In its first report on the Syrian war death toll since 2014, the UN said at least 350,209 people have died in the decade-long conflict. But admitted the real toll is likely to be much higher.

For Osmair Candido, who has worked as a gravedigger for the past 30 years, the pandemic was worse than a nightmare, an ordeal the Brazilian overcame only with the help of a few old friends -- Kierkegaard, Kant and Nietzsche. The soft-spoken 60-something -- whose occupation necessitates spending most of the day in a small cemetery in Sao Paulo -- is not just a laborer but also a man of letters, a philosopher.

Here are a few reasons to pick up a copy of The Guardian on Saturday. Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Saturday.⁣

Exactly 34 years ago today, the charismatic Pan-Africanist and Burkina Faso's then President, Thomas Sankara, was shot dead aged 37 by soldiers during a coup on 15 October 1987. Four years before his assassination with 12 others, Sankara and his close friend, Blaise Compaoré, staged a coup that brought them to power. This is the story of how he shaped Burkina Faso decades after his assassination.

The ex-apartheid fighters locked the ministers in a hotel room after failed talks over a compensation deal. Police arrested a total of 56 people after the incident.

The tiny US town of Green Bank is home to the over six-decade-old Green Bank Observatory, which requires radio silence to be able to peer deep into space to observe stars and black holes. Cell phone service is effectively barred, but the West Virginia town is changing: not everyone agrees about what comes next for this seeming digital age refuge.