"Unbounded Terror"

A chaotic coup marked the bloody beginning of a new era in international terrorism - war against schoolchildren. The cruellest attack since September 11, 2001, proves that Islamists are guiding the Chechen uprising against Moscow.

"Minister in a Minefield"

Cabinet: Since his stroke was hushed up, fortune has been against defence minister Peter Struck. Slip-ups in the machinery and risky promises have turned him into something of a problem.

"Pushy Germans"

Foreign policy: Former Serb dictator Slobodan Milosevic holds ex-foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher responsible for the Balkan War - but the latter considers himself free of blame.

"Operation Offence against the Official Secrets Act"

Intelligence services: In a new book, former agent Norbert Juretzko describes bizarre espionage operations against Moscow by the German intelligence service, BND. The BND now wants to take legal action. Juretzko is selling his insider knowledge from almost 20 years of service, as reported in a 400-page book that is to be published this Monday. The BND may be a public authority that, like every intelligence service, occasionally resorts to dubious methods, but in the meantime the service is held in high regard primarily as a useful analytical instrument. Ideally, the BND would have liked the memoirs never to have been published. At one point, the German government even considered confiscating the entire impression - to minimise the disruptions to relations between Berlin and Moscow, which are currently flourishing.

"Lord over Life and Death"

War crimes: A Munich court wants to clear up some little-known heinous Nazi deeds in Slovakia. A man now being prosecuted has remained unscathed for a long time, partly with the help of US intelligence agents. According to the prosecution, Ladislav Niznansky, commander of a Wehrmacht counterintelligence unit by the name of "Edelweiss", was involved in the execution by firing squad of 144 people in Ostry Grun, Klak and near Ksinna in January and February 1945, killing 20 of them himself. Because they had allegedly supported partisans; or because they were Jews who had hidden from the henchmen in holes in the ground. Cold War irregularities could also be brought up during the trial - for instance the issue of why Niznansky was in the pay of the US military intelligence service CIC for years despite the fact that the Americans knew all about the massacres in Slovakia.

"A New Attack Is Looming"

SPIEGEL interview with Democrat Lee Hamilton, chairman of the Washington Congress's committee on terrorism, about the lessons to be learnt from the attacks of September 11, the response to Al Qaida, and the Muslims' struggle to be understood:

"If you look back at the decade preceding 9/11, you'll see how often terrorists had already tried to kill Americans and how often they succeeded throughout the world. That was no secret, the media reported on it extensively, and yet we did not understand. We didn't believe they would attack us. ... There are enemies who want to kill us and who are capable of doing so. And when you consider that an open society is extremely vulnerable, it would be presumptuous to believe that a renewed attack was unlikely. ... On the one hand there is Al Qaida with Osama bin Laden as its figurehead. We consider this to be a relatively small group. These people need to be captured or killed. The second group is the bulk of Muslims, from Morocco to Indonesia. They may well admire Bin Laden, but they do not support violence as a tactic. And in order to win the war against terrorism, we should appeal to those Muslims. That's a task for forthcoming generations, none of this can be achieved quickly."

"Cash in the Casino"

Banks: In order to make up for the economic lull, banking corporations are increasing the stakes: speculation on one's own account is booming, the dovetailing with risky hedge funds is becoming tighter and tighter. Thanks to similar-style trading strategies, the risk to the financial system is increasing.

"Setting off for Al Andalus"

Spain: The one-time tourist's paradise is attracting a new clientele, celebrating its cultural roots as well as its self-confident avant-garde in the field of art or cult. At the same time, a new government is restructuring the rigid society. Is cool España becoming a trend-setter within Europe?

"Black Holes"

Tibet: Lhasa's Potala Palace is being elaborately restored, but many Tibetans are afraid of Beijing's ruthless approach to history.

"Preferably Living with Two Women"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Sigrid Damm about her new biography of Friedrich Schiller, and the poet's modernity:

"In Schiller's case, his works and his life are almost identical to each other. He was indeed a workaholic, not leaving his house for day, weeks, months on end, and just writing on and on. When I studied the conditions under which he created his work, I learned quite a bit about creative work itself. ... Goethe tried to base his work on his own experiences, his own observations. Schiller was totally different. He said: "The limit of my wanderings is the threshold of my door." He didn't get out and about, so he based his creative work on the idea, on speculation. ... For us today it only makes sense to talk about the dead if they make something come alive for us. And in that respect Goethe's and Schiller's erotic naivety is very touching."

"Living for Lymph"

Medicine: Without the lymphatic system, people would quite simply burst. Nevertheless, many doctors know next to nothing about this complex organ of the human body. Only a small group of lymphologists is stubbornly fighting that ignorance.

"Pigeon Roundabout"

Wildlife: Flight recorder tests with carrier pigeons are revealing how these birds find their way home - they take the motorway. For decades pigeon researchers were only able to observe the direction in which the birds left the site where they were released, and see how long they took to reach their destination. Whether they travelled in a straight line or moved from one marker to the next was unknown.

"The Large Gesture in the Outback"

Legends: The Nazis built it, the American planes that flew supplies into Berlin during the 1948 air lift made it famous, and the Berliners still love it today - Tempelhof Central Airport is a legend. Now the airport, located near the city centre, is to be closed for financial reasons, but the worlds of culture and business are beginning to show signs of resistance. The hard-up Berlin Senate no longer wants to bear the burden of the airport's accumulated losses, and has issued a closure order, against which four suits have already been filed. One cannot help getting the impression that the rash decision against Tempelhof is, in particular, politically motivated: all the available energy is to be channelled into the development of the faceless and unloved former East German airport Schönefeld, south-east of Berlin, which so far really is out in the sticks.

"Feasting One's Eyes"

Museums: A unique treasure trove is being opened up in Dresden Palace. The "New Green Vault" reveals what once kept Saxony's rulers happy. Generations of Saxon rulers delighted in expensive knick-knacks, spoons made of sardonyx, busts and snuffboxes made of heliotrope, an eagle's foot cast in bronze on which stands a cuttlefish shell mounted in a filigree setting, complicated clockwork sculptures, which were high-tech at the time, and droll figures assembled from pearls, such as the "cook fiddling on a gridiron". People wanted to admire and be astonished. Thanks to the ingenious presentation and lighting, every tiny detail is now recognisable, virtually every gold screw and every feature of the virtuoso miniature carvings.