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It is no surprise to learn that, as land values continue to rise, space for cemeteries gets scarce. I have seen more and more mausoleums be built at the local cemeteries, and they are getting taller as the years go on. But the picture to the right really takes the concept to new heights! The picture is The Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica III, a vertical cemetery in Santos, Brazil. It is the world’s tallest cemetery, with burial spaces on 32 floors. There’s also a restaurant, chapel, lagoon and peacock garden. It has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in...

Burial of deposed Libyan leader, his son Mutassim and an ex-aide marked by prayers offered by his tribe, sources say. Libya's National Transitional Council has buried Muammar Gaddafi, his son Mutassim and a former aide at a secret location in the desert at dawn, sources tell Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera's correspondent on the ground reported, quoting an NTC source, that all three were buried on Tuesday and members of Gaddafi's tribe said prayers to mark the burial. The bodies had been moved late on Monday from a commercial freezer in a warehouse area of Misrata in anticipation of burial, according...

In the past, the state has reserved about $13 million to help pay for an estimated 12,000 funerals for individuals who relied on public aid. Participating funeral homes were alloted $1,100 for funerals and $552 for the burial. (snip) "Now the only viable option --- I don't mean to make light of it -- is to leave the body at the medical examiner office," Szykowny said. "After 60 to 90 days they'll take the body to what's called a potter's field and bury it in a numbered grave."

HARTSDALE — A state agency has told New York's animal cemeteries to stop burying the ashes of pet owners alongside their beloved cats, dogs and parakeets. The order from New York's Division of Cemeteries comes as a growing number of Americans are deciding to share their final resting place with their pets.

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ISLAMABAD, May 6 : Al Qaeda confirmed Osama Bin Laden was dead on Friday, dispelling some of the fog around the killing of the “holy warrior,” and vowed to mount more attacks on the West. The announcement by the Islamist network, which promised to publish a taped message from Bin Laden soon, appeared likely to silence doubts expressed by some that he had died at all. In a statement online, it said Bin Laden’s blood “is more precious to us and to every Muslim than to be wasted in vain.” Supporters of the Pakistani religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam burn a...

President Obama skipped the the traditional Memorial Day visit to Arlington National Cemetery last year, a move that dismayed veterans of the armed forces who felt he was disrespecting America's dead soldiers. Nevertheless, Obama told 60 Minutes that the decision to give Osama Bin Laden a proper burial according to Islamic law was made out of respect to the late Al Qaeda chief's corpse. - VIDEO

That’s super, but it’s also a dodge. Bin Laden wasn’t given a dignified burial replete with Islamic rituals so that Americans could high-five each other over their moral superiority to Al Qaeda. The reason he got better than he deserved aboard the carrier is that O and his team aren’t sure how wide the backlash would be in the Middle East if OBL’s remains were desecrated. Jihadis and their Islamist enablers would be outraged, but their outrage and calls for revenge were already priced into the decision to kill him. The real fear was that the humiliation of a devout...

Uh oh....looks like some Navy squids took a picture of bin Laden being buried at sea!

Pardon me for being cynical in the midst of the adulation for Barack Obama but I find it amazing how lefties love the military when one of their own controls it. If Bush were President right now, the left Democrats would be accusing him of “war crimes” for killing bin Laden without a trial. To contend... (continued)

Barely a year after the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the gulf our oceans are facing an even greater threat to their survival and our own. Countless barrels of rage, fanaticism and hate were poured into the ocean Monday as Osama Bin Laden was dumped into the ocean. This came just hours after Osama's final act on earth, using a woman as a meat shield in a US raid of his compound in Pakistan. A consensus is forming that Bin Laden may be the most dangerous pollutant ever introduced into the already tumultuous and unpredictable oceans. The sea has...

Within hours of the raid on Osama bin Laden's Pakistan compound, the CIA had used 21st technology to get "a virtually 100 percent DNA match" on the dead man. But something out of another century may come back to haunt the United States: the al-Qaida leader's burial at sea. Conspiracy theorists on the left and right were quick to insist bin Laden was either still alive or had been dead for years, pouncing on the government's decision to slide the body of the world's most wanted man off a board into the Arabian Sea. The burial at sea largely followed...

The United States is treating Osama bin Laden's body in "accordance with Islamic practice," a White House official says. President Obama announced Sunday night that American forces killed bin Laden in Pakistan and that they took his body afterward. He said no Americans were harmed in the fight. Asked how bin Laden's body will be treated, a senior administration official told reporters on a conference call that "we are ensuring that is handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition." The official, who refused to be identified, said the matter is "something that we take very seriously, and so, therefore,...

