DPA Andreas Fraedrich has so many enormous golden-ball cacti that he could provide seating for a whole army of unloved older women — the thorny plants are jocularly known as “mother-in-law’s cushion.” The German also has a huge collection of other plants: queens of the night, ponytail palms, lemon and fig trees, yuccas, lantana, agave, weeping figs and rubber …

  Donauwoerth / DPA For generations of little girls, the name Kaethe Kruse has been synonymous with a childhood dream — about one day possessing a genuine Kruse doll from Germany, perhaps the most famous doll in the world. It was a dream that always had some major obstacle. For example, that the dolls were too expensive for the girls’ …

  Beijing / AFP China will be handed the opportunity to reshape the rules for global trade and profit from a more isolated US if President-elect Donald Trump carries out his pledge to abandon the landmark TPP pact, observers say. The likely demise of the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been welcomed by state media in China, where the deal had been criticised …