Time for a new champion.

Whilst Bayern München struggles to find form this season, a team from Germany's north continues to make headlines: Werder Bremen.

At the end of round eight, Bremen are on top of the Bundesliga (Bayern is currently fourth) and are showing themselves to be a competitive force in the Champions League, managing to hold last season's European Champions, Barcelona, to a 1-1 draw last week.

Bremen's Trainer Thomas Schaaf remains realistic however. At a press conference on Thursday he told the press his main intention was "to be on top of the Bundesliga in round 34". al

Street beautification ...

...or just cheap thrills?

"Assisted restorations" - arguably, there's no better place in the world for them than in Berlin. Old decaying buildings in the middle of a city desperate to rebuild itself. And private contributions for public building projects are no-doubt also very welcome at Berlin's liberal-minded (and very broke) local council.

But one has to ask whether the billboard currently hiding the restoration work on the former Royal Library of Friedrich Wilhelm III really fits with the building's learned image. Also debatable is whether the scantily-clad ladies are at all sensibly dressed to survive a Berlin winter! al