Sidelights.

The Pentagon spends $2.5 million per year to feed those held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, or $12.68 daily per prisoner. It costs $8.85 a day to feed a U.S. soldier serving in the Middle East, and $2.78 a day to feed a convict in a U.S. federal prison. * The number of registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C. has more than doubled since 2000, from 16,342 to 34,785 today. The money spent on lobbying by corporations and interest groups increased from $1.6 billion to $2.1 billion between 2000 and 2004. * Americans with dial-up Internet connections spend an average of $868 a year on on-line purchases. Those with broadband connections spend an average of $1,244 per year. * Adjusted for inflation, houses in the 1980s cost about as much as they did in 1900. * In a speech slamming opposition leader and former European Commission president Romano Prodi, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi called the euro a "disaster" and a "rip-off" that "screwed everybody." ... HSBC, the world's second-biggest bank, issued a report suggesting that Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands might be better off leaving the Euro Zone. German TV reporters tested the bathrooms of the European Parliament for signs of cocaine, and found that 90 percent of them had residue of the drug. * A lunch meeting between Belgian parliamentarian Herman De Croon and officials from Iran was canceled when the Iranians hinted they did not want alcohol served during the meeting. "Even for the tolerant, that was a bridge too far," said De Croon. * Health officials expect 40,000 prostitutes to descend on Germany next summer, when the nation hosts the World Cup soccer matches. "The World Cup naturally offers fantastic opportunities to earn money," explained Katharina Cetin, of Hydra, Berlin's prostitution lobbying group. Prostitution is legal in Germany.... Berlin prostitute Renate Dolle, 63, retired from her 49-year career as a streetwalker to spend more time with her ...