North Korean soccer team publicly shamed.

From Gawker, thanks to reader Jen:

When North Korea bowed out of the World Cup after losing every match, everyone wondered what would happen to them: Would they be sent to the coal mines? Executed? Fed to Kim Jong-Il's half-man/half-tiger monsters? They were publicly shamed.

According to the Toronto Star, the shaming occurred July 2, shortly after the team returned from South Africa:

"The 23-man roster – minus its two Japanese-based ringers, Jong "Weepy" Tae-se and An Yong-hak – was hauled up on stage in front of 400 attendees at the inaptly named People's Palace of Culture.

"The audience included a large number of university students and athletes, as well as high party officials.

"For the next six hours, players were reprimanded for failures in their play."

They were accused of "betraying the young General Kim Jong-un" (Kim Jong-il's son and heir apparent), and failing in the "great ideological struggle" during their mostly disastrous World Cup appearance. (They lost to Portugal 7-0.) And, most cruelly, they were made to publicly criticize their coach, Kim Jong Hun. Hun has been rumored to have been expelled from Kim Jong-Il's Workers' Party and "has been sent to perform forced labor at a residential building construction site in Pyongyang," according to Radio Free Asia.

Of course, there were rumors that the entire 1966 North Korean team had been sent to the coal mines, but a BBC documentary crew found them alive and happy years later.

And that's the difference between sports in North Korea and America: In North Korea, they shame their professional athletes. In America, our athletes publicly shame themselves.

Ahmadinejad attacks Paul the Octopus.

From Huffington Post:

Paul the Psychic Octopus became a superstar by accurately forecasting the results of eight consecutive World Cup matches. But while the tentacled oracle may be enjoying his retirement, it seems the rest of the globe just can't get enough -- and the recent media saturation may now be spurring a backlash.

Over the weekend, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad slammed the octopus for "spreading Western propaganda and superstition." And the cephalopod prophet has also become the subject of a Chinese comic suspense film, to be called "The Murder of Paul the Octopus," which stars a stunt octopus in the title role.

Greenpeace activists close down BP gas stations.

From the Independent:

BP petrol stations were shut down by activists today in a bid to urge the oil company to adopt greener energy policies.

Greenpeace claimed it shut off fuel supplies at around 50 service stations in central London this morning.

A spokesman said activists stopped the flow of fuel by flipping safety switches located on the forecourts and then removing them to prevent the petrol stations reopening.

They also hoisted signs saying: "Closed. Moving beyond petroleum".

The protest is a bid to urge Bob Dudley who is expected to take the helm from outgoing BP chief executive Tony Hayward to move away from "his predecessor's obsession with high risk, environmentally reckless sources of oil".

At one station in Camden, north London, Greenpeace climbers replaced BP's logo with a new version showing the green "sunflower" disappearing into a sea of oil.

Bear toots horn, takes car on joyride.

From Breitbart:

A bear got into an empty car, honked the horn and then sent it rolling 125 feet into a thicket, with the bear still inside, a Colorado family said.

Seventeen-year-old Ben Story said he and his family were asleep in their Larkspur home, 30 miles south of Denver, when the bear managed to open the unlocked door of his 2008 Toyota Corolla early Friday and climbed inside.

A peanut butter sandwich left on the back seat is probably what attracted the bear, Story said.

It's not unusual for bears to open unlocked doors to cars and houses in search of food, said Tyler Baskfield, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

"It happens all the time," he said. "They're very smart."

Once inside, the bear must have knocked the shifter on the automatic transmission into neutral, sending the car rolling backward down the inclined driveway and into the thicket, Story said.

The door probably slammed shut when the car jolted to a stop, he said, trapping the bear inside.

Neighbors had called 911, and deputies freed the bear by opening the door with a rope from a distance. It then ran into the woods.

Story said he'll need a new car because the bear trashed the interior while apparently trying to find a way out.

The bear also left what Story called "a present" on the driver's seat.

"A nice pile, actually," added his dad, Ralph. "Something to remember."

Baskfield said such incidents are worrisome because they endanger the bear as well as the public. Wildlife managers trap and kill problem bears that learn to scavenge for human food and garbage.

"Food was left in the car. It's troubling for us," he said.

Cops raid raw-food grocery store, guns drawn against raw milk.

From LA Times:

With no warning one weekday morning, investigators entered an organic grocery with a search warrant and ordered the hemp-clad workers to put down their buckets of mashed coconut cream and to step away from the nuts.

