AMERICA

UNITED STATES: Amanda Gorman, the young poet following in the footsteps of her elders

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3 years .

23/01/2021 à 14:18

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Amanda Gorman, 22, captivated her audience at Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony on January 20. His poem “The Hill We Climb” is a new composition that refers to Capitol Hill, where supporters of Donald Trump invaded Congress headquarters on January 6.

Amanda Gorman, a young woman from Los Angeles, was a sensation at the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States. The lyrics of his poem “The Hill We Climb” fit perfectly with the unifying and optimistic message of Joe Biden. “Democracy can be temporarily supplanted, but never definitively defeated,” she said before concluding with hope, “There is always light. If only we are brave enough to see it”.

In fact, her name was blown to the organizers of the ceremony by First Lady Jill Biden, who had the opportunity to attend one of her readings. She was commissioned in December to write an ode to “United America”, echoing the Democrat’s speech.

She was halfway through what she had in mind for her poem when the Capitol was stormed on January 6 by Donald Trump’s supporters. This dramatic incident gave her new inspiration and, that same evening, she finished writing “The Hill We Climb”. “This is probably one of the most important things I will do in my career,” she said after acknowledging that she had difficulties in the beginning. “I wanted to use my words as a tool to create unity, cooperation and cohesion,” said Amanda Gorman before the ceremony, adding: “I think this is a new chapter that we’re opening up in the United States, about the future, and doing it with the elegance and beauty of words.”

She follows in the footsteps of Maya Angelou, Richard Blanco and Robert Frost, who are among the five poets to have performed during previous presidential investitures.

Born in Los Angeles in 1998, Gorman had a speech defect in his childhood. A handicap she has in common with the new President of the United States. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she used it as a force. “It made me the interpreter I am and the storyteller I strive to be,” she said, adding: “When you have to train yourself to say sounds [and] be very preoccupied with pronunciation, it gives you a certain awareness of sounds, of the auditory experience.”

Gorman became the Los Angeles Youth Poet at the age of 16. Three years later, while studying sociology at Harvard, she became the first young poet to receive a national award. She published her first book, “The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough”

AMERICA

NIGER – United States repositions its troops

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8 months .

14/09/2023 à 07:41

Par

Morgan Anyango

The United States began “as a precaution” to reposition its troops in Niger, the scene of a coup in late July, the Pentagon announced on Thursday, September 07, 2023.

The Department of Defense is “repositioning some of its personnel and assets from Air Base 101 in Niamey (the capital, ed.) to Air Base 201 in Agadez”, further north, a spokesman, Sabrina Singh, told the press.

“There is no immediate threat to our staff or violence on the ground,” she added, calling the decision a “precautionary measure”. Singh also said that “some non-essential staff and subcontractors” had left the country several weeks ago.

Soldiers toppled the President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, on 26 July and placed him and his family under house arrest at the presidential palace. The United States has some 1,100 soldiers stationed in Niger, operating against active jihadist groups.

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AMERICA

NEW YORK – A dozen Senegalese arrested for selling counterfeit items

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8 months .

08/09/2023 à 08:23

Par

Juliette Ndiaye

On the evening of Wednesday, September 06, 2023, a muscular intervention by the New York police led to the arrest of a dozen Senegalese nationals, mainly street vendors. Reportedly, the police operation was triggered by the sale of counterfeit items, an illegal activity in the United States.

The US authorities also seized the subject goods, while legal proceedings were instituted against those involved. According to sources, the sale of counterfeit items is strictly prohibited in the United States, and the U.S. authorities take the suppression of this activity seriously.

However, this incident has elicited varying reactions from the Senegalese community in New York, with some expressing concern about the fate of those arrested, while others stress the need to respect local laws.

At this point, the New York police have not yet officially communicated on this case, and the exact circumstances of the police intervention remain to be clarified.

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AMERICA

CANARY ISLANDS – 83 people aboard rescue canoe and 2 lifeless bodies discovered

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10 months .

26/07/2023 à 17:29

Par

Sylviane Sofia Roy

3 people aboard a canoe were rescued by the ship Guardamar Calìope. Two (2) lifeless bodies, one male and one female, were discovered upon arrival in the Canary Islands.

With a cut and a design more or less identical to those of a Senegalese boat, the boat was spotted in the south of Maspalomas. According to the rescue team, they arrived in Arguineguin at 5:05am in the Canary Islands on 25 July 2023.

As a reminder, at least 14 lifeless bodies were found after a pirogue capsized overnight from Sunday to Monday, July 24, 2023 off the coast of Dakar, Senegal, said Samba Kandji, deputy mayor of the Ouakam district and a source of the gendarmerie.

‘They are migrants a priori,’ said Mr Kandji. Gendarmes and firefighters are on the beach of Ouakam, a district of the Senegalese capital, and continue Monday morning rescue operations in search of other bodies.

“The navy forced the boat to dock and people fled. I was told 14 (dead) but then two bodies came out. It can be assumed that there were 16” deaths, Kandji said a few minutes later.

A wooden boat, on which migrants were found, according to several witnesses on the beach, floats on the water near the bank.

A firefighter assured anonymously that search operations had begun at 01:00 hours.

The migratory route of the Canary Islands, a gateway to Europe in the Atlantic Ocean, has seen a marked increase in activity in recent weeks from the coasts of northwestern Africa.

Several tragedies have been recorded in the last two weeks. At least 13 migrants from around Dakar died in the sinking of their boat about a week ago off the coast of Morocco. Another boat capsized in Saint-Louis, in northern Senegal, killing at least 14 people.

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