A little over a week before the presidential elections in Ukraine, government security agents continued their crackdown on opposition groups on Friday. Police searched the apartment of Vladyslav Kasykyv of the government watchdog group Freedom of Choice while combing through the group's downtown offices at the same time. State goons on Friday also raided the apartment of the head of Pora, a student opposition group, who were accused of harboring explosives. The raids come a day after media rights groups accused the government of muzzling opposition media by freezing the assets of independent television station TV5 in Kiev. This is far from the first time the government has cracked down on the opposition and the media. The group Reporters Without Borders says a number of journalists have been targeted by state security forces in recent years. One journalist investigating government corruption was found dead, hanging from his refrigerator handle, in December. (6:17 p.m. CET)

Closure of Berlin Airlift Icon "A Tragedy"

It is one of the world's largest buildings. And it could soon become the world's largest empty building. The Berlin airport Tempelhof, host to Orville Wright flight experiments in 1909, rebuilt into one of the largest airports in the world by the Nazis in 1935 and one of the anchors of the Berlin Airlift in the late 1940s, is to be closed soon. It's a proposal many find ludicrous, including English star architect Sir Norman Foster. If you're not familiar with Sir Norman's work, here's a refresher: He put the dome on Berlin's Reichstag. "Tempelhof is an incredible icon," Sir Norman told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. "And I would say that even if I hadn't spent so much of my time designing airports and if I weren't a pilot or architect. This icon needs to be preserved for future generations. It would be a tragedy if it were just obliterated." (6:00 p.m. CET)

The Hefty Price Tag of EU Expansion

The price tag of European Union expansion keeps getting bigger. A new report from the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) says the rising costs are going to force Germany, which already digs farther into its pockets to fund the EU than any other member state, to reach even deeper. This year, Germany's gross payment into Brussels' coffers -- in other words, the amount it pays in before getting anything back, like agricultural or structural subsidies -- amounted to €22 billion. But the French institute predicts that figure will double as the EU expands -- and the estimate doesn't even include Turkey. Even the German government is estimating the country's gross EU budget payments could double by 2013. Opposition politicians here are already ringing the alarm bells and calling for the government to freeze its net payments at the current levels -- any additional cash Berlin transfers to Brussels should come back in the form of subsidies, they say. (5:30 p.m. CET)

Barroso's Imbroglio

The squabbling in the European Parliament over the confirmation of the incoming European Commission of president-designate José Manuel Barroso is getting louder. At issue is Barroso's pick for justice commissioner, Rocco Buttiglione, a man many consider unfit for the job due to his anti-gay stance and negativity towards single mothers. With Barroso having stuck to his choice, the president of the European Parliament indicated on Friday that Barroso's proposed Commission may not be approved in next Wednesday's vote. Seeking to avert a massive crisis, current Commission President Romano Prodi says he would be willing to stay in office until the imbroglio is smoothed out. And on Friday, parliament President Josep Borrell tried to quash fears of an imminent political Chernobyl. "It would only mean," he said, "that Prodi would stay in office a few more weeks. This is not a war, it's not a fight, it's not even a showdown. This is democracy." (5:05 p.m. CET)

French Sikhs Turbanated

In September, a French law went into effect banning schoolchildren from wearing headscarves in class. Only now is it dawning on them that it's not just Islam that has a thing for head coverings. A French court ruled Friday on the case of three Sikh boys who were barred from attending classes because they donned the traditional turban the Sikh religion requires males to wear. While not outright ordering their expulsion, the court told the school to call a hearing within 15 days to decide their fate. French lawmakers admitted this week they had -- oops! -- failed to consult Sikh leaders when drafting the legislation. The court decision comes one day after the Union of Islamic Organizations of France lambasted the French government for allowing seven Muslim girls to be expelled from their schools this week for wearing printed bandannas. (4:45 p.m. CET)

Brussels to Castro: You Should Die!(Huh?)

