“London Vanishing Point”

Taxes: More and more superrich Germans are settling in the British capital on account of its favourable tax laws. Flick, Sachs, Engelhorn & Co. formally store away their billion-dollar fortunes in tax havens and enjoy their money untroubled by the German fiscal authorities. Anyone living in London only has to declare the overseas income which they actually bring into the country and whatever they earn in the UK. The money of the super-rich is perfectly legitimately put into a so-called off-shore trust, based in tax havens such as the channel island Jersey, the Bermudas or in Panama. Here the capital can multiply without the British tax authorities showing any interest in it. Only the money that is actually needed for living in the UK has to be declared.

“Riding a Razor Blade”

Russia: Substantial growth rates, billion-dollar deals and an ex-member of the Comsomol who is trying his hand at becoming a global player – Russia’s economy is in the headlines. But with essential reforms being delayed, economists are warning that the upswing hangs by a thread. What is missing most of all is lateral growth. Its dependence on oil and gas makes the Russian economy highly vulnerable. There continues to be a lack of small and medium-sized companies which are the real growth drivers of an economy – in EU countries, 60 percent of all employees work for this kind of company, in Russia they account for just 20 percent.

“Saddams Black Billions”

Iraq: The United Nations embargo against Baghdad was just a book-keeping trick. Billions of Iraqi dollars were pumped into brass-plate companies all over the world, mainly via Switzerland. What has happened to the money? The Ticino trail is hazy and confused. Discreet lawyers and businessmen in 500 square metre villas with a lake view, obscure companies with well-polished brass plates outside their door, dubious documents and a number of unsolved deaths – this is the environment in which Baghdad’s oil billions disappeared. Since the Saddam Clan ran the state as a kind of family enterprise, it is difficult to determine how much of the overseas fortune belongs to the ruling camarilla and how much belongs to the Republic of Iraq.

“Breaking Saudi Control”

Iraq: Following Saddam’s downfall, the contours of America’s new Middle Eastern order are beginning to take shape. A democratic Iraq is to replace unreliable Saudi Arabia as the main US ally. At the centre of the reconstruction efforts: the oil industry. With the end of the war, a definite 115 billion and believed 200 billion barrels of oil reserves have moved out of Saddam’s hands and into the Washington’s sphere of influence – theoretically enough to quench the huge US thirst for oil right up until 2100. Before this, however, huge investments would be necessary. It is estimated that increasing Iraqi oil production to 3.5 million barrels by 2005, the level it was at in the late 1980s, would cost about six billion dollars.

“Flying Furnace”

Astronomy: The hunt for distant planets is being taken to new levels by a new investigation technique. Will researchers soon find a second Earth? The new, more sensitive transit method could now make it possible to discover smaller stellar companions. The trick is that when an unknown planet passes (i.e. “transits”) between its sun and the observer, it blots out a tiny portion of the star’s light, much like a moth fluttering across the beam of a bright lamp.

“Courtship Games in the Apple Tree”

Wildlife: In many Masurian villages, there are more storks than human inhabitants. But modern farming methods are depriving the waders of their food and nesting places. Biologists are deeply worried about Poland’s bearers of glad tidings. With a huge population of 40,900 breeding pairs counted during the last international census, in 1994, Poland has more storks than any other country in Europe – Germany, by contrast, had a meagre 4063 breeding pairs. Every year, the gliders use the warm up-currents to fly thousands of kilometres from their winter homes in the south back to the region around Zywokowo. It is no coincidence that the colonies are larger in the villages along the border with the Russian enclave Kaliningrad than anywhere else: there are still good hunting grounds here, where the storks “can go for a walk and enjoy” as Krzysztof Molecki of the local society for the protection of birds puts it.

World Alliance of the Virus Hunters”

A worldwide network of scientists is being coordinated from Geneva: The virologists from Hong Kong are contributing clinical experience, the hamburg scientists a Sars-test, a collegue from Canada is inspiring them with his doubts. Together they want to defeat the latest enemy of mankind.

“The Ballad of the Sad Child”

Authors: Sophie Dahl, granddaughter of the author Roald Dahl, became famous as a British supermodel, Mick Jagger’s lover and Yves Saint Laurent’s muse. Now she has written a book herself. Some people describe it as a novel; but it is more of a pop song than a book. You could call it a ballad, the daydreams of a sad girl. It is to be produced as a film, and Sophie Dahl wants Tim Burton to direct it, which would be very fitting.

“Arabian Might”

Reconstruction: A big job awaits Kanan Makiya in Iraq. George W. Bush’s advisor is to draw up the country’s constitution; but returning to Baghdad after 34 years he will have to explain to America that Iraq wants more democracy than planned.

“General Invisible”

Baghdad: Ahmed Rahal, a high-ranking military official and confidant of Saddam Hussein, believed in the ideals of the Ba’ath Party and fought for the Arab cause. Now he has gone into hiding, terrified of the American soldiers – and will have to begin a new life.

“A Rich Failure”

Soccer: Saadi Gaddafi, the son of Libyan head of state Mu’ammer, is football crazy. He plays forward in the national team, invests in Italian professional clubs and invites renowned teams to Tripoli for friendly games. His most ambitious project is to host the 2010 World Cup in Libya. At his father’s request, Saadi is trying to end the international isolation of the desert kingdom through his keen interest in sports.