Encoding Error in PHP script to generate XML

I'm having problems with my PHP file that generates XML from MySQL database. The code is below

<?phprequire("decibelone_dbinfo.php");function parseToXML($htmlStr){    $xmlStr=str_replace('<','&lt;',$htmlStr);    $xmlStr=str_replace('>','&gt;',$xmlStr);    $xmlStr=str_replace('"','&quot;',$xmlStr);    $xmlStr=str_replace("'",'&#39;',$xmlStr);    $xmlStr=str_replace("&",'&amp;',$xmlStr);    return $xmlStr;}// Opens a connection to a MySQL server$connection=mysql_connect (localhost, $username, $password);if (!$connection) {    die('Not connected : ' . mysql_error());}// Set the active MySQL database$db_selected = mysql_select_db($database, $connection);if (!$db_selected) {    die ('Can\'t use db : ' . mysql_error());}// Select all the rows in the markers table$query = "SELECT * FROM location WHERE 1";$result = mysql_query($query);if (!$result) {    die('Invalid query: ' . mysql_error());}header("Content-type: text/xml");// Start XML file, echo parent nodeecho '<markers>';// Iterate through the rows, printing XML nodes for eachwhile ($row = @mysql_fetch_assoc($result)){    // ADD TO XML DOCUMENT NODE    echo '<marker>';    echo '<name>' . parseToXML($row['name']) . '</name>';    echo '<address>' . parseToXML($row['address']) . '</address>';    echo '<latitude>' . $row['latitude'] . '</latitude>';    echo '<longitude>' . $row['longitude'] . '</longitude>';    echo '<description>' . $row['description'] . '</description>';    echo '<time>' . $row['time'] . '</time>';    echo '</marker>';}// End XML fileecho '</markers>';?>

I'm not sure what the problem is, but I have changed all my character encodings (in mysql and under htaccess) to UTF8. The problem surfaced recently after a server maintenance by my host, and I did not change my file before and after it, so I doubt that it could be a problem with my code itself. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance!