"They Can Only Chase Me Away"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with oil billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovski about the power struggle with the secret service faction in the Kremlin, the attitude of President Vladimir Putin towards the oligarch, and the chances of a Western-style democracy in Russia:

"No one in Russia doubts that Putin will be re-elected next spring. ... It's now a question of setting the course in terms of who will have an influence on the president's decisions, which course Russia will opt for in future. ... These days, the battle front in Russia no longer runs between those in favour of privatisation on the one hand and those in favour of nationalisation on the other. It runs between the people with a military or intelligence background, who want to set up a free market economy without a civilian society. And on the other hand those who think that a free market cannot be achieved without economic transparency, political pluralism and independent media. The contradiction between these two groups will become more pronounced during Putin's next term of office. Russia is not going to prosper unless it develops towards the rule of law and a civilian society."

"We're Not Hiding Anything"

Interview with Ali Akbar Salehi, the Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Authority in Vienna, about Teheran's controversial nuclear programme, the growing international pressure on the theocracy, and the limits of his country's willingness to cooperate:

"I can assure you that we are not striving to become a nuclear power. Weapons of mass destruction have no place in our religious way of thinking. ... What is true is that we have begun experiments for enriching uranium. ... Being open for inspections does not mean that we will stand there with our arms in the air and put up with anything at all. Of course we were reluctant when the IAEA wanted to inspect a plant near Teheran which is not even listed as a nuclear facility. ... We too have the right to use nuclear power for civilian purposes, and uranium enrichment is essential for this. ... If Washington wants to take the conflict to the UN Security Council in order to impose international sanctions, that doesn't frighten us in the least. We are well prepared in this respect, both politically and economically."

"A Sickness by the Name of Man"

SPIEGEL cover story: Men are more delicate as foetuses, fail more often in school, lean towards violence and crime, and die younger. Are they nature's deficient creatures? Now biologist too are revealing that the Y chromosome is a cripple, and men are doomed.

"I Believe in the Power of Desire"

Interview with British geneticist Steve Jones about men's power of repression, the wondrous diversity of sperm, and appallingly bad sexology:

"I received masses of irate letters from the USA in response to my book, including murder threats. That's ridiculous. ... Most couples certainly don't just sleep with each other out of cold calculation in order to produce children; they procreate more by accident. In bed, Freudian drives win over Darwinist mechanisms. ... There's a type of drosophila that produces sperm which are larger than this building - on a human scale - more than five stories high. Among the sperm cells of mammals there are some with two tails, others travel in groups, a few are like little amoebae - sperm cells are amazingly variable. You could go on talking about them forever, it's an inexhaustible topic. ... When it comes to studying human sexual behaviour, the science is often simply rubbish."

"The Fourth Wife"

Iraq: The family life of the overthrown dictator was turbulent. Just last year Saddam Hussein married a woman of German descent. Since Saddam has been on the run and his henchmen have no longer been able to oppress the people, the secrets of the regime have been coming to light - including some of the more piquant ones.

A new laser technique for eye operations has been developed.

"Hindi in Four Weeks"

Computers: A German is causing a sensation in California with a new type of translation program. He teaches computers foreign languages in record time - even though he does not speak them himself. Franz Josef Och's work is largely financed by DARPA, the Pentagon's research organisation. When he gives a lecture, he is often joined by analysts of the National Security Agency, NSA. They've just been waiting for someone like Och to come along, because in times of terrorism the Americans are going to enormous lengths to master the world's Babel of languages.

"A Great, Weak Man"

Interview with British author Michael Frayn about his latest play "Democracy", which describes the rise and fall of Willy Brandt:

"To me, Willy Brandt was and is one of the truly great politicians of the 20th century. ... He was undoubtedly a complex person: a great man with great weaknesses. And that makes him very interesting for a dramatist, of course. ... Naturally I spent a long time thinking about how I should develop the story. To get into the right frame of mind, I reread "Don Carlos" and "Wallenstein". After all, it isn't just English writers who know how to bring politics onto the stage."