Then, guns drawn, four officers fanned out across Rawesome Foods in Venice. Skirting past the arugula and peering under crates of zucchini, they found the raid's target inside a walk-in refrigerator: unmarked jugs of raw milk.

"I still can't believe they took our yogurt," said Rawesome volunteer Sea J. Jones, a few days after the raid. "There's a medical marijuana shop a couple miles away, and they're raiding us because we're selling raw dairy products?"

Cartons of raw goat and cow milk and blocks of unpasteurized goat cheese were among the groceries seized in the June 30 raid by federal, state and local authorities — the latest salvo in the heated food fight over what people can put in their mouths.

On one side are government regulators, who say they are enforcing rules designed to protect consumers from unsafe foods and to provide a level playing field for producers. On the other side are "healthy food" consumers — a faction of foodies who challenge government science and seek food in its most pure form.

They want almonds cracked fresh from the shell, not those run through a federally mandated pasteurization process that uses either heat or a chemical to kill off salmonella and other possible contaminants. They hunger for meat slaughtered on the farm. And they're willing to pay a premium — $6, $8 or more — for a gallon of milk straight from the cow.

So despite research outlining the dangers of consuming raw milk and other unprocessed foods, they're finding ways to circumnavigate federal, state and local laws that seek to control what they can serve at the dinner table. Such defiance, they said, comes from growing distrust of a food sector that has become more industrialized and consolidated — and whose products have been at the root of some of the country's deadliest food contamination cases.

"This is about control and profit, not our health," said Aajonus Vonderplanitz, co-founder of Rawesome Foods. "How can we not have the freedom to choose what we eat?"

Scientists and regulators point to epidemiological evidence linking disease outbreaks to raw milk: The milk can transmit bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7, salmonella, campylobacter and listeria, which can result in diarrhea, kidney failure or death.

"This is not about restricting the public's rights," said Nicole Neeser, program manager for dairy, meat and poultry inspection at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. "This is about making sure people are safe."

Coozer-Bits.

Funny: Celebs and their animal look-a-likes.

D'oh: 5 things to do before losing your wallet.

Cthulhu Watch: Scientists tap into Antarctic octopus venom.

Science: We might be inside a black hole.

Sad: New York to kill 170,000 geese.

Dorky: Pics from Comic-Con.

Darth Vader robs Long Island bank.

From the NY Post:

Luuuuuke, I am your robber!

Times sure must be tough on the Death Star these days, as Darth Vader yesterday stooped to holding up a Long Island bank, cops said.

A robber dressed up as the "Star Wars" villain for a heist that likely netted enough cash to fill up a TIE fighter with gas for a couple of days.

As he robbed the Setauket Chase branch, the Sith Lord brandished a weapon for a more civilized age -- a semiautomatic handgun.

There was no telling whether he needed to use the force to make bank employees comply, cops said, but at one point, the Vader invader kneeled as if speaking to the Emperor and aimed his gun.
"He immediately displayed a gun and demanded cash from the teller," said Suffolk County Detective Sgt. William Lamb.

Apparently Darth's normal costume was out for cleaning, since the robber was caught on tape wearing a blue cape and camouflage pants when he showed up at the branch on Route 374 at 11:30 a.m.

After grabbing his cash, Vader escaped on foot through a parking lot.

"All of a sudden, I saw this guy with a mask, and he was running very fast by the window," said Louie Lin, a worker at a nearby Chinese restaurant. "It was pretty crazy. He had the whole outfit on."

Michael Aloisio, who works at another nearby restaurant, also saw Vader run by.

"I thought it was pretty comical, but I guess this guy was pretty serious about needing some money," he said.

"I always liked 'Star Wars,' but I never liked Darth Vader."

Cops found the fallen Jedi's lack of respect for the law disturbing.

"I'd say it's very unusual," Lamb said.

Police wouldn't say exactly how much money Vader got, but a photo showed a Alderaan-sized wad of cash in his hand.

A police source said Suffolk officers couldn't stop talking about the encounter with the dark side.

"The jokes are starting already," the source said. "The one where he's back up in the Death Star is the best so far."

New evidence that chili peppers fight fat.

From EurekAlert:

Capsaicin, the stuff that gives chili peppers their kick, may cause weight loss and fight fat buildup by triggering certain beneficial protein changes in the body, according to a new study on the topic. The report, which could lead to new treatments for obesity, appears in ACS' monthly Journal of Proteome Research.

