- Muslim women break taboos navigating east London's waterways
- Nepal dam-building spree powers electric vehicle boom
- More than 60 dead from storm Helene as rescue, cleanup efforts grow
- Dozens missing, 9 dead in migrant boat wreck off Spanish Canaries
- Death toll from Hurricane John hits eight in Mexico
- Storm Helene's toll rises as rescue and cleanup efforts gain pace
- SpaceX launches mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding as cleanup begins
- SpaceX set to launch mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Boeing strike grinds on as latest talks fail to reach agreement
- Iran 'news' sites, hackers target Trump ahead of US election
- US ports brace for potential dockworkers strike
- Japan's speedy, spotless Shinkansen bullet trains turn 60
- US hurricane deaths rise to 44, fears of more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Global stocks mostly rise, cheering Beijing stimulus
- Europe en route for Moon with new simulator, says astronaut Pesquet
- Fireworks forecast if comet survives risky Sun flypast
- Argentina judge orders dictionary to delete pejorative definition of 'Jewish'
- Global stocks rise on rate hopes, Beijing stimulus
- S.African woman turns 118, among the oldest in the world
- UK clears $4 bn AI partnership between Amazon, Anthropic
- Barca fans barred from Champions League away game over racist banner
- Chinese stocks extend surge, Europe higher on Beijing stimulus
- Pope says Church must 'seek forgiveness' for child sexual abuse
- China caps week of 'bazooka' stimulus for ailing economy with rate cut
- Cuts, cash, credit: China bids to jumpstart flagging economy
- France's debt weighs heavier ahead of budget debate
- Iran treads carefully, backing Hezbollah while avoiding war
- Return to sender: waste stranded at sea stirs toxic dispute
- 'Broken' news industry faces uncertain future
- On remote Greek island, migratory birds offer climate clues
- Taken from mother by nuns, victim seeks answers as pope visits Belgium
- China cuts amount banks hold in reserve to boost lending
- Hong Kong, Shanghai extend surge as China optimism boosts markets
- Vietnam president reiterates support for Cuba during official visit
- Drought reduces Amazon River in Colombia by as much as 90%: report
- Stay or go? Pacific Islanders face climate's grim choice
- Florida bracing for 'unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene
- Poverty rises to over 52 percent in Milei's Argentina
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala Harris
- Champagne houses abuzz over English sparkling wine
- Macron, Trudeau pledge to work for 'decarbonized' economies
- Hurricanes, storms, typhoons... Is September wetter than usual?
- China stimulus, tech optimism boost stock markets
- 'Unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene races towards Florida
- Macron meets Trudeau in Canada as both face political setbacks
- South Korea surges in UN innovation index
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala
- Floods threaten Niger's historic 'gateway to the desert'
Bone fragments held by Nazis get funeral in Berlin
A funeral was held on Thursday for thousands of human bone fragments found during excavations at Berlin's Freie Universitaet, thought to have been part of "scientific" collections held by the Nazis.
The fragments belonging to at least 54 men, women and children, mostly dating from at least two centuries ago, were buried at a ceremony organised by the Freie Universitaet at a cemetery in the west of the German capital.
Following a musical introduction from a pianist and cellist, five wooden boxes containing the bones were lowered into the ground.
A rectangular gravestone on the plot was surrounded by colourful wreaths of flowers and inscribed with the words: "In memory of the victims of the crimes committed in the name of science."
"There are atrocities over which no grass can grow or should be allowed to grow. It is our duty to remember," Guenter Ziegler, president of Freie Universitaet, told around 40 mourners.
The bone fragments, ranging from the size of a fingernail to around 12 centimetres, were first discovered during construction work at the university in 2014.
Over the next two years, a total of around 16,000 more were found during archaeological digs on the site.
As well as human bones, they also included fragments of the skeletons of rats, rabbits, pigs and sheep.
- Colonial crimes -
The site where they were found was once home to the notorious Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics (KWIA).
Founded in 1927, the KWIA was a hub for Nazi scientists during World War II -- including doctor Josef Mengele, notorious for his experiments on prisoners in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Traces of glue and inscriptions on the bones suggested they were part of collections held by the institute, experts say.
The experts concluded that the bones came from "criminal contexts" dating back to the colonial period in particular, but that "some of the bones may also have come from victims of Nazi crimes".
After lengthy consultations, the university decided not to perform any further investigations on the bones, out of respect for the victims.
Separating them into categories "according to different sources, different crimes and different parts of the world" would risk repeating history, Ziegler told AFP ahead of the funeral.
"We would then have reproduced exactly what we wanted to avoid, a division into different classes," he said.
- 'Show solidarity' -
"Of course, I would like to know who these people were, but it wouldn't be appropriate given what was done to people in the name of the institute," Susan Pollock, the archaeologist who led the research, told AFP.
Pollock noted that the KWIA's first director, Eugen Fischer, conducted research in the German colonies in southern Africa at the beginning of the 20th century.
A collection of human remains from around the world named for the anthropologist Felix von Luschan -- who carried out the collecting partly in the colonial context -- was also housed in the institute.
The KWIA "turned human lives into things, into research objects", Pollock said.
Mengele sent "eyes of people who were murdered in Auschwitz to this institute", but also other organs, she said.
The decision not to pursue further investigations into the bones was taken in consultation with groups representing the alleged victims -- including the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma and the Central Council of the African Community.
"Victims are victims. We do not want to categorise the victims or establish their origin. We simply want our society to show solidarity when minorities are attacked," Daniel Botmann, managing director of the Central Council of Jews, said at the funeral.
D.Avraham--CPN