Germany's brewing industry suffered its eighth decline in the last nine years. Beer consumption plummeted to a record low of 29. 7 gallons (112. 5 liters) per person for 2007. In the 1980s, Germans guzzled down 41. 2 gallons (156 liters) of beer. However, Brewery Association managing director Peter Hahn attributed the decline in beer consumption to changing demographics and a poor summer.

The famed Oktoberfest in Europe is long over but beer continues to be in very high demand in Ireland - so much so that thieves stole on Wednesday 450 full kegs of beer from the Guinness brewery. The bandit hauled away 180 kegs of Guinness stout, 90 kegs of Danish beer Carlsberg and 180 kegs of U. S. lager Budweiser, said to be the largest heist in the 248-year history of Ireland's largest brewer.

Billions of jellyfish, which covered an area of about 10 square miles of ocean, attacked an offshore salmon pen in Northern Ireland on Wednesday killing all the fish. The Northern Salmon Co. Ltd. lost 100,000 salmon worth $2 million at two net pens located one mile off the coast of the Glens of Antrim, north of Belfast. The fish died from stings and stress.

A distress signal supposedly send off by a ship was finally traced to a scrapyard in Belfast. According to a spokesman for Ofcom, the agency responsible for monitoring all radio broadcasts and for investigating cases of interference, the beacon was found in a mountain of scrapped fridges and TVs after the mayday was picked up by receivers on the Isle of Man.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and their Irish counterparts are investigating the source of illegal drugs smuggled inside an Action Man figure and a smiling Mr Potato Head toy after the Australian Customs officers say they found banned ecstasy tablets and cocaine inside the figurines placed in a package that arrived at the Sydney International Mail Centre from Ireland, in late July. The Australian Customs officers say they found the MDMA tablets intended for a home in western Sydney, in a small taped bag inside the toy after an X-ray examination revealed suspicious substances.