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2011 – America will pay its respects to its last World War I veteran March 15, as former Army Cpl. Frank Buckles is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, left, talks with Frank Buckles, then age 107, the last known U.S. World War I veteran, during a Pentagon ceremony March 6, 2008. Buckles was honored during the ceremony, which included the unveiling an exhibit of veterans' portraits by photographer David DeJonge. DOD photo by R.D. Ward   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Buckles -- the last of the more than 5 million...

FORT LAUDERDALE — A burial in his beloved sea was the wish of Daniel Scott Lasky, who died last week at his home in Hickory, N.C. But his family's efforts to comply with that wish led to a fisherman's startling discovery and sent homicide investigators scrambling to solve the mystery of a body at sea. Lasky, a 48-year-old grocery worker, died of Lou Gehrig's disease on Sept. 8. The next day his family packed his body in dry ice, loaded it into a van and drove to Fort Lauderdale, where Lasky once vacationed. After stopping overnight in Daytona Beach, the...

<p>FROMELLES, France – The remains of a World War I soldier left in a mass grave for more than 90 years were moved by four-horse cart to a new cemetery for reburial with full honors Monday in a ceremony attended by Prince Charles, relatives and high-ranking government officials.</p>

HANCOCK, Mich. — A Michigan sailor whose remains were identified nearly 70 years after he died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor has been laid to rest in his home state. More than 130 friends and relatives of U.S. Navy Fireman Third Class Gerald G. Lehman filled a Hancock church Saturday for the funeral. Lehman was later buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Houghton. Lehman's nephew, John Herres, called his uncle's return home for burial "a joyous day." Herres was six years old when his uncle died at age 18 when Japanese planes sank the USS Oklahoma on Dec....

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Here is video of CNN's Brian Todd showing how the thousands of bodies in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti are being buried in trenches outside the city, along with earthquake debris. Todd went to the site where dump trucks are seen dumping loads of debris that also include bodies of people who died in the Earthquake. One worker said as many as 6,000 dead had been buried at that site in a single day, but it is difficult to even know how many are being buried. A report like this leaves you speechless. The horror of what Haiti is...

MILFORD, Conn. (AP) -- A Colonial-era skull believed to belong to a Revolutionary War soldier is set to be reburied in Connecticut with full military honors. The unidentified skull was discovered in the 1840s when railroad tracks were being laid near where 46 soldiers died of smallpox. British troops had captured the soldiers in 1776 and abandoned them by what is now Milford Cemetery. Experts have determined the skull belonged to a man of European descent who was between 25 and 35 years old....

Smugglers In Iraq Have A New Trade: Corpse by QUIL LAWRENCE EnlargeJoseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images A tomb at the cemetery of Najaf in 2008. The Wadi al-Salam, or Valley of Peace, in Najaf is one of the largest cemeteries in the world. Millions of Shiite Muslims over the centuries have been brought here for burial from all over the world. text sizeAAANovember 4, 2009 Iraqi and U.S. officials have expressed concerns about the traffic of weapons and drugs across the country's porous borders, but there is also an older and more surprising commodity being smuggled into Iraq — cadavers. For centuries,...

As American colonists battled for independence, Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne captured a British fort in New York at midnight, earning a reputation as a brilliant strategist in the chaos of battle. George Washington rode on horseback to congratulate him in person. Soldiers who noticed his reckless bravery gave him his nickname. Later, the fiery leader trained a fearsome army outside of Pittsburgh in 1792, conquered the Indians and negotiated a treaty with them so the Northwest Territory could be settled.*** After he died at age 51 from an attack of gout, his body rested for 12 years in an oak...

Coroners and medical examiners across the country are reporting spikes in the number of unclaimed bodies and indigent burials, with states, counties and private funeral homes having to foot the bill when families cannot. The increase comes as governments short on cash are cutting other social service programs, with some municipalities dipping into emergency and reserve funds to help cover the costs of burials or cremations. Oregon, for example, has seen a 50 percent increase in the number of unclaimed bodies over the past few years, the majority left by families who say they cannot afford services. “There are more...