Jong Won Yun and colleagues point out that obesity is a major public health threat worldwide, linked to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and other health problems. Laboratory studies have hinted that capsaicin may help fight obesity by decreasing calorie intake, shrinking fat tissue, and lowering fat levels in the blood. Nobody, however, knows exactly how capsaicin might trigger such beneficial effects.

In an effort to find out, the scientists fed high-fat diets with or without capsaicin to lab rats used to study obesity. The capsaicin-treated rats lost 8 percent of their body weight and showed changes in levels of at least 20 key proteins found in fat. The altered proteins work to break down fats. "These changes provide valuable new molecular insights into the mechanism of the antiobesity effects of capsaicin," the scientists say.

Scientists closer to creating electricity from sewage.

From Oregon State University:

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Engineers at Oregon State University have made a significant advance toward producing electricity from sewage, by the use of new coatings on the anodes of microbial electrochemical cells that increased the electricity production about 20 times.

The findings, just published online in Biosensors and Bioelectronics, a professional journal, bring the researchers one step closer to technology that could clean biowaste at the same time it produces useful levels of electricity – a promising new innovation in wastewater treatment and renewable energy.

Engineers found that by coating graphite anodes with a nanoparticle layer of gold, the production of electricity increased 20 times. Coatings with palladium produced an increase, but not nearly as much. And the researchers believe nanoparticle coatings of iron – which would be a lot cheaper than gold – could produce electricity increases similar to that of gold, for at least some types of bacteria.

“This is an important step toward our goal,” said Frank Chaplen, an associate professor of biological and ecological engineering. “We still need some improvements in design of the cathode chamber, and a better understanding of the interaction between different microbial species. But the new approach is clearly producing more electricity.”

In this technology, bacteria from biowaste such as sewage are placed in an anode chamber, where they form a biofilm, consume nutrients and grow, in the process releasing electrons. In this context, the sewage is literally the fuel for electricity production.

Israel jails Arab for "rape" after consensual sex with woman who thought he was Jewish.

I guess I should stop telling girls in bars that I'm a 7-foot-tall, totally ripped millionaire. From the Daily Mail:

A Palestinian man has been convicted of rape ‘by deception’ after having consensual sex with a woman who had believed him to be a fellow Jew.

Sabbar Kashur, 30, who had introduced himself as Daniel, was only charged with the offence when she later realised he was an Arab.

A court in Jerusalem made international legal history by jailing the delivery driver for 18 months despite acknowledging it had not been ‘a ‘a classical rape by force’.

The unusual case underscores the racial tensions between Israel's Jewish and Arab communities, where intimate relations between the two are often regarded as taboo.

The court heard that Mr Kashur misled the woman by introducing himself with a traditionally Jewish name during a chance encounter in central Jerusalem in 2008.

Mr Kashur, from the Arab sector of East Jerusalem, had also suggested he was a bachelor seeking a serious relationship.

The two then had consensual sex in a nearby building before Mr Kashur left before the woman, who has not been named, had a chance to get dressed.

When she later found out that he was not Jewish but an Arab, she filed a criminal complaint for rape and indecent assault.

After striking up a conversation, the two went into a top-floor room of a nearby office-block and engaged in a sexual encounter, after which Mr Kashur left.

It was only later that she discovered the Arab’s true racial background, lawyers said, leading her to file criminal complaint.

Although Mr Kashur was initially accused of rape and indecent assault, this was changed to a charge of rape by deception as part of a plea bargain arrangement.

Handing down the verdict, Tzvi Segal, one of three judges on the case, acknowledged that sex had been consensual but said that although not ‘a classical rape by force,’ the woman would not have consented if she had not believed Mr Kashur was Jewish.

The sex therefore was obtained under false pretences, the judges said.

‘If she hadn't thought the accused was a Jewish bachelor interested in a serious romantic relationship, she would not have cooperated,’ they added.

Indonesian Muslims drop fatwa against expensive coffee.

Good news for java in Java. Item!

Indonesia's highest Islamic body today abandoned a proposal to ban Muslims from drinking the world's most expensive coffee, which is extracted from the feces of a small mammal called the civet.

It had considered issuing a fatwa against the rare coffee, made using beans picked out from the excrement of the nocturnal, cat-like creature, on the grounds it was unclean.

"After a long discussion among clerics here, we decided that it's not sinful for Muslims to drink the Luwak coffee," the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) chairman Ma'ruf Amien told a press conference.

