Liechtenstein: Report on the involvement of politicians and legal experts in illegal transactions by financial jugglers.

An archaeological tragedy is looming in the Kurdish area of southern Turkey. For some weeks water levels have been rising along the two kilometre long Birecik dam. Countless historic treasures will soon be submerged under 40 metres of water.

“Many Serbs Will Return”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with UN administrator Bernard Kouchner on the difficulties with the reconstruction of the Balkan province, the continuing hatred between Albanians and Serbs, and on the success and limitations of his mandate.

“Give Dictatorship a Chance”

Venezuela: With the revolutionary pathos of the Seventies, Venezuela’s left-wing populist autocrat Hugo Chavez is standing for re-election – and offering himself as model for the continent.

“Blair in a Fix”

UK: The industry is groaning under the burden of an overvalued pound. Tony Blair finds himself in a nasty fix. Faced with an overwhelming mood opposed to the euro, the prime minister doesn’t dare to embark on an offensive discussion about joining the currency union, let alone set a date. On the other hand trade unionist are calling more and more loudly for something to be done against the overvaluation of the pound.

“Summer Wind over the Eye”

Medicine: Shaping the eye’s cornea using laser light is supposed to help some 30,000 short-sighted people this year to manage without their glasses, and the technology is also being tested on far-sighted patients. Scientists are already dreaming of doubling the acuity of everyone’s vision. A Heidelberg physicist has set out to overcome all the weaknesses of the human eye, which is by nature an imperfect optical instrument. In order to achieve “perfect vision”, the scientist has combined a new measuring system with ultra-short laser pulses and a correcting mirror made of 100,000 hair-fine facets. Without cutting into the cornea, an infra-red laser could compensate for differences in thickness on the inside of the cornea using micro-vaporisation. The result would be a perfect image on the retina, making the human eye like that of an eagle.

“Finals in Lumilux 11”

Art: The world exhibition Expo 2000 has also inspired a major artistic programme. While robot rats rush around the fair complex, a stern but spectacular artistic structure is shining in the goods station. “Let’s liberate ourselves from the works of darkness, let’s turn back to the weapons of light,” the station illuminator, artist Gerhard Merz, had ceremoniously demanded. In the goods station he freed the idea of pure architecture from the curse of bungling model-building and realised the idea in the form of an over 40 metre long, accessible and now lavishly shining glass “pavilion”.

“Myth and Misery”

Motorbikes: Friedel Münch, the legendary builder of exotic bikes and a multiple bankrupt, found a patron. The result is a 260 horse power bike with a 170,000 mark price tag. The data highway has been congested with interested parties. Over the past few weeks up to 100,000 people a day from all over the world have been visiting a computer home page dealing with a rarity in motor vehicle engineering. Most people will never see the product that appears on the screens in real life. Only 250 specimens of this most powerful and most expensive motorbike in the world are to be built.

“Killer from the Tropical Skies”

Meteorology: Lightning is more frequent and more intense in Brazil than any other place in the world. The average Brazilian lightning bolt strikes the ground carrying a current of 40,000 amperes – 10,000 more than typical for Europe. In certain areas, Brazil records up to 150 days of thunderstorms a years, five times as many as in Germany. 70 percent of all power cuts are caused by lighting striking. The estimated damage is up to one billion marks a year. Now scientists are firing rockets at thunder clouds to find out why.

“Shooting Location Hell”

Computers: Computer games are not only good for firing arms – amateur cinematographers also shoot funny animated films with dressed-up fiends in the games world scenery. Dozens of animated films have already been made in this way, some of them full-length features. Most of them are action films characterised by large-scale shoot-outs and daring moving shots.

“There Was No Time for Panic”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Eduard Boëtius, the last survivor from the pilot’s gondola of the giant zeppelin Hindenburg. He tells of the fatal journey, the visions that were destroyed and of his second life:

“There was no time for panic. I am convinced that at that moment I was a creature totally controlled by its instincts. In a situation like that instincts are superior to reason … I am a sceptic by nature and I’m afraid that none of these theories can be proved. Every attempt at explaining the events includes certain aspects which I find incomprehensible. … In the eyes of the Nazis, the zeppelins over New York, Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo were the best propaganda for the superiority of German engineering skills.”