"The Puzzle Is Complete"

SPIEGEL cover story: The confessions of the two masterminds behind the attacks of September 11 allow an exact picture to be painted for the first time of the events leading up to the biggest terrorist attack in history. The transcripts of their interrogations also reveal how Osama bin Laden personally selected the suicide pilots from Hamburg. Together with the statements made by Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh during an interview with the Arab station Al Jazeera shortly before their arrest, the transcripts of the interrogations and information leaked to American media over the past weeks paint a picture which also disproves those advocates of conspiracy theories who believe to this day that the CIA was behind the murderous attacks. Investigators now realise that the New York apocalypse was only possible because, beyond the mountains of Kandahar, three different strands, each explosive enough in itself, gradually became interwoven to produce a hitherto inconceivable level of hatred: the obsession of Sheikh Mohammed's clan; the power of the fanatic Osama bin Laden over an entire army of religious zealots with a paramilitary training at his beck and call; and the blind martyrical mania of a group of Muslims from Hamburg-Harburg, who wanted nothing more than to die in the war against the infidel.

"The Army of Shadows"

War in Iraq: Hidden throughout the country, organised in the form of cells, only equipped with guns and grenades, Saddam's guerrillas want to drive out the occupying forces. 101 US soldiers have already been killed since the end of the war, and the Americans are growing more and more afraid of the invisible foe. No one counts the dead Iraqi citizens, resistance fighters and civilians. The resistances fighters have stashed away weapons all over the country. "We are not suicidal, we want to fight the Americans for a long time to come," says one of them, "but if it has to be, our families would understand."

"Idiots of Low Standing"

Contemporary history: This week, parts of the brains of three euthanasia victims are being laid to rest in Brandenburg. The find that was made in the cellars of the university hospital in Vienna is not very large - yet it stands for something much greater: this is probably the last find of human remains from the victims of Nazi euthanasia, which scientists continued to study after the war, in the interest of scientific progress and personal advancement. And it is the discovery of a family secret: three dead children of whom there has been no mention for 60 years. Perhaps it would have been better if the sister of two of the victims had never been located. The perpetrators are dead, but the woman in the café in North Germany is alive and has to live with all this. With the questions: What did her mother guess, what did she know, did she perhaps even give her ? Why did she never talk, and worst of all, perhaps worse than the uncertainty: What will she say now? Because the mother is still alive.

"A Red October in Stuttgart"

Corporate groups: DaimlerChrysler's third-quarter results reveal a 1.7 billion euro loss, because the book value of the stake in the aeronautical company EADS has had to be substantially reduced in view of the lower share price. But the other figures too are none too encouraging; Chrysler in particular is proving to be a permanent liability. It is also becoming increasingly clear that Mitsubishi Motors, the third pillar of the world-wide company, is turning into a second major case in need of restructuring within the group, following Chrysler. Nevertheless, the group's strategy is not being called into question, though the current set-backs are dire.

"A Cartel of Collectors"

Party finance: The European party alliances have gone off quietly and found new sources of income - thereby violating German constitutional law.

"A Matter of Pride"

SPIEGEL interview with parliamentary president Mahdi Karrubi about the nuclear poker game being played between Iran and the West, and about Teheran's new hopes towards Europe:

"I'm in favour of this agreement (Editor's note: supplementary agreement to the non-proliferation treaty) with all my heart. It gets rid of many unclear issues, and I expect our parliament to agree to it very soon. ... We hold Europe in high esteem, and there is a lively exchange of visitors and ideas between us. But the USA is trying to drive a wedge between us and Europe, which is why the Europeans must act very wisely now."

"People Die Here, Gringo"

Columbia: How, along with the drug mafia, public officials are also making money on the cocaine trafficking business. Why a retired general has been put in charge of supervising 120,000 police officers. And why a female cabinet minister, known as the "Witch", is risking a government crisis.

