"Schröder's New Middle Road"

Foreign policy: Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is employing a risky two-way strategy. Despite all the declarations of German-American friendship from Berlin, the head of government intends to stick to his subtle anti-Bush policy. It is hoped that the good relationship to Russia's President Putin will open up new playing fields to the East.

"The Stranger"

President of the Federal Republic: Horst Köhler has not yet arrived. The German head of state feels more at home out in the world than at home in his own country. The drive of African women is his standard for German citizens, to whom he wants to impart a reformist zeal.

"A Chain of Retaliatory Strikes"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Egypt's President Husni Mubarak, 76, about the chances for a new Middle East peace initiative, the growth of terrorism in the Iraq conflict and the Islamic infiltration of the Arab world:

"The so-called peace initiative consists in my telling the Palestinians quite openly: 'Stand together as one man now, don't weaken your position through disunity, because otherwise you won't achieve anything.' ... The contacts we have had with Sharon over the past weeks show that he wants to move. Everything speaks for the coalition government carrying out its withdrawal from Gaza. ... Gaza is the first step in the implementation of the peace plan. ... There is a direct link between international terrorism and unresolved social and political problems. This includes the Middle East problem, the insane situation in Iraq, the growing social injustice. ... Religious or denominational hatred is tearing apart entire societies. What we are seeing in Iraq at the moment is an example of the unhealthy mingling of politics and religion. Religious parties are a threat to internal peace."

"The Land of the Cut-Price Bargains"

Take-overs: The German economy is being radically restructured - by foreign investment companies. They buy whatever they can get hold of: industrial firms, property, even bad debts, and they are hoping to make huge profits. Now the German financial industry wants a share of the earnings too. Financed by US pension funds with a backing of billions of dollars, the primarily Anglo-Saxon private equity funds buy whatever they can get their hands on. Germany lures them with good bargains. Succession and financial problems in medium-sized businesses and the dissolution of the once unassailable fortress of Germany offers buyers an abundance of opportunities. Americans and Britons are engaging in expensive battles with each other as they bid for German refuse disposal companies, dealers in car parts, motorway service areas, housing companies and recently even banks.

"This Will Be a Tough Nut"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with the head of Opel's overall works council, Klaus Franz, about the new role of the works councils and about the mismanagement by the parent company General Motors:

"We need more deviation clauses, a greater differentiation between different plants. We have to ask ourselves what is more important to us: secure jobs or dynamic wages? I think the trade unions' wage policy should concentrate on the issue of securing jobs over the coming years. ... Wage costs aren't everything. In a country with high wages like Germany, industrial work has a perspective so long as factories are used to full capacity and are able to capitalise on their productivity. In Rüsselsheim, for instance, every car would then be about 500 euros cheaper. With an annual production of 260,000 vehicles, that's an incredible amount of money. ... Germany has no perspective if we only supply blueprints or concentrate entirely on services. But German politics has an obligation too. It's unheard of that the European car-making industry has surplus capacity, yet further surplus capacity is being created in Romania and Poland - with European Union funding. ... We need excellent value for money, a certain extravagance in design, and decent quality. We lack a top-range model. You can't make a great deal of money with that, but the 142-year-old make Opel has got to demonstrate what it is technologically capable of. There is in fact a concept for this but, as so often with General Motors, that is being pushed endlessly to and fro."

"A Good Haul"

Art robbery: The German government is for the first time considering taking legal action before a civil court of law in order to secure the return of "Tarquinius and Lucretia", a precious painting by Rubens. The two sides have been arguing heatedly as to who is entitled to the find, whose value is estimated at 80 million euros. The Russian businessman Vladimir Logvinenko considers himself the rightful owner; he says he purchased it in good faith and the Russian government supports him. The Germans, on the other hand, insist that it be returned to the Schlösser Foundation in Potsdam, and that it was removed illegally from Germany.

"The War, the Fish and the Oil"

Falkland Islands: More than two decades after the battle over the islands in the South Atlantic, the inhabitants of the archipelago could now become very rich - large oil reserves are believed to exist at the bottom of the sea. Oil minister Phyl Rendell has already awarded the drilling rights for large areas around the islands. Apparently, British oil companies want to start drilling next year. The Falkland Islanders know that oil cannot be stopped once it starts to flow. It will swamp the island with money and foreigners, and seep into people's hearts and minds. The inhabitants feel threatened once again by their old foes, the Argentineans. Buenos Aires has never given up its claim upon the Falklands. The war has continued, though by different means. However, the Britons have left no doubt as to their own claim: for the past 22 years, some 1500 British soldiers have been stationed on the Falklands to defend it if necessary.

