SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Jörg Haider on the participation of his "Freedom Party" in the government in Vienna, on his reactions to the accusations of right-wing radicalism being voiced abroad and on his own aims.

"Putin Is a Gentleman"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Boris Beresovsky on the acting president of his country, the new right-wing power cartel and the war in Chechnya:

"I regard Vladimir Putin as being a supporter of the market economy and someone who stands up for political liberties. … Primakov wanted to consolidate the power too, but on the left wing. We weren't in agreement with that. We wanted consolidation, too, but from the right. … We now have a right-wing government, we will probably get a right-wing President, and we have a duma which has drifted strongly to the right. … The Chechens will never accept a solution that is determined only by force. … The top priority has to be political negotiations, with military pressure only coming in second place."

"A Lot Is Broken Up"

SPIEGEL interview with Silicon Valley pioneer Michael Dell on the future of the personal computer:

"Mobile phones and electronic address books are enhancements to the PC. The most popular pocket device is the Palm Pilot. The largest button on that is the one that allows you to exchange data with your PC at home. So these devices are never going to take the place of the PC but will augment it. They will further increase people's thirst for information. That's why the demand for PCs is actually going to increase further … People who buy a Web-TV normally also have a PC on their desk which they use for their serious business. … The Internet is producing the largest change in our business that I have ever experienced. It is reducing costs very dramatically and for anyone who recognises and utilises that fact, it means a huge advantage in the market."

"Oil Well in the Front Garden"

Europe: For years, funds awarded to the parliamentary groups of the European Parliament have been misused - bolstering the coffers of their mother parties. The European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg is investigating the European Parliament (EP) on suspicion of illegal party financing using EU funds. The EU's budget for 1999 included a total of 50.7 million marks in subsidies for the work of the parliamentary groups, of which 14.2 million marks go by the dubious title of "additional political activities". The budget of the EP also conceals large sums for "informational activities". The Luxembourg Court of Auditors is interested in these, too. According to the auditors, last year alone 600 million marks were spent on publications and information, and this figure is now to be investigated in terms of "economic efficiency."

"The Great Art of the Coup d'Etat"

Ecuador: Military officers and Indians snatched the power from a cynical president. But the popular uprising has not led to any change in the conditions - the new strong man comes from the same old oligarchy. In the age of popularity tests, the coup seems to be secretly accepted as a political tool. In Ecuador, such cynicism has hollowed out the political institutions from within and for decades prevented necessary reforms: privatisation of the ramshackle state-owned enterprises, fighting inflation and corruption, an independent judicial system, the fair taxation of the oligarchy, a health service that deserves the name - all this is long overdue. But white Ecuadorians - and army officers into the bargain - led by Indians? That is not conceivable, even today.

"The Customer Is Always Wrong"

Service: The United States are generally regarded as a paradise for consumers. In fact, the quality of the goods is often faulty, the service poor - but everyone is cheerful. A report by SPIEGEL correspondents Rafaela von Bredow and Michaela Schießl on their own experiences. In the USA, customers have universally been declared the enemy - particularly when they are unable to defend themselves for lack of any alternative. The whole mess started during the recession in the mid-90s when companies decimated their customer services staff. It is now being aggravated by the labour shortage resulting from the economic boom. In the USA, tormenting customers has reached Eastern European dimensions, the similarities are too obvious to miss. Just like formerly in the planned economy of the oppressed, the Americans too spend half their lives waiting in queues, navigating around potholes, waiting forever for things they have ordered and hoarding firewood in case the next storm brings down the overhead power lines. Only the gloominess with which the Eastern Europeans used to face up to such a chronic sad state of affairs is totally lacking in this land of entertainment: Americans are always in high spirits.

"Covered Bodies Are Erotic Too"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Gong Li, Chinese actress and president of the jury for this year's Berlin Film Festival, on her childhood during the Cultural Revolution, bare skin on the silver screen, censorship in China and her new film "Breaking the Silence":

"I was very pleased when the director of the Berlin Festival, Moritz de Hadeln, offered me this position, but I was also surprised by it, because the jury has never before been headed by someone from Asia. … Beijing, in particular, is ideal for creative artists, because the entire intellectual and creative elite of the country has congregated there. … The political powers don't want sore issues from the past to be brought up again. People are meant to look ahead to the future. Touchy subjects such as the Cultural Revolution or the great leap forward would ideally be erased altogether. … Sensuality and beauty cannot only be suggested by nakedness. You don't have to take off your clothes to seem erotic, sometimes the audience's fantasy is stimulated more if the body remains covered."

"To Mozart with a Gameboy"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Heidelberg pianist and university principal Rudolf Meister on the flaws of musical education, the looming ageing of the classical audiences and the future of technological music-making:

Meister demands "that music must once again be taken seriously throughout most of school education and should be a compulsory course … The problem today is the highly dubious trend towards not wanting to concentrate on one and the same thing for very long, or not being able to. For instance: the television producer chops up his work using innumerable cuts, the television viewer haphazardly zaps through the channels. A complex matter - no matter in what specific area - requires that you give it intensive concentration. … Classical music badly needs to be freed from the image of unapproachability, as though it were suspended above everyday life as some kind of high culture … The possibility of dealing with music, even if it is produced by technical means, is a great opportunity and one that should be welcomed."

"A Legacy from Hunsrück"

Genetics: Nowhere else in the world are as many twins born as in a village in the south of Brazil. Scientists believe that the answer to the riddle lies in history. Like most German immigrant colonies in the south of Brazil, the people in Linha São Pedro live largely isolated, preferring to intermarry. Incest could have brought to light the predisposition for twins. The gene would therefore have to have been brought to Brazil by the founding fathers from the German region known as Hunsrück. And once in Brazil it rapidly spread thanks to the high level of procreation.

"Frozen Projectiles"

Meteorology: In Spain and Italy, football-sized blocks of ice have recently been falling from the skies - scientists are puzzled by this new form of precipitation. No sooner had the television networks in the two countries broadcast pictures of the mysterious projectiles than more and more of them started to appear. Eye witnesses from all over the country reported, very seriously, that they themselves had found such specimens. So far the Iberian researchers are unable to furnish a truly plausible explanation for this bizarre form of precipitation.

"Seismograph of Deception"