"The Duel for the Kremlin"

SPIEGEL cover story: Vladimir Putin is being courted just as much in Washington as he is in Berlin and Paris. Thanks particularly to the large revenues from its petroleum sales, Russia's economy is undergoing a rapid upswing. But now the spectacular arrest of the richest man in the country is causing a stir throughout the world. Is Mikhail Khodorkovsky in danger of facing a show trial? Is there even danger of a coup d'etat by the intelligence service faction? What really happened? Was there a clash between political camps over the general future direction of this country, which covers the largest area in the world - as Khodorkovsky himself predicted with his analysis in a SPIEGEL in-depth interview six weeks ago? The frontline in Russia, he claimed, now runs between those people "who want to create a market economy without a civilian society", and those who consider a free market unthinkable "without economic transparency, political pluralism and independent media".

"Putin is a Reactionary"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Boris Beresovsky, a former finance expert in the Kremlin, about the arrest of the Russian entrepreneur Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the new redistribution of the capital and his plans for preventing the reelection of the president:

"That is a logical link in a whole chain of political steps that Putin has been taking for years now. A warning to everyone who wants to meddle with politics. ... Putin's support is not as strong as is claimed. But in view of the political apathy, it is easy enough for him to be re-elected. That's why it's a matter of strengthening all the opposition forces, to bar this avenue for Putin. ... Putin is destroying the principle of the separation of powers, and hence the foundations for any democratic society. There is no independence of the executive, legislative and judicial bodies, and no separation between federal, regional and local powers. ... The next step was forcing the media into line. ... And now it's time for the third step: control over the economy. ... If an effective opposition could really be assembled in the duma - more than 150 members, that is a third of parliament, who could block any attempt at changing the constitution - I would definitely return to Russia. Immediately."

"Documents in the Rubbish Bag"

Nazi past: The former US prosecutor Robert Kempner pinched a huge number of documents during the Nuremberg Trials. Now a second-hand dealer is being allowed to sell off half of them. For the investigators, the raid on second-hand dealer Walton Martin was a success. The officers of the American Federal police seized two trunks and 21 boxes full of Nazi and Wehrmacht documents. The stacks of confiscated files cast a murky light on the former Prussian lawyer Kempner; because the find substantiates the suspicion that the supposedly upright, former Berlin police lawyer went slightly outside the law by misappropriating original, historically valuable records which he then left to rot.

"Exodus along the Border River"

China: Beijing's authorities are hunting for refugees trying to escape the famine in the bitterly poor neighbouring country of North Korea. The illegal immigrants face a life of fear and dependence. Hardly any of the refugees mention political reasons for their decision. All of them simply wanted to escape from the misery, and the North Korean economic system which collapsed long ago. Most of them are hoping to find a job so they can save a few jun and then return home with food. The authorities in Beijing stubbornly describe them as illegal "economic migrants" because they are worried that if the people coming across the border were granted the status of refugees this would result in a mass exodus. The latter could spell the end for China's political friends in Pyongyang - which is precisely what the United States wants.

"At Eye Level"

Overseas deployment: The German armed forces are drawing their own conclusions from the deployment of the Special Forces Command (Kommando Spezialkräfte, KSK) in Afghanistan. In the future, a new, larger elite group is to represent Germany's interests abroad. If the military gets its way, the paratroopers and KSK, which operated separately and on different missions in Afghanistan, are now to be merged to form a single special forces unit, modelled on that of the USA. This elite club is to be coordinated from headquarters already in the process of being set up in Regensburg, which will be called the "Combined Joint Task Force Headquarters", like those of its British and American counterparts - in view of military globalisation, the working language is English in the German armed forces too.

"I Really Do Love My Country"

SPIEGEL interview with American musician Michael Stipe, 43, about patriotism, the undeservedly poor reputation of many showbiz celebrities, and his band R.E.M.'s new best-of album:

"Early on I was landed with my reputation of being an unpleasant oddball. But you should never confuse the performance with the real person. ... I really do love my country. But even the mere name America, which it lays claim to, is presumptuous. Canada, Latin and South America go by the board."

"Bypass on the Thames"

Cars: A new kind of amphibian car is zooming around on the water at the speed of a cabin cruiser. Its inventors regard it as an elegant means of escaping from traffic jams. With a top speed officially clocked at 52.5 kph, the manufacturer of Aquada, Alan Gibbs from Nuneaton near Birmingham, claims to have set a new world record for amphibian vehicles.

"Oasis for Crustaceans"

Fauna: Biologists want to turn the island of Helgoland into a lobster home again. Fishermen once used to catch up to 80,000 of these upmarket crustaceans a year here. Now researchers are helping the delicacy back onto its arthropod feet. The dilemma of Helgoland's lobsters began in the Second World War. First the Germans covered the lobsters' rocky realm with sand while building their naval harbour; and after the war the British tried to pulverise the island, using almost 7,000 tonnes of explosives. The result was a massive housing shortage in lobster land. The second severe blow to Helgoland's lobsters was the increasing pollution of the North Sea in the 1960s. Researchers are certain that petroleum residues in the water had a massive impact on the lobsters.

"Colosseum, Gucci, Prada"

Tennis: Through their trade unions, professional players have established an absurd programme for pampering themselves on the world-wide circuit. Next year they are demanding even higher premiums. Traditional tournaments such as that in Berlin are emerging as the losers - the stars are drawn to Dubai or Shanghai instead. Airs and graces like these would seem rather misplaced in times of economic recession, but the pampered pros are still ignoring that. Living in a closed world of their own, their standards have become totally distorted. Demands like these are based on the firm conviction that tennis is a product of inexhaustible inherent value. But who is actually still fascinated by tennis? Particularly the USA, the most important market world-wide, is noticing a serious decline in spectators.