http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/ News feeds provided by Newslookup.com en Sun, 10 Sep 2006 17:18 EDT http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,435918,00.html Over the next months Perfume, a film based on the internationally acclaimed novel by German author Patrick Süskind, will be shown in cinemas around the world. Already sparking controversial debate as it premieres in German theaters, its €50 million budget makes it one of the most expensive German films ever made. Was it worth the effort? By Urs Jenny http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,435941,00.html While Nobel Peace Prize laureate and democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, Burma's ruling junta is withdrawing to its new jungle capital and ravaging a country that should by all rights be one of Asia's wealthiest. By Juergen Kremb in Rangoon http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,436046,00.html The Taliban were overthrown five years ago, but Afghanistan's hopes for democracy are faltering, and now interest in fundamentalism -- including draconian Islamic "religious police" -- is growing again. What can the international community do? By Babak Khalatbari in Kabul http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,435703,00.html The next stage of globalization is in full swing in Prato, once the center of the Italian textile industry. After the city lost jobs to factories in the Far East, now the Chinese and their low-wage workers are encroaching on Old Europe. By Fiona Ehlers http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,436015,00.html A scandal over the sale of rotten meat in Germany has not only shocked consumers; the nation's press is questioning the country's entire federal system. Should the control of food quality be more centralized? http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,435635,00.html The late Steve Irwin was a great conservationist, whatever Germaine Greer says. By Sally Eckhoff http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,435821,00.html In a public reading of his controversial autobiography, Günter Grass talked for the first time in front of a live audience about why he took so long to reveal serving in the SS. But are we any the wiser? By Damien McGuinness in Berlin http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,435494,00.html The "Kurdistan People's Congress," or PKK, has condemned the recent terrorist attacks on civilian targets and denied that it has anything to do with the perpetrators. The party's imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan, is now talking cease-fire, but the government refuses to listen. By Annette Grossbongardt in Istanbul http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,433401,00.html With a rapidly expanding economy, China doesn't have enough of its own natural resources to cover its growing energy needs. Beijng is trying to close the gap by increasing its imports and by betting on nuclear energy and renewables. By Wieland Wagner http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,435368,00.html With deployments in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Africa and now the Middle East, Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, is fast becoming the global service provider for German foreign policy. But the force is insufficiently prepared for its new tasks and, as it is about to embark to Lebanon on its next foreign mission, remains underfunded and poorly equipped. By Konstantin von Hammerstein and Alexander Szandar [ Forum ] http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,435307,00.html In the 19th century, the Bearded Vulture had a bad press. It was accused of carrying off and devouring lambs and even small children. Alpine authorities declared open season on the bird and the last one was shot in 1913. But the vulture, which is capable of digesting large bones, is back thanks to a successful and costly 20-year program of introducing bred birds into the wild. By Philip Bethge [ Forum ] http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,435377,00.html Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whose term runs out this month, has been feted for his reform program which hauled the country's economy out of stagnation. But his patriotic stance has isolated Japan among its Asian neighbors and his successor is likely to adopt an equally nationalistic tone. By Wieland Wagner http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,435188,00.html They represent workers without rights, autistic children and the environment. The Communist Party eyes them suspiciously, but allows them to exist -- so long as they make no political demands. China's nascent non-governmental organizations are beginning to help those left behind by the country's economic boom. By Andreas Lorenz [ Forum ] http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,435388,00.html After the removal of the Taliban, American and ISAF troops were welcomed as liberators. But they have overstayed their welcome. http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,435273,00.html Mohammed Ikirmawi used to do a flourishing business with his hummus restaurant in Jerusalem. But two intifadas have had a dramatic impact on his livelihood. The ongoing chaos has Ikirmawi wondering what his next move should be. By Mathieu von Rohr http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,434691,00.html It has the makings of a modern-day fairy tale, the story of a country transformed from a pariah state into an oil paradise. But the reality is that Equatorial Guinea, almost unnoticed by the rest of the world, is experiencing a modern-day tragedy, a story of the dark niches of global politics in times of oil and terror. By Alexander Smoltczyk [ Forum ] http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,432414,00.html Opposition politicians in Moscow have a name for the Russian oil and natural gas market: "Kremlin Incorporated." It's not the market that decides who the state-owned energy company Gazprom sells to -- it's Russian President Vladimir Putin. The gigantic concern is run by cronies from Putin's days as deputy mayor of St. Petersburg. By Uwe Klussmann [ Forum ] http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,434972,00.html As the pope prepares for his upcoming visit to Bavaria, the Vatican has embarked on an unprecedented campaign to market the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. By selling official fan paraphernalia, the church plans to turn a profit from the hype surrounding Pope Benedict XVI. By Alexander Linden and Peter Wensierski