The Times reports that residents of the UK, smarting from high housing prices, only now seem to be discovering Germany where the rents are cheap and the beer is well drinkable. "While prices across Europe have risen by between 100 and 120 per cent in the past seven years, in Germany they have actually fallen. According to Knight Frank’s Global House Price Index, in the last quarter of 2006 Germany was the only European country where prices fell – by 3.6 per cent." Especially popular is Berlin, and especially with the Irish, "Younger buyers, who quite like the idea of a Berlin studio for £21,000. The Irish, with no historic baggage, have already invaded. I heard of one Celtic tiger who owns 600 flats."

Thanks to the rising price of oil and European farmers opting for more lucrative biofuel crops like canola and corn, key ingredients for beer, hops and barley, are suddenly in shorter supply. This means German beer prices will be rising for the first time in five years, laments the Chicago Tribune. Don't laugh, American beer drinker. You've got the same problem -- plus the weaker dollar.

Hoopsworld names NBA star Dirk Nowitzki one of the Top Five Most Influential Internationals. "He is at once uber-NBA and uber-international. Having spent 90% of his professional basketball career in the States, he is certainly more of an NBA player than a German Bundesliga player. But he spends most of his spare time away from the States, looking this summer for life's big answers in the Australian wilderness before looking for an European basketball title a few weeks later in Spain." For you trainspotters: even earning dollars, Dirk is Germany's second-highest paid athlete after Michael Ballack.

Re: the unpopularity factor. Frank Kaplan at Slate this week asked readers for ideas on how to improve America's image in the world. He was surprised to see that almost all of the 120 responses came from foreigners or from Americans living abroad, i.e. very few Americans actually living in the U.S. Considering that the majority of Slate's readers are domestic, it does beg the question: do Americans even care about their image to the world? The results are fascinating. One problem area: treatment upon arrival. "Many readers seconded my points about the rudeness and paranoia on display at U.S. embassies and customs desks. Americans living in Europe say that some of their friends—even those who studied in American universities—refuse to come here anymore because they've been treated so horribly at the airports."