Quick Update

Colin Kaepernick's controversial stand to sit during the American national anthem is not about the actual national anthem. The NFL quarterback's protest takes issue with police brutality and systemic racial injustice in the country. “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," the 49ers star explained. Yet Kaepernick's continued defiance has struck a nationalist nerve and fueled a widespread backlash, triggering the ire of the right-wing punditocracy, fellow NFL players and coaches and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who suggested Kaepernick " [Read More]

Washington’s largest animal rescue organization has merged with a center based in New Jersey to create the country’s first multistate animal welfare group. The union announced this week is designed to consolidate resources and address a growing need for a regional approach to animal welfare, the groups’ leaders said Thursday. By joining forces with St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center of Madison, N.J., officials said, the District’s Humane Rescue Alliance will significantly expand its ability to take in more unwanted animals from the across the country and place them with owners who have the resources to care for them. [Read More]

In Mauritania, only one train to ride exists: It is nicknamed the Iron Train. It stops once for five minutes in Choum on its daily 437-mile journey from Zouerat in central Mauritania to Nouadhibou on the coast. Its main purpose is to transport iron ore, 22,000 tons mined in Zouerat daily and poured into 220 iron hoppers linked together to make a 1.5-mile-long train. Passengers can stow away for free in the hoppers or they can pay about $3 to sit on benches inside two passenger cars. [Read More]