The US military is increasing materiel deliveries and intelligence sharing with Nigeria, Africom’s deputy commander told AFP, as part of a broader American push to work with African militaries to go after Islamic State-linked militants.The Pentagon has also kept open lines of communication with militaries in the junta-led Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, Lieutenant General John Brennan said.The increased cooperation with Abuja follows Washington’s diplomatic pressure on Nigeria over jihadist violence in the country, but also as the US military is becoming “more aggressive” in pursuing IS-linked targets on the continent.Under the Trump administration, “we’ve gotten a lot more aggressive and (are) working with partners to target, kinetically, the threats, mainly ISIS,” Brennan said in an interview on the sidelines of a US-Nigeria security meeting in the Nigerian capital last week.”From Somalia to Nigeria, the problem set is connected. So we’re trying to take it apart and then provide partners with the information they need,” he added. “It’s been about more enabling partners and then providing them equipment and capabilities with less restrictions so that they can be more successful.”Last week’s inaugural US-Nigeria Joint Working Group meeting came roughly a month after the US announced surprise Christmas Day strikes on IS-linked targets in northwest Nigeria.- Diplomatic clash -Though both militaries seem keen on increased cooperation after the joint strikes, hanging over it all is diplomatic pressure by Washington over what Trump claims is the mass killing of Christians in Nigeria.Abuja and independent analysts reject that framing of Nigeria’s myriad, overlapping conflicts, which has long been used by the US religious right.Charged politics were on display at the Joint Working Group meeting in Abuja, where Allison Hooker, the number three at the State Department, pushed the Nigerian government “to protect Christians” in a speech that did not mention Muslim victims of armed groups.Africa’s most populous country is roughly evenly split between a mostly Muslim north and mostly Christian south. Though millions live peacefully side by side, religious and ethnic identity remains a sensitive topic in a country that has seen sectarian violence throughout its history.Brennan told AFP that US intelligence would not be limited to protecting Christians.He also said that following the US strikes in northwestern Sokoto state, American support going forward would focus on intelligence sharing to aid Nigerian air strikes there, as well as the northeast, where a jihadist insurgency by Boko Haram and rival breakaway ISWAP has raged since 2009.Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) is “our most concerning group”, he said.Analysts have been tracking US intelligence flights over the country in recent months, though some have questioned whether air support alone can push back armed groups that thrive amid widespread poverty and state collapse in rural areas.- ‘Still collaborate’ with AES militaries -US-Nigerian cooperation going forward will involve “the whole gamut of intel sharing, sharing… tactics, techniques, and procedures, as well as enabling them to procure more equipment,” Brennan said.The initial strikes targeted militants linked to Islamic State Sahel Province, typically active in neighbouring Niger, Brennan said.Analysts have voiced concerns about ISSP’s spread from the Sahel into coastal west African countries like Nigeria.The impact of those strikes so far has been unclear, however, with local and international journalists unable to confirm militant casualties.Asked about their effectiveness, Nigerian information minister Mohammed Idris said last week it was “still a work in progress”.In the Sahel more widely, Brennan said “we still collaborate” with the junta-led governments in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which have broken away from their west African neighbours and largely shunned the West.Security cooperation has been curtailed since coups toppled civilian governments across the three countries from 2020 to 2023.”We have actually shared information with some of them to attack key terrorist targets,” he said. “We still talk to our military partners across the Sahelian states, even though it’s not official.”Brennan also said the US is not seeking to replace its bases in Niger after its troops were pushed out by the ruling junta.”We’re not in the market to create a drone base anywhere,” he said, referencing the shuttered US drone operations in Agadez. “We are much more focused on getting capability to the right place at the right time and then leaving. We don’t seek long-term basing in any of the western African countries.”