Simple place for a simple man By Ann Coppola, News Reporter Published: 11/05/2007 The nondescript setting that is Point Lookout Cemetery seems fitting for those who rest here. Austere columns support a wired arch above its entrance that holds the word “cemetery” in large white letters. They match the stark, cross-shaped grave markers, which tell nothing of those buried beneath them. Perhaps there is no story to be told for the dead here, but for Louisiana State Penitentiary inmates this facility's cemetery still serves as a symbol of dignity. Of Angola’s 5,000 inmates, 90 percent are expected to die in...

In this blog post, the author, who says he/she is the child of a Behesht Zahra cemetery worker, writes about reports of the secret burials of many victims of Iran's postelection violence: I am a student and my mother is an employee at the cemetery. Our financial situation isn’t good and all of us are loyal supporters of [Iranian President Mahmud] Ahmadinejad. (You may judge this as you wish!) Even though I am aware that he has won the presidency through a fraudulent election, it is because of Ahmadinejad's government that cemetery employees can own a house after so many...

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The date of the funeral for pop legend Michael Jackson has been changed to September 3, the singer's spokesman said Friday. Jackson originally was scheduled to be laid to rest August 29, on what would have been his 51st birthday.

Michael Jackson's family is locked in a stubborn battle over what to do with the King of Pop's remains — a dispute that highlights decades of feuding. In 2002, Jackson completed a will leaving his estate to his children and granting custody of the kids — Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and “Blanket,” 7 — to his mother. But it appears Jackson did not stipulate his wishes for the disposition of his remains. In accordance with California law, if Jackson did not provide clear, specific directions for burial, control over his remains would go to his next of kin...

A source close to the Jacksons has exclusively revealed to X17 Online that family will likely have a traditional Muslim burial for late Michael Jackson. "The family is considering following the Muslim burial traditions because they believe Michael would have wanted to be laid to rest in keeping with his new-found religious beliefs," says the source. "Michael's brother Jermaine is educating the family as to the special rites because he feels it's important to bury his brother according to the Muslim way," adds the source. Despite earlier reports that both public and private memorial services for the late music performer...

There are a lot of ways to dispose of humans when they die. There's the whole mummy thing, which is relatively mundane compared to some of the weird ways on our Top 10 list (including burials in trees, on ships and the latest fad: plastination and display). Meanwhile, green deaths are on the rise. But this may be the most humiliating: Face down burial. Apparently the custom has been used in many societies in history to disrespect or humiliate the dead, a new study finds. It's been used on criminals, war prisoners and simply those lacking social status, researchers concluded.

For the past month, Emma Ramirez has been sleeping with her late husband. Each night, she tucks the urn full of his ashes into the bed they shared and talks to him in her dreams. Saying goodbye is harder than she imagined. But when her grief wanes, the Tucson woman plans to have her mate buried at sea as a tribute to his years of Navy service. "I know he would be honored," Ramirez, 58, said of her husband, Francisco M. Ramirez, a retired chief petty officer who died on May 15 at age 99. The Ramirezes are among a...

A priest who serves as a spokesman for San Bernardino Bishop Gerald Barnes and as pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Palm Desert delivered a eulogy a week ago today at the funeral of one of California’s most infamous abortionists. Fr. Howard Lincoln, who describes himself as “an extremely pro-life priest,” delivered a eulogy as part of a 15-minute “service" he gave at the Ramon Chapel of Forest Lawn Mortuary in Cathedral City for Dr. Joseph Durante, one of the state’s most notorious abortionists. Durante died on Friday, March 13, at the age of 80. Fr. Lincoln told California Catholic...

* TELEVISION * FEBRUARY 19, 2009, 8:46 P.M. ET GUARD OF HONOR By DOROTHY RABINOWITZ It was impossible to imagine, beforehand, all the ways a film like "Taking Chance" (Saturday, 8-9:30 p.m. EST, on HBO) could work its power. There are no conflicts, no warring sides, no mysteries of character -- the usual stuff of drama. The story's outcome is clear from the beginning. Yet it's no less clear that "Taking Chance" is not only high drama, but a kind that is, in the most literal way, breathtaking -- watching parts of it can make breathing an effort, and those...

YOKOSUKA, Japan - When the submarine USS Ohio surfaced at sea and Machinist Mate 1st Class Jason Witty emerged from the hatch to look around, he saw calm, blue water under a peaceful sky — perfect for the solemn task he was about to perform. On the map, the Ohio was afloat in just another indistinguishable expanse of the Pacific Ocean. As Witty stood on deck holding a silver pitcher, the vessel was alone. Just like the ill-fated USS Indianapolis, 63 years earlier.

