SPIEGEL cover story on the CDU party donations scandal:

The scandal is a continuation of the party donations and Flick scandals of the seventies and eighties. For two decades the Christian Democrats, Social Democrats and Liberals had allowed themselves to be funded by industry, unchecked until the tax inspectors and public prosecution caught on to the illegal donation practices in 1975. Some of the protagonists now implicated in the CDU's system of illegal accounts were already involved back then and simply continued the same system. The donations scandal is having wider and wider repercussions: there is increasing evidence that the national CDU also had several million marks illegally parked in Liechtenstein.

"A Battle of Two Worlds"

Business corporations: For a long time, software leader SAP underestimated the Internet. Now the one-time favourite on the stock exchange has made it back again - taking up its former successes where it left off. The surprising comeback of the former stock-exchange favourite is a result of a radical change in course which was initiated a year ago, but whose results are only gradually beginning to show. SAP has found its way into the World Wide Web and, according to Plattner, made the Internet "the key area of our entire strategy".

"A Campaign with a Handicap"

World economics: A German is to become the head of the International Monetary Fund - if the German Chancellor has his way. But the nomination of Cai Koch-Weser for one of the most influential positions in the globalised world is encountering more and more resistance. The man for international affairs in Berlin's Ministry of Finance is at the centre of a global wrangle which resorts to every dirty trick in the book, from intrigues to personal defamation. Anonymous sources are sowing doubts about the German candidate's qualifications in the international financial newspapers; every week, one of the world's most powerful money gurus outlines the qualities needed in a future IMF boss - and makes it blatantly clear that Koch-Weser does not fit the bill. Outwardly, other European states are signalising their approval of the German candidate - while bringing their own people into position through the back door, often just as a rumour. The chances of Schröder's man making it in the end are not very good.

"The Contemporary Witnesses Are Dying"

Slave labourers: Hundreds of thousands of applications are piling up at the international search service in Hesse's Bad Arolsen, which is in charge of certifying cases of slave labour. The office is hopelessly out of its depth. On average, former slave labourers currently have to wait three to three and a half years before Arolsen confirms their past ordeals. Already, some 450,000 unanswered applications are piling up. The search service expects to receive up to 800,000 new applications from Poland and Ukraine. Recently the search service has come under attack: its work is claimed to be paralysed by its decrepit organisational structure, the lack of co-operation with the concentration camp memorials and by its extremely poor working climate.

"There Was Corruption Everywhere"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid on the bloody unrest in his island nation, on his predecessors' avarice and the democratic new beginning:

"As long as Islam accepts human rights and the rule of law, I stand by the principles of Islam, because it deals with basic human values. … There is a genuine need here to live in a nation, to be one people, with unifying reasons of state … To me it seems sensible to negotiate with the families of Habibie and Suharto. That is the only realistic chance of getting the money back. … We have got to get the basics straightened out again and commit ourselves to the principles of competition, of a free market economy and of free world trade. We would like to improve everyone's standard of living, if possible, but at least the majority of the working population should be given a fair income."

"The Mystery Will Be Solved"

Interview with Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah on the secret talks with Jerusalem and Berlin, in which the fate of the Israeli pilot Ron Arad, shot down in 1986, is to be established:

"For us the guiding principle is that as long as even one Israeli soldier is still on Lebanese soil and a single inch of our country is occupied, the fight will continue mercilessly. … We are concentrating on finding out where Arad is buried. We want to return his body in exchange for our fighters, who are held in Israel's prisons. … Germany plays an important role as a mediator. Chancellor Schröder has sent us good people who work very efficiently and professionally."

"The Naked Teutons"

Contemporary history: Stalin did not believe the Germans capable of a revolution, but dreamt of a communist Greater Germany. Transcripts of conversations show that his famous note of 1952 was probably a ruse. Stalin' four famous notes also appear in a different light thanks to the newly-found records. In the spring and summer of 1952 Stalin offered the Western powers negotiations about a unified but neutral Greater Germany. Konrad Adenauer and US President Harry Truman dismissed the initiative as an attempt to disrupt the imminent re-armament of the Federal Republic of Germany. The latest find further reduces the likelihood that the Soviet preliminary note of 10 March 1952 was intended as a serious proposal.

"Substance with Protective Camouflage"

Medical technology: How does one measure blood sugar levels without damaging the surface of the skin? Scientists around the world are puzzling over a suitable method. A team from Herdecke leads the field. The Herdecke researchers want to track down the sugar in one's blood with the help of light. A light beam from a pencil-sized lamp is pointed at the patient's fingertip. As yet the sugar is resisting this new approach. Nevertheless the two researchers have already proven the potential of their device in a number of clinical trials: numerous substances in a patient's skin and blood can already be detected using the light pen.

"The Somewhat Different War"

German Armed Forces: Were the German armed forces properly prepared to go into combat? Why was the communication with other Nato countries so inefficient? Internal Nato documents reveal outrageous mismanagement. German Kosovo commander Harff levels accusations - and demands that consequences be taken. This is the final instalment of the Kosovo series.

"I Live in Stories"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with the author of the internationally successful novel "The Reader", Bernhard Schlink, a writer and professor of law who lives in Berlin. He has just published a new book of seven short stories: "Liebesfluchten":

"I imagine that life purely as a writer must be very difficult: what person is able to draw material just from within themselves a whole life long? Inevitably the question How must acquire a completely different, sometimes perhaps distorting meaning as compared with someone who has to or wants to do a number of other things in their lives as well. Is it really only an advantage to devote oneself solely to writing? … The authentic only actually begins to come alive when we approach it with our imaginations. If you visit a concentration camp, you will find that there isn't really anything to be seen there - other than huts, trees, fences. And yet you are completely exhausted afterwards. Why? Because your own mind has imagined into it the things that it knows from books, films and of course also from science. … The norms dictated today are no less powerful than those in former times - they are just different. … Imagine a young man from the last century experiencing his first kiss: without the images from movies and television in his head! It must have been fantastic. He was able to invent everything himself, he had to."

"Avenger of Those Who Were Shot"

Memoirs: Cuba for advanced students - the novel-like memories of former Castro friend and now writer-in-exile Norberto Fuentes testify to the cynicism of the revolution. The memoirs were written, as he admits, "with an unquenchable thirst for revenge".

"The Avalanche Is under Way"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Alessandro Donati, Italy's leading anti-doping expert on the extensive fraud in sports, gaps in the German system and the investigations by the Italian judicial authorities:

"We will be convicting very few athletes; but we are going to bring to light the extent to which many officials, doctors and coaches have been responsible… I wrote a report to the president of the Italian National Olympic Committee which came to the conclusion that every cyclist was taking epo and some were taking growth hormones; Professor Conconi is at the centre of the whole operation. … Conconi works for the association in an official capacity as the president of the medical commission of the International Cycling Union UCI and also as a member of the medical commission of the IOC. … France is the only county that has laws against doping, in Italy a bill is being prepared. Other countries have neither anti-doping legislation nor blood tests. A civilised country should help sports to stay clean."