Hamburg - The draw for the last 16 of the Champions League made by Franz Beckenbauer pitted nine-time European champions Real Madrid against four-time winners Bayern Munich.

Fortunately - perhaps - for both teams it was only a mock draw staged by Germany's pay-TV broadcaster Premiere. So try again: this time the Kaiser pulls Chelsea out of the hat for Bayern.

Smiles all round, but anything's possible when the real draw takes place at UEFA headquarters at Nyon, Switzerland on December 19.

Hamburg - Corey Pavin looks set to replace Paul Azinger as US Ryder Cup captain for

Hamburg - Germany's fourth-biggest airport, in Hamburg, gained its own rail link Thursday when a 3-kilometre tunnel from the air terminal to the rail system opened.

A 26-minute ride to downtown on the electric-train link costs 2.60 euros (3.35 dollars), far less than the expensive airport coaches which are the bugbear of air travellers in many nations.

Defenders of the German language were upset at plans to call the new underground station "Hamburg Airport" in English. So the German word for airport was added in parentheses, making the name "Hamburg Airport (Flughafen)".

Hamburg  - A gift of jewellery can express love, status, luxury or simply a zest for life.

But it always expresses a special emotion. That makes necklaces, bracelets and rings a favourite Christmas gift. But jewellery must match both a person's outfit and the current fashion.

While everything points to clean lines and discreet colours in fashion, jewellery by contrast is breaking away and going off in its own direction.

Hamburg  - Packing boxes will always be necessary when moving house, but there may come a time when the need to refurnish and redecorate with every move is a thing of the past.

Mobile prefabricated homes that move with their owner are seen by some as an architectural concept with potential. And these moveable structures already are available today.

Flexibility and mobility increasingly are big issues for people looking to invest in a home. Christoph Windscheif of the association of prefabricated homes in Bad Honnef, Germany, speaks of an "ambitious vision of the future" as a factor.

"There certainly are people who can imagine that type of modern nomadic life," said Windscheif.

Hamburg  - Tanning in a solarium before going into the sun provides no appreciable protection against sunburn. However, it does raise the risk of skin cancer considerably, according to information from a German cancer support association and a German dermatological prevention organization.

As ultraviolet (UV) rays penetrate deep into the skin, they also accelerate the ageing of the skin. Despite these risks, 14 million Germans use solariums, making Germany Europe's top country for artificial tanning, according to a study conducted this year and recently published by the two groups.