Bodies of the dead not being buried in echo of Winter of Discontent as effects of credit crunch spread across Britain By Glen Owen Last updated at 1:24 AM on 12th October 2008 The spectre of the Winter of Discontent threatened to return to haunt Labour last night after funeral directors revealed that the burial of 'hundreds' of bodies is being delayed for financial reasons. In a bleak new sign of the growing economic crisis, hard-up families are having to wait more than two months before receiving Government money for funerals. Organisations representing undertakers accused the Government of putting them...

A GRIEVING family from Sheffield have been told they can't bury their stepfather on a Saturday - because he was not Muslim. Retired steel erector Harold "Charlie" Lemaire, from Woodseats, died last week aged 75 from pneumonia. His stepdaughter Jean Maltby, from Greenhill, wanted the funeral to be held this Saturday so family who live outside the city - including her brother Stephen, now living in Dorset, and relatives from the Isle of Man - could attend. But when her funeral director called City Road Cemetery to arrange a memorial service in the chapel followed by burial, he was told...

ZE08090404 - 2008-09-04 Oxford Professor Responds to Media Rumors LONDON, SEPT. 4, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is an article by Ian Ker, an Oxford University professor, regarding rumors circulating in the British press about Cardinal John Henry Newman. The article by the Newman scholar appeared Sept. 3 in L'Osservatore Romano. * * * The exhumation of Venerable John Henry Newman's body from his grave has led to calls in particular from the homosexual lobby that he should not be separated from his great friend and collaborator Father Ambrose St. John, in whose grave Newman is buried in accordance with his own...

An ancient burial cave was discovered in the Philippine island of Mindanao, south of Manila, and officials have sealed the site to prevent looting of artifacts, many of them jars made from clay. It was not immediately known whether there are other treasures in the cave which was accidentally discovered by quarry diggers yesterday in Maitum town in Sarangani province. The latest discovery in the village of Pinol was near another ancient burial site discovered in 1991 where burial jars, shaped in different human forms, had been recovered inside Ayub cave. Lingling Jabel, owner of the quarry site, informed local...

Bejeweled Anglo-Saxon Burial Suggests Cult Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News April 11, 2008 -- In seventh century England, a woman's jewelry-draped body was laid out on a specially constructed bed and buried in a grave that formed the center of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery, according to British archaeologists who recently excavated the site in Yorkshire. Her jewelry, which included a large shield-shaped pendant, the layout and location of the cemetery as well as excavated weaponry, such as knives and a fine langseax (a single-edged Anglo-Saxon sword), lead the scientists to believe she might have been a member of royalty who led a...

Bronze Age burial 'with beer mug' The skeleton was "crouched" which was typical of the time A 4,000-year-old Bronze Age skeleton has been unearthed by archaeologists working on a site in east Kent. Canterbury Archaeological Trust said the curled-up skeleton was an example of a "Beaker" burial because of the pottery vessel placed at its feet. Education officer Marion Green said the "beautifully decorated" pot could have been "a type of beer mug". She said tests on beakers from other sites suggested Bronze Age man was brewing a type of beer from grain. The body was in a "crouched" position...

It was years after Mark and Diane Albrecht laid their son Christopher to rest that they discovered they had not buried all of him. His brain had been removed for tests by an Ohio county coroner trying to determine why the seemingly healthy 30-year-old man had died. It was never returned. The Albrechts' discovery that they had buried their son without his brain has led to a federal class-action suit that could cost local governments millions of dollars, force changes in the way medical examiners perform their jobs and establish new rights for the next of kin. The suit argues...

The remains of a World War II hero are returned to family members here in Tucson. For 63 years, the family of Tech Sgt. Hyman Stiglitz knew his plane was shot down over Germany. But not until now did the family learn of their loved one's heroic actions. It was the summer of 1944. Tech Sergeant Hyman Stiglitz was a radio operator on a mission flying over Germany. He was in a B-24 bomber part of the 492nd wing. Their target a bridge. But when they hit it not all of the bombs fell out putting the crew in danger....

China To Start Excavation Of Horse-And-Chariot Burial www.chinaview.cn 2007-11-29 10:09:14 JINGZHOU, Hubei Province, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese archaeologists will soon start excavations at the horse-and-chariot chamber of a tomb dating back 2,300 to 2,400 years, more than 100 years older than the tomb containing the terracotta army. "Excavation will start on the 131-meter-long horse-chariot sector of the Xiongjiazhong Tomb before February, 2008," said Yan Pin, director of the Archaeology Bureau of Jingzhou, central China's Hubei Province, where the tomb is. The tomb is the largest and best preserved yet found in China from the State of Chu in the...