"It's not haram [forbidden in Islam], as long as you wash the beans with water to remove the civet cat's droppings."

Locally known as Kopi Luwak, the beans come from the ripest fruits eaten by the civet, which are digested before being excreted and roasted. It is highly prized for its smooth flavor.

The beans cost up to $600 dollars per kilogram, and only 200 kilos are produced worldwide each year, according to Indonesia's association of coffee producers.

Cops shocked pastor to death.

From the Denver Post:

Marvin Booker just wanted to get his shoes.

But deputies at the new Denver jail told him to stop. When Booker, who was being processed on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia, didn't obey, he was held down, hit with electric shocks and then placed facedown in a holding cell, according to two inmates who watched it unfold.

Booker never got up. He was pronounced dead later that morning.

"I've never seen anything happen like that before in my life," said John Yedo, 54, who was being processed on a charge of destruction of property and said he witnessed the scene. "What I saw is not what you'd expect to see in America."

The two jail witnesses, who were both arrested in the early-morning hours of July 9 around the time Booker was being processed, were contacted and interviewed by The Denver Post separately. Both of them said they had not been questioned by police investigating the death of Booker, a homeless ordained minister who served the poor, but also a habitual criminal with a long string of arrests.

Capt. Frank Gale, spokesman for the jail, said he cannot comment on the ongoing investigation by the Denver Police Department and the Denver district attorney's office, and cannot confirm the inmates' accounts.

He said what happened at the Van Cise-Simonet Detention Facility would have been recorded on videotape.

"If in fact what they are saying is true, it should be reflected in the video," Gale said.

District attorney spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough said she couldn't comment during the investigation, which could take several more weeks. The coroner's office is awaiting test results before completing the autopsy report and determining how Booker died, she said. In the meantime, the deputies involved in Booker's case are still on the job.

Yedo has had one prior arrest, in 1974 on a drug charge. Christopher Maten, 25, the other witness, was arrested in 2005 for public consumption of alcohol. Neither is a career criminal. The versions the two suspects tell are nearly identical.

Russian deaths mount as heatwave and vodka mix.

From Comrade Jen. From BBC News:

Scores of Russians have died in the past few weeks amid a heatwave that shows no sign of breaking.

Many of the dead have drowned after taking a swim - often after having drunk too much vodka.

For the past two weeks temperatures across much of western Russia have soared past 35C, in the hottest and longest heatwave in decades.

Russia is also suffering what is thought to be the worst drought in more than 100 years.

There has been virtually no rain since winter and crops are shrivelling.

"We've had 10mm of rain, scorching hot temperatures over 35C, which have just burnt all the crops up," says Colin Hinchley, a Briton who now farms in Penza near the Volga river, in southern Russia.

"Winter wheat crops are 50% of the yield, and spring crops, in some cases, are going to be virtually none."

A state of emergency has been imposed in 16 Russian regions, and the government is increasing loans to try to help farmers avoid bankruptcy.

"It's a major calamity, the situation is extremely serious," said Viktor Zubkov, the first deputy prime minister responsible for agriculture.

n the centre of Moscow, teams of tanker trucks roam the streets spraying water to try to stop the asphalt from melting.

At lakes and rivers around Moscow groups of revellers can be seen knocking back vodka and then plunging into the water.

The result is predictable - 233 people have drowned in the last week alone.

In one incident six schoolchildren drowned, because the summer camp employees looking after them were drunk.

The heatwave is expected to last another week. By then Moscow may well have broken through its highest ever temperature of 36.6C.

Duckling rescued, brought to Paradise.

This place sounds incredible. If you've got some extra bucks, it sounds like this place could really use it. From NY Daily News:

A tiny yellow duckling recently found wandering alone on the grounds of the New York Botanical Garden has since landed in paradise.

"I knew a fledgling would never survive with all the predators in the Garden," said the bird's rescuer, a state licensed wildlife rehabber who asked not to be identified because some neighbors don't know that she cares for squirrels, pigeons and other creatures in need from her Manhattan apartment.

The curious fluffy bird spent the night frolicking in the rescuer's bathtub before making the four-hour journey to the Berkshire Bird Paradise, where she was greeted by a gaggle of ducklings that reside at the upstate sanctuary.

Located in upstate Grafton, the safe haven is home to more than 1,200 disabled and unwanted birds, from emus, pigeons, and tropical birds to owls, hawks, falcons, and eagles.

