Frontline cemeteries shut to Ukrainians for Easter over dangerous war debris

Kobzartsi, Ukraine Reuters Hundreds of cemeteries near front lines will be closed to Ukrainians wanting to pay their respects at graves of their relatives for Orthodox Easter this weekend, as officials fear the danger of land mines and unexploded ordnance. But in the formerly Russian-occupied village of Kobzartsi in the south-west Mykolaiv region, residents say they […]
Gaza struggles to accommodate the living and the dead as population grows

Gaza City Reuters In the densely populated Gaza Strip, a battle for space is pitting the living against the dead as homeless squatters settle in the area’s cemeteries while authorities grapple with the growing demand for new housing. In the Sheikh Shaban cemetery, the area’s oldest, Kamilia Kuhail’s family live in a house built by […]
Postcards: In Iran, a massive cemetery struggles to keep up with virus

MOHAMMAD NASIRI, of the Associated Press, reports from Tehran…
FUNERALS: DESIGNER DEATH? SOUTH AFRICA STRUGGLES TO BURY INEQUALITY

KIM HARRISBERG, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports from South Africa…
Amid land crunch, US state legalises human composting

Washington, DC Thomson Reuters Foundation It saves space, cuts emissions and feeds plants – now human composting may go mainstream after Washington became the first US state to legalise the transformation of human remains to nurturing soil. The bill passed by wide margins and was signed into law on Tuesday by Washington state Governor Jay […]
Postcards: As the dead are buried, trees rise in Zimbabwe’s cemeteries

JEFFREY MOYO, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports from Harare on how cemeteries are helping to address a deforestation crisis…
Cross desecrations continue in Goa, India, despite arrest of Catholic ‘culprit’

World Watch Monitor More than 40 crosses, tombstones and other religious items were vandalised at Curchorem Cemetery on 10th July. PICTURES: Via World Watch Monitor. Crosses continue to be desecrated in the Indian state of Goa, despite the police claiming to have captured the ‘culprit’, a 50-year-old Catholic who, from what police say, appears […]
Postcards: Why Nepal’s Christians are trekking into the mountains to bury their dead

VISHAL ARORA, of World Watch Monitor, reports on the difficulties facing Christians in Nepal when it comes to burying their dead…