Wolfgang Vogel lurked in and out of the shadows of Cold War Germany. He was known to many prominent figures but not to the general public. As personal emissary of the East German leader Erich Honecker, he helped to facilitate East-West prisoner exchanges and the re-location of thousands of East Germans to the West. He was not, however, a philanthropist. His services did not come cheap, and he became a wealthy man through his Cold War exploits.

Michael Phelps is making history in the pool, but even he will be overshadowed by a tidal wave that will sweep his American team from the top of the Olympics medal table.

After more than 20 years out in front in the pages of the British record books, time might be about to start catching up with Kathy Cook. "It's got to be probable, hasn't it?" she said of the prospect of the national 400m record she set as a bronze-medal winner at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 – 49.43sec – being eclipsed by Christine Ohuruogu or Nicola Sanders. "Espec-ially with the edge of domestic rivalry they have between them. That will spur them on."

Berlin's leaders were so happy to be rid of the most striking symbol of Cold War division that they tore the city's wall down after the collapse of East Germany and sold much of it off around the world. In retrospect, if only for the money it would have generated in tourism, they wish they had not been so hasty.

More than 150 German companies, including 10 of the country's leading supermarket chains, were yesterday accused of resorting to "Stasi methods" to spy on their staff and collect intimate details about their private lives with hidden cameras, microphones and computer software.

Western pornography was banned under communism, but the armed forces of the former East Germany made their own sex films featuring bare-breasted female soldiers that were enjoyed by senior officers and outwardly prudish hard-line politicians.

Germany's cut-price supermarket chain Lidl was accused yesterday of using Stasi methods to spy on its staff and collect intimate details about their personal lives, including their relationships, bank accounts and the frequency of their lavatory breaks.

The Factory, an "alternative" venue in Hamburg's hip Altona district, was so full that police had to stop more people entering. Inside, crimson-faced and in front of a banner of the same hue, "Red Oskar" Lafontaine, the undisputed king of Germany's radical new "The Left" party was deep into a tirade against warmongers and capitalist neo-liberals.