Day 1,483: stricken, francophone

The last seemingly solid government aligned with the West in the jihadist-plagued Sahel, a belt of poverty-stricken Francophone countries that spreads across the Sahara desert, seems to have fallen to a military coup.

Soldiers declare they have overthrown Niger’s president

Artwork of the day 
Saint Rosalie Interceding for the Plague-stricken of Palermo
Anthony van Dyck
Style: Baroque
Genre: religious painting

Word of the day 
stricken: suffering severely from the effects of something unpleasant
Francophone: speaking French as the main or official language:

Quote of the day
“Romance is the sweetening of the soul

With fragrance offered by the stricken heart.”

― Wole Soyinka, The Lion and the Jewel