Washington's response to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's accident on Wednesday night didn't really come as news to anyone. "The situation of Mr. Castro is little concern to us," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. But the reaction from Europe, where governments are often a lot softer on El Jefe, took us by surprise. "We all hope he dies as soon as possible," the European Commission's vice president, Loyola de Palacio told Spanish reporters, reminding them that Castro has scores of deaths and torture cases on his conscience. "I'm not saying he should be killed, I'm just saying he should die," she said. (4:19 p.m. CET)

Party Like a Princess at the Mette-Barit

Hardly a day goes by without a mention of Norwegian Princess Mette-Marit in the German trash press. "Mette-Marit's dad kisses breasts -- and they aren't his wife's." "Mette-Marit's brother is headed for jail." Or how about: "Good Mama Mette, do you miss your wild years?" Often, they use the same stock photos to illustrate the stories, just using Photoshop to occasionally change the color of her dress. For Berlin-based Norwegian artist Marius Matinussen, it all became too much. As a reaction to the princess' steady abuse in the German media, the 26-year-old painter captured Mette-Marit in a spectacular 4x4 meter acrylic portrait.

The painting adorns the wall of the city's Projekt0047, a gallery/bar devoted to young Norwegian artists that has received arts funding from Oslo. Problem is, the Norwegian government isn't happy about having an image of the crown princess hanging in a bar. Nor are they happy about a press release that heralded the Mette-Marit Bar and claimed it was financially supported by the embassy. "We wouldn't sponsor anything where members of the royal family are mixed up in a bar or commercial project or any other kind of misuse," embassy spokeswoman Laila Stenseng told SPIEGEL ONLINE. Projekt0047 curators and Matinussen have denied government funding was involved and have defended the artwork: "It's not supposed to exploit her," said Matinussen. (3:45 p.m.)

What is Going on at the World's Zoos?

Bangkok -- Sixty-three tigers have died from bird flu since Oct. 14. The animals reportedly ate contaminated raw chicken. Zookeepers have been ordered to stay home.

Kansas City -- A pack of stray dogs mauled a group of slender-horned gazelles, killing six Thursday. Zookeepers shot and killed two of the dogs as they ran towards the African Plains. They caught one. A fourth is still on the loose.

Halle, Germany -- An 8-year-old baboon was put to sleep after contracting SIV, the monkey version of AIDS (HIV).

Fort Wayne, Indiana -- Five female wildebeests galloped out of their cages and over a four-foot fence Tuesday. The large-horned animals charged through a residential neighbourhood and mobile-home park, where terrified residents pulled their children inside. (12:43 p.m. CET)

Roger und mich

Germans love Michael Moore. His unique charm and good looks may not draw them, but his anti-Bush crusades do. These days, Moore's found a new demographic here -- one that is developing a taste for his pre-"Fahrenheit 9/11" repertoire. Autoworkers at Opel in Bochum, who were on strike until Thursday to protest a projected cut of 4,100 jobs handed down by mama General Motors, are being treated to free screenings of Moore's 1989 Oscar-winning "Roger & Me". The film dished out a polemic against GM for closing its factories in Flint, Michigan, and moving them to low-wage lands. Organizers hoped the film's grim message would motivate strikers. Moore turns the lens on a post-GM Flint, empty, depressed and devoid of jobs -- a bleak future Bochum, which is economically reliant on industry, is desperate to avoid. (12:03 p.m. CET)

Kidnapped Child Warriors

Imagine this: The 14-year-old boy from next door disappears without a trace. The next time you hear about him, he is lying in a pool of blood on a battlefield with his machine gun lying next to him. That, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland told the Security Council on Thursday, is exactly what is happening in the Central African country of Uganda. And it's been going on for years. Up to 20,000 children in northern Uganda are missing, and most of them have likely been forced to fight for the rebel Lord's Resistance Army or traded as sex slaves, said Egeland. She urged the UN to stop the "litany of horrors" taking place in the largely forgotten war. Uganda's take? The country doesn't need any UN help. "We shall win the war soon," Uganda UN ambassador Francis Butagira told the BBC. (10:32 a.m. CET)

Five-Mile High Waterloo

For years it has been quiet on the peaks of the Karakorum, northern Pakistan, home of some of the world's tallest mountains. A former Mecca for climbers, most have avoided scaling the peaks in the area since 1999, when Pakistani and Indian troops turned the rugged, high-altitude region into a Waterloo on the roof of the world. The situation deteriorated after 9/11, with Pakistan being thrown onto the front line of the war on terror. That's now changing. Braving cold, thin air and the threat of crossfire, mountain climbers flooded to the region this summer to test their luck against such giants as K-2, Broad Peak, and Gasherbrum I and II -- all over 8,000 meters high. Since spring, 37 expeditions and almost 1,500 adventurers have trekked through the region. The villagers who live there, of course, are pleased. Once again they can cash in on the rich western Sahibs who need food, lodging and, of course sherpas. (10:05 a.m.)

VW Workers Lose their Fahrvergnügen