Workers pose with British cannonball unearthed after 250 years - not realising it was still live Posted: 15 Jul 2017 02:10 PM PDT When a Canadian construction team came across a giant cannonball as they excavated a building site in Quebec, they did what anyone else would do in this age of Snapchat and Instagram. They moved the 200lb projectile into better view and posed with it for photographs. It was only later, when an archaeologist was studying the missile, the workers learned of their lucky escape: The cannonball was still live, packed with a charge and gunpowder just as it would have been when fired by British gunners during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759. Construction workers found the cannonball in Old Quebec Credit: Lafontaine/Facebook A team of army bomb disposal experts was hurriedly called in to make the artefact safe. "With time, humidity got into its interior and reduced its potential for exploding, but there's still a danger," Master Warrant Officer Sylvain Trudel, a senior munitions technician, told the Canadian broadcaster CBC. They are now working out whether they can make the cannonball safe - for display in a museum - or whether it must be destroyed. "Old munitions like this are hard to predict," said Mr Trudel. "You never know to what point the chemicals inside have degraded." It had lain buried for more than 250 years in what is now known as Old Quebec, the historic quarter of Quebec City. Historians believe it was fired during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, a pivotal moment in the war between Britain and France for control of the land that would become Canada – and a small part of the wider Seven Years War as Europe's two most powerful nations fought each other around the world. Cannon Shot at Refrigerator 01:51 In 1759, British forces defeated the French and seized Quebec City forming what would become known as Britain's "annus mirablis". The battle lasted no more than an hour – and cost the lives of the commanding officers on either side - but came at the end of a three-month siege. The cannonball was most likely fired at Quebec City from the far side of the St Lawrence River where British gun batteries were based. Army munitions experts must decide whether they can make the cannonball safe or whether it must be destroyed Credit: Lafontaine/Facebook Although cannon generally fired solid iron balls, armourers also designed projectiles equipped with timed charges or fashioned into crude incendiary devices. Mr Trudel said such the newly discovered ball was designed to set fire to the buildings it penetrated. "The ball would break and the powder would ignite, setting fire to the building," he said.
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Trump regrets 'bizarre mistake' of Paris climate pullout, Branson claims Posted: 15 Jul 2017 01:14 PM PDT Donald Trump regrets the "bizarre mistake" of withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement, Sir Richard Branson has said. Speaking in Brooklyn on Friday, the Virgin Group founder said businesses and cities were firmly behind a transition to low-carbon energy, which made Trump's decision to exit the Paris deal "very, very strange". "With climate change, it's America first and our beautiful globe last, and that seems incredibly sad," said Branson.
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Congrats to this clever mama raccoon who broke into a car to give birth Posted: 15 Jul 2017 12:18 PM PDT No one wants their car broken into, but sometimes you gotta give credit where credit is due. Consider, for example, this mother raccoon, who climbed through a plastic window cover and tumbled into the backseat of a parked convertible at an auto shop so she could safely give birth to her kits. She was later relocated by Devon of Wildlife, Inc. Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Manatee, Florida. SEE ALSO: Pelican in a cop car wants you to know this isn't what it looks like "I captured the mother, then 2 caring employees and I searched the entire car for her babies," Devon wrote in a Facebook post. "Once they were both accounted for, I relocated them to some woods where she can continue to raise them." According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune , the second kit — who is good at sneaking around, just like its mom — was hidden in the trunk. Raccoon litters are usually between three and five kits, so there's a good chance the mother was still pregnant when she was relocated. Perhaps she'll choose a less, er, spoken-for place next time. Might we suggest a nice tree cavity? WATCH: An iceberg the size of Delaware broke off Antarctica
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34 Super-Simple Salads To Whip Up For Dinner Posted: 14 Jul 2017 06:22 PM PDT ![34 Super-Simple Salads To Whip Up For Dinner 34 Super-Simple Salads To Whip Up For Dinner]()
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Jamie Gorelick exiting Kushner-Russia case Posted: 14 Jul 2017 05:49 PM PDT Yahoo News reports that the White House is undergoing a legal team shakeup amid growing Russia-related investigations. Jamie Gorelick, a powerful Democratic Washington, D.C., attorney who's been representing Jared Kushner, will be exiting the Russia case. The White House is bringing in the prominent D.C. attorney Ty Cobb as special counsel to handle all things Russia-related.
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Head of Islamic State in Afghanistan killed: Pentagon Posted: 14 Jul 2017 05:15 PM PDT The head of Islamic State in Afghanistan, Abu Sayed, was killed in a strike on the group's headquarters in Kunar province earlier this week, the Pentagon said on Friday. Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement that other members of the Islamic State group were also killed in the strike on Tuesday. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters, "The significance is you kill a leader of one of these groups and it sets them back ... it is obviously a victory on our side in terms of setting them back, it is the right direction." Sayed is the third Islamic State leader in Afghanistan to be killed since July 2016.
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These Were the 16 U.S. Marines and Sailors Killed in a Plane Crash This Week Posted: 14 Jul 2017 04:41 PM PDT A Navy sailor was also among the dead
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Russian-American Lobbyist Says He Attended 2016 Meeting With Donald Trump Jr. Posted: 14 Jul 2017 03:36 PM PDT A Russian-American lobbyist says he attended a June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr., marking a shift in the account of the meeting
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FBI says remains of fugitive tied to police chief's 1980 death found Posted: 14 Jul 2017 03:02 PM PDT The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it learned that Donald Eugene Webb, who had one of the longest-ever runs on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's "Ten Most Wanted" list, said it learned Webb had died in 1999 but did not provide information on cause of death. Webb's remains were found buried in the back of a property in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, the agency said. Webb had been sought in connection with the murder of Saxonburg, Pennsylvania, Police Chief Greg Adams, who the FBI said was shot twice at close range and beaten about the head and face with a blunt instrument in December 1980.
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