"A Nightmare of Violence"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with the German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, about the USA's new Vietnam, the opportunities offered by European enlargement and the end of cost-cutting policies in Germany:

"The situation is very serious. If the USA were to head in the direction indicated by the UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi's suggestions for a stepwise transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis, this would be a big step forward. ... Some Gulf states have begun democratic reforms. ... European enlargement to the east is the implementation of a step that has been put off for a long time. In actual fact we are expanding the population of the extended market by 74 million people. ... While continuing the structural reforms, we also need growth at the same time."

"Private War at State Expense"

SPIEGEL cover story: One year after the downfall of oppressor Saddam Hussein, photos of tortured Iraqis have once again horrified the world. This time, the perpetrators are Americans - and the scandal highlights an aspect of the desert war previously kept under wraps: the Pentagon is delegating increasing numbers of military functions to private firms - including the interrogation of prisoners.

"I Will Surprise Them All"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with the owner of the ProSiebenSat.1 television group, Haim Saban, 58, about his plans for the group, his thirst for sports licences and further acquisitions, the war over digital cable television and his annoyance with the public sector networks:

"I'm in a far more neutral position than any German investor. I don't have a vote in Germany, I have no other economic interests. And anyway it's totally naive to believe that I exert the slightest influence on the contents of informational programmes such as our news channel N24. ... We will make bids for every soccer broadcasting licence, and generally for every sports licence that makes good business sense to us; meaning that we can achieve a reasonable return on capital with it. The management asked the supervisory board to give its go-ahead for this strategy, and we've given it. This is a fundamental decision. Anyone who wants to grow on the German television market, as we do, and who ignores sports, isn't doing his job properly. ... Over the next five to ten years, television financed by commercials faces some enormous upheavals in view of the emerging digital multi-channel scenarios and digital video recorders with which you can simply skip commercials. We need new sources of revenue. Pay TV could be one such source; cable rentals could be another.

"Project 176 544"

Volkswagen: The director of human resources Peter Hartz wants to secure German jobs at Volkswagen using elements of his 5000 x 5000 model - 5000 new jobs in industry for the unemployed at a fixed wage of 5000 marks. Young employees are to work longer and more flexible hours. With this, Hartz is for the first time calling into question the standards of the Volkswagen Group's own wage rates, something that has hitherto been considered virtually sacrosanct in the Volkswagen empire. Less money or longer working hours have until now only been implemented in overseas subsidiaries or in innovative projects such as 5000 x 5000. In West German VW plants, on the other hand, the wage rates have remained virtually untouched. Employment figures have developed accordingly; of over 86,000 new jobs created in the past ten years, more than two thirds were created abroad.

"A Bit Thick"

SPIEGEL interview with Volkswagen executive Peter Hartz about the labour reforms named after him, which have been flogged to death, and his new wage rate ideas for his own company:

"In the end, there were big differences between what we had suggested and the law that was passed. The cost of labour has to decrease by some 30 percent by the year 2011. ... Gross wages should remain at the present level; but to lower costs, we have to become more flexible - in terms of working hours, payments and further training. ... If you want to bake a cake, you have to be capable of breaking some eggs."

"Days of Chaos in Bullshit Castle"

Managers: The power struggle at DaimlerChrysler is over. What is left behind: a battered chairman and a climate of mistrust. The majority of board members were against Jürgen Schrempp's decision to drop Mitsubishi, now, however, the adversaries are expected to cooperate again. Can that work

"We Need Europe to Understand"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Belgrade's new Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica about Serbia's democrats and extremists, the conflict with the Hague War Crimes Tribunal and the future of Kosovo:

"Neither the socialists nor the Radical Party of Vojislav Seselj were banned, so they were able to take part in the elections. As a result the Serb parliament, which has 250 seats, includes 104 socialist and radical MPs, with whom you cannot rule out every form of cooperation. ... We have no alternative but to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal - irrespective of our own opinion about this court of law, or that of other legal experts in the world. But we will meet this international obligation in a way that neither endangers the political stability of our country, nor strengthens radicalism. ... The independence of Kosovo would not solve the problem. It would lead to a fatal chain reaction in the other Balkan countries. ... If you don't want Kosovo to soon look like its capital Pristina - without a single Serb - then the only alternative is the autonomy of Serbs and non-Albanians and their self-rule. Here it is no longer a matter of protecting specific rights, its a matter of naked survival."

"Merkel's Silence"

Christian-Democratic Union (CDU): Chancellor Schröder's Social Democrat Party is attacking the stance on Iraq taken by Angela Merkel, who supports the American policy on Iraq. Yet Merkel, the head of the opposition, seems determined to wait out the storm.

"Mega-Plop in the Jurassic Sea"

Palaeontology: Researchers have discovered a gigantic cemetery of ichthyosaurs near Eislingen in Baden-Württemberg. In view of the growing mountains of fossils the palaeontologists are no longer in any doubt: a cataclysmic event must have wiped out the marine wildlife of Eislingen. Were the animals killed 181 million years ago by a sudden eruption of gas?

"The Sea of Fear"

History: For centuries, Muslim slave traders hunted down Christians around the Mediterranean Sea. Over a million victims ended up in the markets of North Africa, as a US historian has now revealed. The centuries of slave trade left only few traces in the towns of North Africa. Apart from in Morocco, nothing remains of the slave markets and prison camps. Only one legacy of the victims has been preserved: even back in the 18th century, travellers coming to Algiers were astonished by the pale skins of many of its inhabitants.

"Attack of the Killer Apes"

Uganda: A gruesome series of murders is upsetting the country. The perpetrators are not human beings but chimpanzees - often drunk. Children are particularly prone to becoming their victims. Chimpanzees kill their own kind systematically and extremely brutally and even wage war against one another, a type of behaviour otherwise only seen in human beings.

"Jukebox in Your Trouser Pocket"

Entertainment: In the current crisis of the music industry, the triumph of the iPod is an astonishing success story. For many music fans, this small storage and playback device made by the Apple company replaces a personal CD collection - and has established a cult that is changing the world of pop music. Apple has succeeded in setting up a store called iTunes Music Store on the Internet whose users actually pay money for the songs they download. At 99 US cents a track, Apple has allegedly sold over 70 million songs within one year. Most buyers of a music player first turn to their own record collection - and often develop an unbelievable ambition for collecting and archiving. Experts believe that CD sales could continue to drop, because in contrast to former times, albums on the Internet are not necessarily considered overall works of art. Instead of buying an entire album, consisting of ten or twelve tracks, some customers only download those songs from the Web that they are really interested in; the rest are rubbish data. The enthusiasm for music players like the iPod certainly seems to offer new opportunities for the music industry, which has been in a crisis for some years now.

"The Godfather's Trap"

Car racing: The future of the Grand Prix business is more uncertain than ever. The functional alliance between the five mutinous car manufacturers and Formula One marketer Bernie Ecclestone has collapsed; and the technical rules are being radically trimmed. The five car makers involved in Formula One racing - BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ferrari, Ford and Renault - have for the time being failed with their project of entering into Ecclestone's marketing territory. Joined together as a syndicate by the highfalutin name of Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC), they have for three years been demanding a greater say, greater transparency and an appropriate share in the Formula One holding SLEC. The car manufacturers will be remaining on the defensive for a while yet. Fia president Max Mosley is fed up with the top teams investing ruinous sums of money and thus causing an escalation in competition while his appeals for cost-cutting go unheard; he is convening a meeting on Tuesday of this week to discuss some radical reforms of the technical rules.