"God's Cruel Guerrillas"

Uganda: In the north of the model African state, rebels have for years been terrorising the population. Civilian militias now want to prevent the entire country from being submerged in a whirlpool of violence. It is a battle without front lines. In the district of Soroti alone, over 10,000 children - girls and boys between the ages of 8 and 13 - are said to have been kidnapped and forced into slavery since June 15, when the warriors of 'God's Army' first struck here.

"In the Hands of God"

Managers: A bizarre lawsuit in California could become a serious threat to Bertelsmann. Two ex-managers are demanding billions of dollars from their former employer. Bertelsmann's former CEO Thomas Middelhoff sold off Bertelsmann's 50 percent share in AOL Europe in February 2000, at the height of the New Economy. Whether it was a matter of luck, or a stroke of genius: he earned the group over 6.5 billion dollars (and was subsequently awarded an estimated 20 million euro personal bonus in return). When the billion-dollar deal later became known, Jan Henric Buettner and Andreas von Blottnitz, two former employees and close colleagues of Middelhoff's, got back in touch. Both of them feel that they played a substantial role in building up AOL Europe. And now they are demanding almost half of the billion-dollar profit, because they claim that when Middelhoff offered them jobs at Bertelsmann in the autumn of 1994, he also promised them a "stake in the business".

"The Ultimate in Luxury"

Art market: Through their passion for collecting, potent heirs such as the Flick brothers or Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, and extremely rich entrepreneurs like François Pinault, the owner of Gucci, are dictating the market value of many artists. Although the art market has suffered from the general economic plight of the past two years, with the profits of the two auction house giants Christies and Sotheby's slumping by some 20 percent, top art - such as Lord Thomson's Rubens - still achieves top prices, even in times of crisis.

"Love, Oaths of Revenge, Buffoonery"

Music: So far the world has only known the composer Antonio Salieri as Mozart's purported murderer. Now the Italian coloratura Cecilia Bartoli is surprising everyone with a discovery - she is singing arias by Salieri which have remained unheard for 200 years, and is proving that his music is fabulous. There they are once again, the insignia of Bartoli's singing bravado: the saucy leaps, the risky trills, the noble mellifluence and the lyrical abandon. There are arias with black ribbons, black-trimmed cantilenas on a dark, velvet orchestral veil; buffoonish caprioles, in which the Roman diva plays about knavishly; bucolic effusion, hysteric oaths of vengeance and love songs full of grace and passion - all of them deserving of a blue ribbon for the vocal cords.

"Immediately Filled with Enthusiasm"

SPIEGEL interview with star soprano Cecilia Bartoli about her passion for the composer Antonio Salieri:

"I was immediately filled with enthusiasm: it was love at first sight. This music hadn't been played, hadn't been sung, for over 200 years. I was overwhelmed: what artistic taste in composition and instrumentation, what a multitude of emotions in the flow and colour of the voice! I immediately sensed that Salieri had been a vocal teacher. I swore to myself then and there: I'll give my everything for this man. ... The history of music has enough forgotten masters."

"The Barque of Death"

Refugees: At least 85 Africans set out many weeks ago from Somalia, to seek their fortunes in Europe. They arrived on October 19: on the Italian island of Lampedusa. But only 15 of them had survived, in a wooden boat somewhere in the Mediterranean, forced to look on as their children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, and their friends died of thirst, starvation and cold. They had to commit the bodies of the dead to the sea, to make the boat lighter and to give themselves room to survive.

"Beautiful Bodies Marching in Step"

Artists: Norbert Bisky paints boys marching and girls dancing a roundelay, as though time had ground to a halt in some dubious era. The art market is showing its gratitude with large orders. Beholders see everything they need to know in the pictures themselves. Fair-haired boys who are seduced - by the pressure of the group - and who themselves seduce others, in particular the beholder. This all too simple strategy of eerily cheerful scenes of horror works well, and it does not look as though Bisky were about to give up his recipe for success. Being misunderstood is also a part of that.