Christians encouraged to take action on funeral flag recitation ban Allie Martin OneNewsNow.comOctober 29, 2007The founder of the American Family Association (AFA) says it's outrageous that a complaint from one person can put a halt to a long-standing tradition at funerals throughout all 125 national cemeteries. Hear this ReportA complaint about religious content has led to a ban on flag-folding recitations by Veterans Administration employees and volunteers at all national cemeteries. At thousands of military burials, the American flag is folded 13 times and volunteers recite the significance of each fold to survivors. The 11th fold glorifies "the God of...

A row has erupted over a plan to dig up a third of a million bodies from an historic east London cemetery to make way for a new Muslim burial site. Tower Hamlets council in London is considering reopening the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park in Mile End to answer a long-running campaign for a Muslim graveyard in the area. The park, off Bow Common Lane, was deconsecrated as a Church of England cemetery by Parliament in 1966, after being deemed full with about 350,000 bodies buried there. It is not yet clear what the Council proposes to do with the...

TEHRAN, Iran: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has agreed to allow an American scholar to be buried in the historic Iranian city of Isfahan when he dies, the state broadcasting company said Thursday. Richard Nelson Frye, an 87-year-old professor emeritus of Iranian and Central Asian studies at Harvard University, made his request in a letter addressed directly to Ahmadinejad, the broadcasting company reported on its Web site. "I ask the Iranian president to allow my burial in the beautiful city of Isfahan to prove the unbreakable link between the honorable Iranian and American nations," Frye was quoted as saying in his letter....

Burial clue to early urban strife Only a fraction of the burial pit has been excavated Archaeologists working in Syria have unearthed the remains of dozens of youths thought to have been killed in a fierce confrontation 6,000 years ago. According to Science magazine, the celebrating victors may even have feasted on beef in the aftermath. The findings come from northeastern Syria, near Tell Brak, one of the world's oldest known cities. More than 30 years of continuous excavation have revealed the site's remarkable sophistication. Studies by British and American archaeologists published in the journals Antiquity and Science suggest Tell...

Neolithic burial site yields unique archaeological find Budapest, April 23 (MTI) - Archaeologists exploring a Neolithic burial site in Tolna County, S Hungary, have discovered what may easily be the most exciting tomb ever unearthed in Europe, Professor Istvan Zalai-Gaal, who has been leading the diggings, reported on Monday. The tomb is seven thousand years old and was the burial chamber of a tribal chieftain. There is a heavy upright log in each corner, believed to have originally held an above ground structure over the two-metre by two-metre tomb. Inside, said Zalai-Gaal, archaeologists found polished stone axes and other stone...

Why Orthodox Christians Are Not Cremated Fr. John Touloumes Cremation (burning the bodies of those who have died to the point of ashes) is a practice which is being "sold" as a cost-effective, space-conservative alternative to traditional burial of the body. Throughout her history, however, the Orthodox Church has prohibited this practice. But, as in many areas of the Faith, we must take the time to learn why the Church takes such a position. In doing so, we not only grow in our own knowledge of the Lord and His Church, but we are better prepared to answer questions others...

COLUMBIA, S.C. – While a medical examiner in Florida says Anna Nicole Smith's body is decomposing so rapidly that a public viewing may not be possible, the funeral director handling the still-unburied corpse of James Brown says the soul singer is looking good. “No problem,” said Charles Reid, director of the C.A. Reid Funeral Home, which handled The Godfather of Soul's funeral service. Reid said this week that he has checked Brown's body almost daily in the past two months during the legal fight over Brown's estate and where he should be buried. The reason for the difference in their...

SILOAM SPRINGS — Bryan Austin of Siloam Springs thought he’d found a crime scene when he spotted a human skull under a pile of rocks while he was duck hunting in northeast Oklahoma. Looking for a good place to set up a camouflage hunting screen Nov. 19 on a mud flat in the Spavinaw Creek drainage area, Austin found what turned out to be an ancient skull. He later learned that the site is an ancient Indian burial ground. “ It’s absolutely amazing, ” Austin said. “ I’m incredibly interested in this kind of stuff. It’s in my line of...

I need to settle a debate. How likely would it be that a slave, during the American Civil War era, who had been executed for witchcraft be given what appears to be a Christian burial, including a headstone, in the Baptist master's family plot?