Turning an AK-47 into a cuff link, and more

Turning an AK-47 into a cuff link

A New York–based charity is helping to get illegal assault rifles off the streets of war-torn Africa by turning them into jewelry items. Fonderie 47 uses the steel from AK-47s seized in Congo to make customized rings, necklaces, cuff links, and earrings, and then sells them at designer prices in New York and Geneva. All the proceeds go to an Africa-based charity, the Mines Advisory Group, which seizes and destroys illegal weapons. The charity says a pair of $35,000 cuff links will fund the destruction of 100 assault rifles.

Dutch athlete makes a miraculous recovery

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A Paralympic medal winner who spent half her life in a wheelchair has made a miraculous recovery, and now hopes to represent her country in the Olympics. Monique van der Vorst had been paralyzed from the waist down since the age of 13, and won two silver medals as a hand-cyclist in the 2008 Paralympic Games. But the 27-year-old Dutch athlete regained sensation in her legs last year after a crash during training. She now trains on an ordinary bicycle, and won a place on a professional cycling team last week. Her goal, she says, is to compete in the Olympic Games in 2016. “In sport, everything is possible,” she said.

The oldest church in America

Archaeologists in Jamestown, Va., say they’ve discovered the church where the Native American princess Pocahontas married the English settler John Rolfe in 1614. If confirmed, the remains will be the oldest Protestant church ever found in the U.S. The structure was built within the fort where British colonists first made their home in 1607. Historians hope the find will shed new light on the religious lives of the Virginian settlers. “This is as close as you can get to a time capsule,” said archaeologist William M. Kelso.