BAMAKO, July 19 — Mamoudou Gassama, the Malian migrant "Spiderman” who saved a child hanging off a balcony by scaling a Paris apartment block with his bare hands, was hailed yesterday by Mali’s president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

"At a moment when... only one person could make the decision, it was you who made it. Of that, we are very proud,” Keita told Gassama, who was accompanied by his father.

"We had a good talk. He congratulated me on what I had done,” Gassama said.

French President Emmanuel Macron awarded Gassama, who was in France illegally, with French residency — a first step to getting citizenship — and feted his extraordinary feat. — AFP