- Austria's far right woos anti-vaxxers with fund for vaccine 'victims'
- Long wait for justice in India's backlogged courts
- Rohingya refugees detail worsening violence in Myanmar
- Rescuers comb muddy riverbanks after Japan floods kill six
- Sri Lankan leftist leader sworn in after landslide election win
- Indonesia, NZ deny Papua rebel claim 'bribe' paid for pilot release
- Swearing, shoeys and swift legs: Singapore GP talking points
- South Korea warns of 'decisive' action against trash balloons
- Football Australia names Tony Popovic as Socceroos coach
- Japan quake, flood victim attempts fresh start with wife's memory
- Japan quake, flood victim attemps fresh start with wife's memory
- Asian markets extend gains as focus turns to US inflation
- Six dead after floods in central Japan: media
- Australian golf prodigy suffers career-threatening eye injury
- Gaza hospital a symbol of the ruin of war
- October 7: how Israel's deadliest day unfolded
- Bibles, sneakers, silver coins: Trump's merch for sale
- Met Opera opens season with tech-heavy 'Grounded'
- Colombia's Inirida flower: from 'weed' to emblem for UN meeting
- Colombia rebel group imposes control in restive coca zone
- Rams fight back to upset 49ers, Cowboys lose again
- Sri Lankan leftist leader to take office after landslide election win
- 300-kilo WWI bomb removed in Belgrade
- Zelensky in US to explain war plan to Biden, Harris, Trump
- 'Atrocious' Sudan war pushing refugees further afield: UNHCR chief
- 'Convergence' growing on global plastics treaty: UN environment chief
- MLB White Sox fall to Padres to match one-season loss mark
- All-Australian Ripper squad captures LIV Golf team crown
- Barnier promises compromise from France's embattled new govt
- Zelensky arrives in US to explain war plan to Biden
- Barca rout Villarreal but Ter Stegen hurt, Atletico draw at Rayo
- Darnold shines for Vikings, Steelers and Eagles win
- Atletico held to draw at Rayo Vallecano
- Marseille stun Lyon with 95th-minute winner after early red card
- Gabbia ends AC Milan's derby pain with late winner against Inter
- Surging Ko claims LPGA Queen City crown in spectacular style
- 'Impossible': Alcaraz shoots down Federer comparisons after Laver Cup win
- Scholz's party beats far-right AfD in east German state vote
- Verstappen says 'silly' swearing row could hasten F1 exit
- Calls for Israel and Hezbollah to step back from the abyss
- Israel and Hezbollah urged to avoid 'catastrophe'
- Colombia battles fires as drought fuels Latin American flames
- Pressure piles on new French government from day one
- Arteta proud as Arsenal salvage point from 'impossible' task
- Barca rout Villarreal in thriller but Ter Stegen hurt
- Roma stroll past Udinese as fans protest De Rossi sacking
- Horschel outduels McIlroy to win PGA Championship play-off
- Audiences summon 'Beetlejuice' to top of N. America box office for third week
- Stones salvages point for Man City against 10-man Arsenal
- Egypt fears 'all out' regional war: foreign minister to AFP
Parents find solace at Hong Kong's 'Forever Love' crematorium
Behind the doors of a terracotta-pink building with sloping arches is a facility unlike any other in Hong Kong -- the city's sole crematorium where bereaved parents can say goodbye to their unborn babies.
Launched in 2022, the Home of Forever Love provides free cremations for foetuses of less than 24 weeks' gestation.
Greenery fans across the facility's curved, geometric architecture -- a stark contrast to the rocky cemetery located next door -- while a trail leads to a garden where the ashes can be scattered.
"The first mission... is to ease the pain" of families for the farewell ceremony, said Benny Lee, co-founding director of BREADstudio, which designed the building that houses the crematorium.
The cremation process mimics a familiar bedtime ritual, he said.
After placing a box holding the foetus's remains into the inner chamber of a small altar, parents can switch off the light and close the wooden doors "like they are putting the baby to sleep", Lee told AFP.
"We want the families to feel that their loved one is not going into a wasteland, but going back into nature," added co-founder Paul Mui.
While the Home of Forever Love is the only crematorium in the city providing these services, government-maintained gardens also offer parents a resting place for their lost loved ones.
One, the Garden of Forever Love in east Hong Kong, is where Lok found a resting place for her unborn baby after she had an abortion at 20 weeks.
The garden floor of the cemetery is divided into small plots, each marked by a toy or an item.
For Lok, a stone with a sleeping elephant painted on it marks her unborn baby's resting place with the words: "In loving memory of our precious son Luka."
Lok, who spoke to AFP using a pseudonym to guarantee her privacy, carries a replica of the stone with her as well.
"Having a funeral arrangement helped me to feel relief. When everything was settled, it felt like closure for me," Lok said.
"You wouldn't want the body of your family members to be treated like waste to be thrown away."
- 'Social taboo' -
Cremations or burials for foetuses have not always been an option in Hong Kong.
For years, the city's regulations stipulated that the remains of foetuses under 24 weeks should be treated as "clinical waste" and discarded in landfills.
The issue received public attention in 2017, when a couple was denied their request to take back the remains of their 16-week foetus for a burial or cremation.
Tse Mei-yee, who had two miscarriages, said that watching the news of the couple brought back memories.
"It's a social taboo -- no one talks about it, and no one knows this rule. They (hospital staff) say to the parents, 'We will handle your baby properly'," Tse told AFP.
"But for the hospitals, it means to handle it properly as clinical waste," she said.
Tse created the "Little Baby Concern Group" to offer bereavement counselling services and support for parents trying to retrieve the foetuses.
She also lobbied the government with a proposal signed by more than 10,000 doctors, nurses and religious leaders, which led to change.
In 2018, the government amended the regulations on the handling of foetuses under 24 weeks, allowing for all -- including those unclaimed by families -- to receive free cremation.
"It's important," said Lok.
If she had to experience her foetus being treated like clinical waste "it would be like hurting me twice -- making it an even more traumatic experience".
Lok had bought two plush egg toys during her pregnancy.
After saying a final goodbye to her "little egg", she opened an Instagram account dedicated to Luka.
It features a smiling plush egg toy in different locations -- in front of cherry blossom trees in Japan, taking a train in Taiwan, crossing a bridge in Korea.
"One is buried with him, the other is travelling the world with us," she said.
D.Kaufman--AMWN