Golf is sometimes seen as a sport only accessible to an elite few. But in Senegal, one female golf star is redefining the sport’s image and challenging her country’s conservative gender norms. Annika Hammerschlag reports from Saly, Senegal.
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The lawsuit alleges that the league has discriminated against Brian Flores and other Black coaches for racial reasons; the NFL said it will defend “against these claims, which are without merit”
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The U.S. National Football League’s Washington franchise announced Wednesday it will now be known as the Washington Commanders, 18 months after dropping its previous name following years of complaints it was derogatory and racist.
The team, founded as the Boston Braves, became the Redskins in 1932 before moving to Washington in 1937. But since the 1970s the team received criticism from Native American activists and others who viewed its name as offensive.
Current team owner Daniel Snyder vowed repeatedly never to change it. But in 2020, following the worldwide protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd while in police custody, the national discussion about racial equality brought new pressure on the team.
The Washington Post reports pressure from public officials as well as threats from top sponsors such as FedEx, Nike and Pepsi prompted the team to drop “Redskins.” The team had been known simply as The Washington Football Team – or WFT – while team management conducted the process of selecting a new name.
In a statement, team owner Snyder said, “As an organization, we are excited to rally and rise together as one under our new identity, while paying homage to our local roots and what it means to represent the nation’s capital.”
The Washington Commanders join the Cleveland Guardians – formerly, the Indians -among major North American professional sports teams abandoning names linked to Native Americans. But the Associated Press reports other teams, such as the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, the National Hockey League’s Chicago Blackhawks and baseball’s Atlanta Braves have said they have no plans to change their names.
Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press.
Beijing began its hosting duties of the 2022 Winter Olympics with the start of the traditional Olympic torch relay Wednesday.
Vice Premier Han Zheng began the event when he passed the iconic torch to 80-year-old Luo Zhihuan, China’s first internationally competitive speed skater and first winter sports world champion, at Olympic Foreign Park.
More than 1,000 torchbearers will carry the Olympic torch through three competition zones, including downtown Beijing and the city of Zhangjiakou in neighboring Hebei province before returning to Beijing for Friday’s opening ceremonies.
The three-day relay is far more constrained than other past relays due to concerns about COVID-19, with only selected members of the public allowed to witness the relay. By comparison, Beijing sent the torch on a global tour ahead of hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics, which drew demonstrators at several stops protesting China’s human rights abuses.
This year, numerous countries have refused to send an official delegation to attend the Beijing Winter Olympics, including the United States, Australia, Britain and Canada.
The Olympics will be held under a so-called “bubble” that requires all Olympic athletes, officials, staff and journalists to remain isolated to keep the virus from potentially spreading into the general public.
Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.
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A single lightning bolt that leapt across three U.S. states has been identified as the longest ever, the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday. Dubbed a megaflash, the rare low-rate horizontal discharge covered 768 kilometers (477 miles) between clouds in Texas and Mississippi in April 2020.
It was detected by scientists using satellite technology and its distance – beating the previous record by 60 kilometer – confirmed by a World Meteorological Organization committee.
“That trip by air[plane] would take a couple of hours and in this case the distance was covered in a matter of seconds,” WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis said.
Another megaflash that occurred above Uruguay and Argentina in June 2020 also set a record, as the longest-lasting at 17.1 seconds, the WMO said.
While these two newly cataloged megaflashes never touched the ground, they serve as a reminder of the dangers of a weather phenomenon that kill hundreds of people a year.
“We reiterate our message: when thunder roars, when you see lightning — go indoors. Don’t seek shelter in a beach hut, don’t stand under a tree,” Nullis said.
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