Clad in tactical gear with a helmet and hurling a tear gas canister at protesters, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino has become the public face of US President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign.Bovino’s public profile rose further in recent days as he defended violent immigration sweeps in Minneapolis, which culminated Saturday with federal agents fatally shooting 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, the second citizen to be killed in the heavily Democratic northern city in several weeks. The Trump administration swiftly accused Pretti of seeking to harm immigration agents, saying he was in possession of a pistol, despite footage from the scene showing that Pretti never drew a weapon, as agents fired multiple shots after throwing him to the ground.Bovino doubled down, saying it was the agents, not Pretti, who were the victims in the confrontation.”The fact that they’re highly trained prevented any specific shootings of law enforcement, so good job for our law enforcement in taking him down before he was able to do that,” Bovino told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.He added: “It’s too bad the consequences had to be paid because he injected himself into that crime scene. I can’t say that enough. He made the decision to go there.”Cesar Garcia Hernandez, an immigration law professor at Ohio State University, said that with the Trump administration seeking to deport millions of undocumented migrants, Bovino is the man for the job.”He is turning the aggressive rhetoric that we see from (Homeland Security) Secretary (Kristi) Noem, President Trump and other top officials into an operational reality,” Garcia Hernandez told AFP.- ‘Turn and burn’ – Over the past year, Bovino, who is in his mid-fifties, has directed several high-profile immigration raids, including sweeps in Los Angeles and Chicago, using what he calls the “turn and burn” tactic of moving in to make quick arrests and leaving swiftly before protesters arrive.Bovino was leading an immigration sweep in Minneapolis when on January 7, an agent fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, in her car, an incident that prompted mass demonstrations and national outrage.Bovino also defended his agents taking a five-year-old boy into custody last week while seeking to arrest his father, saying: “We are experts in dealing with children.”Last week, footage emerged of Bovino throwing a canister with a chemical irritant into a group of demonstrators in Minneapolis.”I’m gonna gas. Get back. Gas is coming,” he said, before hurling the cartridge at protesters as plumes of green smoke rose into the air.Unlike many of his agents who wear masks during raids, Bovino relishes the spotlight and controversy.When not wearing tactical gear, he is often seen in a long, double-breasted green overcoat with wide lapels that was popular during World War I and II, which, coupled with his military-style buzz cut, has some critics making unflattering comparisons.”Greg Bovino dressed up literally as if he went on eBay and purchased SS garb,” California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom said last week.Bovino shot back, saying that the coat is standard-issue Border Patrol uniform, which he has owned for over 25 years, and in turn accused Democratic officials of fueling unrest with such fierce criticism of his agency.”They’re trying to portray Border Patrol agents and ICE agents as Gestapo, Nazi and many other words,” he said on CNN, adding that Pretti could have been influenced by such statements.”Did this individual fall victim, as many others have, of this type of heated rhetoric?”To Garcia Hernandez, Bovino’s actions and demeanor convey a clear message.”He leaves no room for confusion that the Trump administration’s position is that there is no room for dissent in the United States, and that is a frightening proposition,” Garcia Hernandez told AFP.

A landmark trial beginning this week in Los Angeles could establish a legal precedent on whether social media companies deliberately designed their platforms to addict children.Jury selection is set to start in California state court on Tuesday in what is being called a “bellwether” proceeding because its outcome could set the tone for a tidal wave of similar litigation across the United States.Defendants in the suit are Alphabet, ByteDance and Meta, the tech titans behind YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.Meta co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is slated to be called as a witness during the trial.Social media firms are accused in the hundreds of lawsuits of addicting young users to content that has led to depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalization and even suicide.Lawyers for the plaintiffs are explicitly borrowing strategies used against the tobacco industry in the 1990s and 2000s that faced a similar onslaught of lawsuits arguing that companies sold a defective product.The trial before Judge Carolyn Kuhl in state court is expected to start the first week of February, after a jury is selected.It focuses on allegations that a 19-year-old woman identified by the initials K.G.M. suffered severe mental harm because she was addicted to social media.”This is the first time that a social media company has ever had to face a jury for harming kids,” said Social Media Victims Law Center founder Matthew Bergman, whose team is involved in more than 1,000 such cases.The center is a legal organization dedicated to holding social media companies accountable for harms caused to young people online.”The fact that now K.G.M. and her family get to stand in a courtroom equal to the largest, most powerful and wealthy companies in the world is, in and of itself, a very significant victory,” Bergman said.”We understand that these cases are hard fought and that it is our burden to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that K.G.M. was harmed by the design decisions of these companies — that’s a burden that we happily undertake.”— Design not content —A decisive outcome of the trial could provide a “data point” for settling similar cases en masse, according to Bergman.Snapchat last week confirmed that it made a deal to avoid the civil trial accusing it, along with Meta, TikTok and YouTube, of addicting young people to social media.The terms of that deal were not disclosed.Internet titans have argued that they are shielded by Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act, which frees them of responsibility for what social media users post.However, this case argues those firms are culpable for business models designed to hold people’s attention and promote content that winds up harming their mental health.”We are not faulting the social media companies for failure to remove malign content from their platforms,” Bergman told AFP.”We are faulting them for designing their platforms to addict kids and for developing algorithms that show kids not what they want to see but what they cannot look away from.”Lawsuits accusing social media platforms of practices endangering young users are also making their way through federal court in Northern California and state courts across the country.None of the companies responded to requests for comment.