title: Strange special character encoding error
body: <p>I have a very strange character encoding error:
  I am sending a textfield to a script via jQuerys ajax function.
  Assuming I want to send the euro sign</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>echo $string;</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>produces</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>€</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>however</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>echo base64_decode(base64_encode($string));</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>produces</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>â‚¬</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>any hints on how I could debug this problem?</p>