The German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom plans further takeovers of international companies as part of its growth strategy.

“The Dream of Blue Skies”

China: Private entrepreneurs in China are becoming serious competition for the ailing state-owned enterprises. Despite uncertain political support, sceptical banks and bureaucratic harassment, daring company founders are prospering.

"Silk Road of Death“

Trafficking in human beings: 58 illegal immigrants from China suffocated on their way to England. Now the joint European battle against criminal escape helpers is to be improved. But this will not be able to stop the migration. Only the gangs of smugglers themselves know how many illegal immigrants reach their destinations year after year. The smugglers are now organised extremely professionally.

“At the Court of Babel”

Illegal immigrants: Calais, the largest passenger port on the continent for traffic to and from England, is the key nerve centre for illegal immigration to the UK. 85 different nationalities have been counted here within a single year. The bulk of them come from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Kosovo.

“Loreley on the Rock”

Spain: In spite of treacherous seas and the countless people drowned, Gibraltar attracts thousands of economic refugees as the soft flank of the European fortress. The fishermen of Tetouan view the smuggling of human cargo as a legitimate way of earning a living.

“Clicking to the Comrade in Arms”

Extremists: Neo-Nazis are using the Internet for propaganda purposes from the USA. The Simon Wiesenthal Center reports that since 1995 the number of racist web sites has increased from under 10 to over 2000. Legal proceedings instituted by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution against illegal, right-wing radical articles and music on the net are generally to no avail. Since demagoguery is not a punishable offence in the USA and other countries, the authors are able to hide behind network services based mainly in North America. In order to take action against the virtual underground nevertheless, German Minister of Justice Herta Däubler-Gmelin now wants to mobilise the Internet industry to fight back.

“The Digital Crusader”

Computers: After 24 years in America, software guru Kai Krause is returning to Germany. In a castle he purchased on the Rhine, the multi-millionaire is building a research laboratory like no other in the world and a centre for company founders: “I want to promote the young computer Mozarts and digital Goethes.” Behind the thick stone walls Krause wants to set up computer laboratories that will be closely linked with the new centre for start-up businesses. Here, creative minds are to develop user-friendly keypads for mobile-phones, for instance, or interactive programme guides to help users search through thousands of television channels.

“Have Fun with Heroin”

Drugs: The most notorious narcotic of the 20th century is an invention by Bayer. For decades the group sold tonnes of heroin all over the world – not as a drug but as a popular medicine. A Berlin physician has been studying the strange history of the Leverkusen heroin. What was wrong with Bayer and the doctors of the German Empire? Did everyone genuinely believe that heroin was so harmless that it could be poured down the throats of infants as a cough medicine, evidently without any concern? Did the directors of Bayer know what harm the substance could do and nevertheless continue doing business without any scruples? Or where the physicians of the time right? Should heroin be viewed as a medicine rather than a drug today as well?

“Ill Test Tube Babies ”

Reproductive medicine: Modern medical technology can turn even infertile men into fathers. Do their children have a higher risk of developing cancer? The men have apparently acquired a genetic defect through random mutations. Since they are normally unable to father children, their infertility seems like a way for nature to stop the defective repair genes from spreading. Some doctors are watching the world-wide triumphal march of reproduction technology with grave concern.

“I Smell the Fish Immediately”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Hollywood film director Wolfgang Petersen on seasickness, the longing for adventure, summer cinema and his new deep-sea drama “The Storm”:

“I saw ‘The Storm’ as being a great opportunity for making a realistic film set in a world that is completely unknown to most audiences. After all, who knows the ins and outs of daily life among swordfishermen in New England? To me it’s a film about ordinary people who stumble into a huge drama, the most violent storm since decades. I thought that was great … It’s the last great adventure left, clashing with the elements out there at sea. At sea, there is no way out, there’s nowhere to run to – that’s what distinguishes a storm at sea from every other natural disaster, be it a fire or an earthquake. … Life is boring for most people. They have their work at the computer, their family, their barbecue at the weekend. … And that’s true all the more, the more our life becomes completely organised, planned in advance and governed by computers, the less people still make their own free decisions and the more they disappear as individuals into the greater whole. These adventure books still a longing for self-realisation, and that’s why they are devoured more and more greedily. … People no longer want the classic Schwarzenegger or Stallone films. The tendency is to return to substance, to good stories and characters whom the audience can make something of. That suits me very well, because I’ve always wanted to make that kind of film.”

“Red Gold”

Italy: The prices paid for top Italian wines are rocketing. The boom has been sparked off by US investors and Red/Green Germans. Within just a few years comparatively poor peasants have in many areas become wealthy wine growers. Investment capital has flowed into the vineyards, science and technology have improved flavour and profits. Nowadays, the Americans and Japanese, but particularly the German bon vivant drinkers are prepared to pay just as much for Italian wines as they once did for a classy French bottle.

“Art Market in a State of Intoxication”

Auctions: Rarely have art buyers been as free with their money as now – young stock-market profiteers are deeply involved. Nevertheless scandals and a battle for market shares are unsettling the auctioning business. The giants Sotheby’s and Christie’s are afraid of losing their traditional supremacy.