SPIEGEL International

The foiled attempt to blow up a US airliner on Christmas Day has sparked tough new security measures on trans-Atlantic flights. German media commentators say treating passengers like would-be terrorists when they're on board aircraft won't make them any safer.

If you think 2009 was all about the financial crisis, you're wrong. For our end-of-year quiz, we have trawled through all the most under-reported stories of 2009, from aphrodisiac beer and foxy shoe thieves to Hitler musicals and portable urinals for ladies. ...

Since Dec. 19, Serbians have been able to enter the European Union without a visa. But the new freedom to travel raises concerns that illegal immigrants will use the country, which is already part of a well-traveled human smuggling route, as a springboard into the EU.

The first decade of the 21st century was marked by crises. Militant Islamists attacked New York, the financial system crashed, the climate is threatened by catastrophe and democracy lost some of its standing. ...

German Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen talks to SPIEGEL about the failure of the Copenhagen climate summit, why neither China nor the US can take the lead in the fight against global warming and Germany's role in the new world order.

More and more, it seems the West will have to negotiate with moderate elements of the Taliban if they want to get out of Afghanistan. Germany's defense minister was against it in the past. But now he's changed his tune. ...

The next time Santa sets off for his around-the-world journey on Christmas Eve, he may have slick new ride. The design chiefs of six top automobile manufacturers have come up with their take on the sleigh of the future.

In a SPIEGEL interview, London banker and lay preacher Stephen Green, group chairman of HSBC, discusses the divide between his Christian faith and the pursuit of profit, the morality of being involved ...

Generally Germany is well geared for colder weather. But nobody anticipated that this weekend would bring the year's coldest. Temperatures sank as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius in some areas and snow and ice affected road, rail and airport services. ...

Who is to blame for the summit disaster? The US? China? The EU? The G-8? In fact, all of the above. It was a coming together of states that killed off a vital resource for the world: trust.

What a disaster. The climate summit in Copenhagen has failed because of the hardball politicking of the United States, China and several other countries -- and because people just can't seem to fathom how catastrophic climate change will be. ...

For Germans gobal warming is no longer just about stranded polar bears and dying coral reefs. These days, millions of people are feeling the heat of climate change at home. The effects are becoming more drastic and rapid.

The world's tallest skyscraper is soon to open in Dubai, even as the emirate continues to be battered by the financial crisis. Is Burj Dubai an expression of failed megalomania or proof of Dubai leader Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's stunning vision?