New York City residents regularly make the drive to hand-deliver injured pigeons and squirrels to founder Peter Debacher, who turned his parents' 20-acre farm into a maze of wooden pens and exotic plants in 1972 as a "labor of love."

Wildlife officials across the country have sent injured birds for his care, from an eagle mauled by a grizzly bear in Alaska to cranes left over from a breeding program in Maryland.

"All life is sacred; once you spend some time with them, you realize every creature has its uniqueness," said Debacher, a former Army cook who served in the late 1960s in Panama, where he bought parrots being sold as pets in the vegetable stands and set them free.

In the last three decades, he has taken in more than 20 wounded eagles, including Victoria, a bald eagle who survived the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

Victoria's two baby eaglets - their father, Baldwin, came from a zoo - who were born in the sanctuary were recently released into the wild.

Meanwhile, Debacher's latest mission is to provide refuge to an eagle shot in the wing in Afghanistan.

Concerned Navy Seals recently e-mailed Debacher, asking him to take the wounded steep eagle, but U.S. wildlife regulations have kept the bird from entering the country.

Debacher has enlisted help from author Barbara Chepaitis to cut through the red tape and act as a liaison between lawmakers and the soldiers.

Chepaitis, a bird lover who discovered the sanctuary years ago, understands the depth of Debacher's compassion. In her new book, "Feathers of Hope" (SUNY Press), she provides an intimate view of life at the sanctuary and the enormous effort it takes for Debacher to maintain his dream.

After all, the sanctuary is a humble place run by a small army of volunteers. Debacher estimates it costs about $150,000 a year to run the nonprofit facility, which relies strictly on monetary donations and community outreach.

State troopers and DEC workers regularly drop off road kill and dead rats, which feeds the birds. Day-old bread donated by local stores, and apples, pumpkins and other fresh veggies from local farmers help feed squirrels and pigeons.

Kids from nearby Tryon Juvenile Detention Center even help paint signs and make bird feeders, while learning about compassion for animals.

Despite his enormous lifelong commitment to the animals, Debacher does not feel shackled down. He says sharing an occasional movie and a sandwich in town with his wife, Betty Ann, and their 16-year-old daughter helps keep him going.

He said, "This is my paradise and I love it."

The Berskshire Bird Paradise welcomes visitors. For information or to make a donation, go to www.birdparadise.org.

British man buys huge amount of cocoa beans, holds them hostage to drive up global price of chocolate.

What an asshole. From Daily Mail:

A British financier who dramatically cornered a huge chunk of the world’s cocoa supply has been dubbed ‘Choc Finger’ by City traders.

Anthony Ward, 50, who has amassed a £36 million fortune, is a real-life Willy Wonka and now owns enough beans to manufacture 5.3 billion quarter-pound chocolate bars.

The holding is so massive it threatens to force manufacturers to raise the price of some of Britain’s most popular chocolate.

Armajaro Holdings, a hedge fund founded by multi-millionaire Mr Ward, pulled off the £658 million purchase of 241,000 tons of cocoa beans.

It is likely that the mountain of beans will be held in warehouses in London, Liverpool, Humberside and Holland.

The move was the largest single cocoa purchase for 14 years and came as bean prices rose to the highest level since 1977 – £2,732 per ton.

The purchase has surprised commodity dealers because, in a highly unusual move, Mr Ward’s firm has actually taken delivery of the beans. According to industry sources, in 98 per cent of transactions, traders exchange contracts which give them the option to buy and sell cocoa at various prices and at different times without ever taking possession of the stock.

The move has prompted speculation that Mr Ward is stock-piling huge volumes of cocoa in order to exert a stranglehold over supply and force the price even higher.

The Great Gatsby now a video game.

What's next - The Snows of Mt. Killzone? Gears of War & Peace? Sense & Sensibility & Ratchet & Clank? Ok, I got nothin. From Ology:

I'm not going to sit here and try to convince you that video games are better than novels. That would be ridiculous. I will ask you one thing, though: Have you ever won a novel?

If not, you'll soon have the chance. The Great Gatsby, a new PC game, is the next entry in the "Classic Adventures" series, which takes players on point-and-click journeys through the world of literature. In Gatsby, players will follow Nick Carraway as he attempts to navigate the complex social world of the 1920s while having as much extravagant fun as possible. Dance the Charleston! Drink bootleg gin! Stare longingly at the greenish light across the water! The possibilities are endless.

