bbcworldservice

mercredi 30 mai 2018

'Spider-Man' de Paris sauve un enfant qui pend

"Spiderman" who saved child dangling from Paris balcony offered French c...

Man scales building to save dangling child

Africa 54

Mamoudou Gassama: Mali 'Spiderman' to be made French citizen


  • 28 May 2018
Media captionMalian 'spiderman' rescues Paris child - then meets French President.
A Malian migrant, hailed as a hero after mounting a daring rescue to save a small boy dangling from a balcony in Paris, is to be made a French citizen.
Mamoudou Gassama won widespread praise after climbing the outside of the building to save the four-year-old.
Video showed him being cheered on by spectators as he pulled himself from balcony to balcony to the fourth floor.
After meeting him at the Elysee Palace, President Emmanuel Macron said he would be made a naturalised citizen.
He personally thanked Mr Gassama, gave him a medal for courage and said he would also be offered a role in the fire service.
Mr Gassama is said to have arrived in France last year, taking the long and dangerous journey to Europe via a boat over the Mediterranean to Italy.
The drama that thrust him to fame unfolded on Saturday evening on a street in the north of the city.
Mr Gassama said he had been walking past when he saw a crowd gathered in front of the building.
He told Mr Macron: "I just didn't have time to think, I ran across the road to go and save him.
"I just climbed up and thank God, God helped me. The more I climbed the more I had the courage to climb up higher, that's it," he added.
He said that the boy was crying when he hauled him to safety and had also suffered an injured foot.
Firefighters arrived to find the child had already been rescued.


 Mr Gassama met French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday  owed off a certificate he was given 

Outside the presidential palace he showed off a certificate he was given


Local authorities quoted by French media said the boy's parents were not at home at the time.
The father has been questioned by police on suspicion of leaving his child unattended, judicial sources say. The mother was not in Paris at the time, it is believed.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo was among those to praise the 22-year-old's heroism and said she had called him to thank him.
She referred to him as the "Spiderman of the 18th", referring to the Paris district where the rescue took place, calling him an "example for all citizens".


France's new Malian hero
Alex Duval Smith, West Africa correspondent, BBC News
Mr Gassama's four-storey dash is a reminder of another Malian hero who gained national prominence in January 2015 during an extremist attack on a Jewish supermarket in Paris.
A young Malian employee, Lassana Bathily, was credited with saving the lives of six hostages including a baby when he led them to a safe hiding place, escaped, then directed gendarmes to their rescue.
Two weeks later - after six years of struggling to secure legal residency in France - Mr Bathily was given a medal and a French passport by then President François Hollande.
In 2016, he wrote a book ''Je ne suis pas un heros'' (I am no hero) and created a charity whose first project was to provide irrigation for his home village in western Mali.
Like Mr Bathily's selfless leadership to save the hostages, Mr Gassama's heroic climb to save the boy cements the image of Mali as a country with a culture of old-fashioned public spiritedness.

BREAKING! Mamoudou Gassama: Mali 'spiderman' wows France with Paris chil...

VOA news for Tuesday, May 29th, 2018

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jeudi 24 mai 2018

Africa 54

VOA news for Thursday, May 24th, 2018

Santa Fe High School: Up to 10 dead in shooting

Santa Fe High School: Up to 10 dead in shooting

Between eight and 10 people have been killed in a shooting by a student at a Texas high school, say police.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told reporters the majority of the dead at Santa Fe High School were students.
The suspect in custody has been identified as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, according to CBS News.
Police said that explosive devices had been found at the school, which is 40 miles (65km) south of Houston, and in surrounding areas.
The death toll makes this the deadliest school shooting since the one in February at Parkland, Florida. That attack left 17 dead and spawned a nationwide youth-led campaign for gun control.

Santa Fe Police Chief Jeff Powell said: "There have been explosive devices found inside the high school, and in the surrounding areas adjacent to the high school."

He advised residents to be aware of any suspicious objects they find.
"Do not touch any items that look out of place," he said, warning residents to immediately call police.
He said a Santa Fe school police officer was among the injured.
Image copyrightTWITTER/ @HCSOTEXASImage captionThe high school is about 40 miles south of Houston
Two hospitals south of Houston said they had received nine patients from the school shooting.
Clear Lake Regional Medical Center said it admitted seven, and Mainland Medical Center received two.
Several students described hearing a fire alarm go off shortly before 08:00 local time. It is not clear how the alarm was activated.
Media captionTrump: 'This has been going on for too long'
One witness told KTRK-TV the shooting happened in her art class, and that one person shot was a girl.
"There was someone that walked in with a shotgun and started shooting," the student said, "and this girl got shot in the leg."
She said that she did not get a look at the shooter, because she ran to hide.

Police have yet to confirm what type of firearm was used in the attack.
One 10th grader told networks she had an asthma attack while hiding in the woods.
News helicopters filmed students emptying their backpacks in front of armed officers in a field outside the school.
BBC

mercredi 16 mai 2018

Senegal student 'killed in food protest'

    A student has been killed in clashes with police at a Senegalese university, as students demanded payment of their grants, the Senegalese interior minister has told AFP news agency.

    Ali Ngouye Ndiaye told private station Radio Future Media that 18 police officers were also injured in the scuffle at the University of Saint-Louis in northern Senegal.
    The second-year student was shot dead, student sources told AFP, adding "more than 20" were injured.
    The students were arguing that as they had not received their grants they should be allowed to eat without paying the bill at the university restaurants, AFP explains.
    This prompted the authorities to call the police, the interior minister added.
    The minister said he expected an inquiry to be held and promised that the grants would be paid.

    BBC

vendredi 11 mai 2018

Kenya satellite successfully launched

BBC

A Kenyan satellite has been launched into space for the first time.
The satellite which was developed and assembled by the University of Nairobi with assistance from Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency was launched from the International Space Station.
The nano-satellite which is not much larger than a coffee cup is expected to help with mapping, monitoring of the coastline and the fight against illegal logging in Kenya.
People gathered in an auditorium at the University of Nairobi to watch the launch

BBC New 11 May 2018

CNN 10 May 11, 2018 English subtitle