| SPIEGEL ONLINE | INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER |
| Compiled on January 03, 2013, 06:44 PM CET |
| THE GREECE OF ASIA Japan's Growing Sovereign Debt Time Bomb The eyes of the financial world are on Greece and other heavily indebted euro-zone countries. But Japan is in even worse shape. The country's debt load is immense and growing, to the point that a quarter of its budget goes to servicing it. The government in Tokyo has done little to change things. |
| A DECISIVE YEAR Merkel's To-Do List for 2013 She's as popular as ever, but will that be enough to get re-elected for a third term this year? Angela Merkel and her cabinet appear fairly confident about their prospects, but the German chancellor still has some glaring weaknesses. SPIEGEL ONLINE outlines five problems she needs to solve in 2013. |
| GOLDEN ARCHES AND BROKEN DREAMS American Cities Drown in Debt San Bernardino, California, has gone from being the birthplace of McDonald's, one of the world's most successful companies, to a mound of unpaid debts. It's a sad example of what a lack of infrastructure investment and an almost religious aversion to higher taxes have done to cities across the United States. |
| TAKING THE LEAD Boeing Soars Past Airbus in Deliveries For the first time in a decade, Boeing has surpassed Airbus in deliveries of passenger jets. Experts blame strategic errors and the influence of politics at the US planemaker's European competitor. |
| SWABIAN INVASION? Scorn for Eastern Berlin's Well-Heeled Newcomers Newcomers from all over Germany have been flocking to Berlin since reunification in 1990. One politician argues that too many people from southern Germany's Swabia region have been landing in the fast-gentrifying Prenzlauer Berg district. As a former East Berliner, Wolfgang Thierse half-jokes that he's part of an "endangered species" in the neighborhood. |
| THE WORLD FROM BERLIN 'German Organ Transplant System Prone to Manipulation' Once again, Germany's system for distributing organs to patients in need of them has been rocked by a data manipulation scandal. A criminal investigation has been opened in the city of Leipzig, but German commentators say it is time for the entire system to be redesigned. |
| CONTINENT IN CRISIS China Overtakes Sluggish Europe in Car Sales While European consumers spent much of 2012 fretting about the economic crisis, China managed to surpass the Continent in automobile sales for the first time. Given China's growing middle class, the trend looks set to continue. China will probably outpace Europe in vehicle production this year, too. |
| PICTURE THIS Flying High in the Alps |