Fans of the Dante's Inferno game may be disappointed to learn that Gatsby is a "hidden object" game and not a hack-and-slash action-fest. I was really hoping we'd get the chance to impale people on one of those canes that goes with top hats. Still, sophomore English students who are crunched for time ought to check out Gatsby for educational purposes. Go ahead, bored high school kids! See if you can collect all 151 Metaphor Points!

Study: Pear-shaped women face dementia risk.

Item!

Pear-shaped women, who have a high hip-to-waist ratio, may be at greater risk of developing dementia in old age than women with rounder, apple-like figures, research suggests.

The large scale study was the first to show obesity directly impacts on cognitive and memory decline, but also unexpectedly revealed a woman’s shape, as well as size, was a risk factor.

“Obesity is bad, but its effects are worse depending on where the fat is located,” said the study leader, Dr Diana Kerwin, of Northwestern University, Chicago.

Pear-shaped celebrities include Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce, while apple-shaped women, whose waist and hip measurements are much closer, include Catherine Zeta-Jones and Drew Barrymore.

“Pears” tend to gain most weight on the hips and bottom, while “apples” accumulate a tire around the middle.

Vatican: Female priests as bad as child rape.

From News.com.au:

The Vatican placed the ordination of women as Roman Catholic priests on the same level as child abuse in the eyes of the Church.

The Canon Law’s revision to the laws on sexual abuse of children by priests included the “attempted ordination of a woman,” with future cases to lead to immediate excommunication at the hands of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Catholic Church teaches it cannot ordain women as priests because Christ chose only men as his apostles.

Many respected scholars argue that Mary Magdalen was an Apostle but her role in the early Church was downgraded by male writers with an agenda of promoting the all-male priesthood.

[...] The new “substantive norms” on “delicts against the faith” came days after the Church of England General Synod voted in favor of legislation to ordain women bishops.

British scientists create bulletproof custard.

Isn't all British cuisine bulletproof? From PopSci:

Liquid armor has been shown to stop bullets more effectively than plain Kevlar, according to British firm BAE Systems. The material could be used to make thinner, lighter armor for military personnel and police officers, the BBC reports.

Materials scientists combined a shear-thickening liquid with traditional Kevlar to make a bulletproof material that absorbs the force of a bullet strike by becoming thicker and stickier.

Its molecules lock together more tightly when it is struck, the scientists explained -- they described it as "bulletproof custard," the BBC reports.

Shear-thickening liquids are composed of hard nanoparticles suspended in a liquid, which turns rigid after being struck with a bullet or shrapnel. BAE says their tests provide the first clear evidence that it can actually protect people.

In the tests, BAE scientists used a gas gun to fire ball-bearing bullets at nearly 1,000 feet per second at two test materials -- 31 layers of regular Kevlar and 10 layers of Kevlar combined with the shear-thickening liquid.

The shear-thickening liquid stopped the bullets more quickly and prevented them from penetrating as deeply, the BBC says. British media got a preview of the materials at a BAE facility in Bristol, England.

The U.S. Army Research Laboratory has studied using liquid armor to replace traditional Kevlar armor, which is heavy and bulky.

18th century wooden ship discovered buried at World Trade Center site.

This sounds like the work of Jacob. From Daily Mail:

The remains of a ship dating back to the 18th century have been uncovered by workers close to the the old World Trade Centre site in lower Manhattan.

Archaeologists said the 32ft-long vessel was probably used along with other debris to fill in land to extend New York City into the Hudson River.

Those who examined the find described it as 'significant'.

An anchor weighing seven stone was also discovered at the site, although investigators said it was unclear whether it belonged to the newly-unearthed ship.

Archaeologists Molly McDonald and A. Michael Pappalardo examined the ship when it was found by staff about 30ft below street level in a planned underground vehicle security centre.
Ms McDonald said: 'We noticed curved timbers that a backhoe [mechanical digger] brought up.

'We quickly found the rib of a vessel and continued to clear it away and expose the hull over the last two days.'

The two archaeologists work for AKRF, a firm hired to document artefacts discovered at the site.

They called Tuesday's find significant but said more study was needed to determine the age of the ship.

'We're going to send timber samples to a laboratory to do dendochronology that will help us to get a sense of when the boat was constructed,' said McDonald.

A boat specialist was due at the site today to further investigate the find which is turning into a race against time after the delicate wood was exposed to air.