high mileage, but can this promise be kept? When asked about the actual mileage of the RX-8, Mazda remains rather quiet.

"Croesus in a Tight Spot"

Music: The music scene is alarmed about speculations that the superrich opera patron Alberto Vilar is in financial trouble. In spite of big losses, the benefactor wants to "fulfil all [his] promises".

"Triumph of Aversion"

Film directors: Leni Riefenstahl, who would have turned 100 this week, is famous throughout the world and yet scarcely recognised in Germany - what is it that the Germans cannot forgive her for? The German aversion, the anger at Riefenstahl can perhaps only be explained by the fact that she mastered and perfected a totally new, popular art form - while at the same time depriving that art form of its innocence in the moment of its inception. Riefenstahl showed how a body could become a monument, how an average face could become a character actor, how a moustachioed madman could become a charismatic hero. Her films show once and for all what a camera is capable of doing, and how our emotions and thoughts are at the mercy of the images. Thanks to her work, we mistrust ourselves.

"Disciples of Terror"

Exile: 13 militant Palestinians who occupied the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and were exiled from their home country by Israel as top-level terrorists are now living in Europe -prisoners deluxe. Are they tomorrow's sleepers? Initially they are meant to stay in Europe for one year, but no one knows what is to happen to them then. Three of the men are in Spain. They represent a random sample of the Palestinian milieu. Their biographies lead you into a society grounded in hatred and desperation, in political naivety and intrigues. Two in Bethlehem, one in Amman: they were born in peace and nevertheless became children of war. The first intifada, which began in 1987, was their generation's uprising.

"Into the Big Wide World with Rocky"

Boxing: Eva Rolle is the first woman to try her hand as a promoter in the boxing business. Her biggest coup to date: an audience with the top string-puller Don King. Her arrival hit the boxing world like a culture shock, in two different ways. On the one hand, boxing has always been a men's domain, in which women are only tolerated as companions or to carry scoreboards around the ring between the rounds. On the other hand, the macho guild hadn't reckoned on a resolute newcomer like Eva Rolle.

"Farce in Dreamland"

Tennis: The unsolved scandal concerning two positive doping tests proves that instead of fighting performance-enhancing drugs offensively, tennis officials are trying to cover up the embarrassing issue. On the eve of the US Open, the atmosphere among the players is one of mistrust. Those responsible display no desire to clarify the situation, and so more and more tennis pros feel at a disadvantage in the battle for million-euro salaries - and more and more often they voice their suspicions of manipulation. Only a limited improvement is in sight -because the ITF is one of the last international associations still not to have signed an agreement with the World Anti-Doping Agency.