"The Spy Who Came in from the College"

Secret services: A new generation of intelligence agents is helping to polish up the image of the trade: the authorities are increasingly employing intellectually refined social scientists. University graduates are part of the secret services' new image: smart and intelligent, well-educated and cosmopolitan. Because nowadays politicians are asking for more than the collection of facts about extremists; they want to understand the enemy as well. The Federal Intelligence Service BND, for instance, has increasingly become an instrument of political advice: analysing problems and enumerating options have been added to the list of tasks it is expected to accomplish.

"A Legend Making Losses"

Forestry: German forests are not only threatened by pollution and bark beetles; the sinking price of wood and cheap imports from the East are also taking their toll. Though the amount of forest land is increasing by the year, many forest owners face bankruptcy. Most of them are small businesses: the average size of their forests is just 3.6 hectares, the equivalent of five soccer pitches - far too little for them to hold their ground against the wood industry. This small size is one of the main reasons for the existential crisis of the forestry industry: more than one million forest owners face an ever decreasing number of wood companies, which trade at international prices. More and more often, the small forest farmers are therefore trying to pool their resources in order to resist the pressure on prices.

"Waiting for Pirates"

Judiciary: The Hamburg International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea is the most important world-wide institution to be based in Germany. The judges are lacking in nothing - except for cases. The recent weeks constituted one of the few highlights: the judges had to hear a case, their thirteenth in eight years. According to some experts in international law, the verdicts so far could equally well have been reached by a simple district court - except that district judges would not have bound their decisions in a blue cover embossed in gold, nor pronounced them in two languages.

"The Brain Dupes the Self"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with neurobiologist Gerhard Roth and moral theologian Eberhard Schockenhoff about the latest doubts concerning human free will, the controversial findings of brain research and the consequences for criminal law.

Roth: "Experiments are showing more and more clearly, how physiological processes are connected to conscious experience. The conscious expression of a wish, a will, is always preceded by a subconscious process. Excitation states can be demonstrated to exist in the brain, which announce an action - before the person is even aware of wanting to act."

Schockenhoff: "You are always looking at human beings only from the very bottom, from the smallest physical process. But you also have to begin at the top, consider our calling and our specific nature. It is the task of human beings to recognise rational reasons, to weigh them up and to act according to them."

Roth: "Every mental and spiritual development of human beings is preceded by neural activities. Self awareness, the perception of one's own self, progresses in small children at the same pace as their brains develop and absorb the multifarious influences of their environment."

Schockenhoff: "You only watch the brain from the outside during its activities and hence try to observe the creation of this inner world. That's a contradiction in terms."

Roth: "One of the most important questions in law is whether or not a person acts of his or her own free will. ... If there's reason to doubt that human beings have a free will in this ontological sense, this would in fact mean giving the accused the benefit of the doubt."

"From House to Living Machine"

Wireless networks: Engineers are working on the world's slowest data network - the sluggish radio signals, known as "Zigbee", are to remotely control lamps, heatings and garage doors. The principle is straightforward: while still in your car, you press a button to signal the house, which is then automatically switched on like a well-oiled machine. In this new nervous system, cables are replaced by wireless connections. The data seek their own way from one device to the next, until each one has been pollinated, so to say, with the right command. Immediately afterwards the chips return to their hibernation. All this gives them an electricity-saving edge over wireless chips of the W-LAN or Bluetooth variety.

"The Glowing Embers of Life"

SPIEGEL cover story: Following the magic world of Harry Potter, the general public in its thirst for myths and legends is now pouncing on the next mystery drug: the quest for the Holy Grail. Books like Dan Brown's best-selling "Da Vinci Code" and films like "National Treasure" tell that ancient adventure story with a new delight in spinning a yarn. Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" strikes a chord with the mood of the times. It is about an idée fixe, according to which a hitherto concealed truth lies behind the official interpretations of science and the media. The American author satisfies the passion for secrets in a world that is oversaturated with information and appears to have been explained down to every last detail. After more than a century of research and dispute, scientists agree that the origins and meaning of the Grail as a symbol cannot be established - the original poetic works about it are just too different from each other.