World News for Students of English

17-04-2023 07:00

On Tuesday evening, US President Joe Biden arrived in Belfast for a tour of the island of Ireland.

Biden’s visit marks the 25^th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that brought an end to decades of violence in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles. Biden has Irish Catholic heritage, and he visited his ancestral homes in countries Louth and Mayo during his four-day visit. However, he isn’t the first US president to have connections with the Emerald Isle, as around a half can claim Irish ancestry.

America’s seventh president Andrew Jackson was born to parents from county Antrim. Perhaps the best-known Irish-American president was John F. Kennedy, the US first Catholic president, whose visit to Ireland in 1963 was to a young independent republic, and its president Eamon de Valera was the symbol of Catholic Irishness and national liberation. Barack Obama’s visit to Ireland in May 2011 took him on a trip to the country of Offaly from where his great great grandfather emigrated to the United States. Two years later, he visited Belfast where he again endeared himself to the local population.

Difficult words: ancestral (relating to members of the family from the past), endear (to cause to be loved or liked).

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