Authorities in the Dutch drug tourism hub of Maastricht are striking back after cannabis cafes staged an open revolt by selling marijuana to foreigners in defiance of a controversial ban.

They roamed the seas off the Andaman Coast for generations, but Thailand's sea gypsies say their traditional way of life is under threat and their homes at risk from a tourism boom.

At the farthest end of the Great Wall, Yang Yongfu limps along the section he arduously restored, in effect "privatising" it and putting himself on a collision course with the authorities.

An enticing aroma of boiled milk, vanilla, gum Arabic and pistachios; the rhythmic pounding of wooden mallets deep into stainless steel vats; the clink of spoons on glass accompanying cheerful conversation.

Germany's "baby hatches", where women can safely leave their unwanted newborn, have come under fire as the government pushes a new law to guarantee a child the right to eventually know its mother's identity.

Rare plants, enchanting ruins and the tinkle of waterfalls: the English-style botanical oasis of Ninfa near Rome is a secret idyll billed as "the world's most romantic garden".

Long neglected at home, Edvard Munch is finally to get his due as Norway honours one of its greatest artists with the most comprehensive retrospective ever to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth.

"If you try to grow other crops here they will fail," says Ahmed, surrounded by lush green fields of cannabis, the illegal plant he and thousands of other poor farmers in Morocco's Rif Mountains depend on.

After praying for good grades in their exams, a group of Indonesian high-school students received a surprising text message -- come to class 90 minutes early and you'll be given the answers.

Sydney's oldest barmaid Lil Miles has never been a drinker, but after four decades in the job at her family's Bells Hotel in Woolloomooloo the 91-year-old still hasn't tired of pulling beers.