First pressuring South Africa, and now threatening Nigeria, President Donald Trump is letting US domestic politics steer his policy on Africa — boding ill for foreign governments hit with his fury.Trump last week said he would put Nigeria on a blacklist on religious freedom over treatment of Christians — a long-running demand of evangelicals who are one of his most loyal bases — but took a stunning turn by also threatening military action against Africa’s most populous nation.Trump’s sudden intervention comes despite otherwise showing limited interest in sub-Saharan Africa, which in his first term he was the first president in recent times not to visit.Trump has highlighted US diplomacy in securing a fragile peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, but largely in the context of boasting that he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize and of the United States securing mineral wealth.Nigeria has witnessed years of deadly clashes between mostly Christian farmers and Fulani Muslim herders.The violence centers on clashes over dwindling resources, although on the surface it falls along ethnic and religious lines.”It is incredibly irresponsible of President Trump to threaten military action,” said Representatives Gregory Meeks and Sara Jacobs, the top Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and its Africa subcommittee respectively.”Providing security support is one thing; threatening military intervention to ‘defend Christians’ is a reckless response to distorted facts which risks embroiling the United States in another war,” they said in a joint statement.Republicans who champion the evangelical movement applauded Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” on religious freedom, which can carry sanctions, although they steered clear of cheering on military intervention.The blacklisting is a “critical step in holding accountable and changing the behavior of Nigerian officials who have facilitated and created an environment conducive to the outrages in Nigeria,” Senator Ted Cruz said.- Evangelical narrative as ‘Gospel’ -Pauline Bax, an Africa expert at the International Crisis Group, which supports conflict resolution, said that pressure groups had been key in channeling information on Africa to the Trump administration, which has sidelined traditional diplomats.”In the US, there’s a surge of what you could call Christian nationalism, partly fueled by the Trump administration. So I think conflict in Africa risks being sometimes framed in that light,” she said.Cameron Hunter, a former Africa director on the National Security Council, said that Trump’s base has invested in the narrative of Christians as persecuted, both at home and abroad.”They’re applying a kind of parochial worldview to, in this case, Nigeria. But it could be Iraq tomorrow, or the Philippines, or any other country. It just so happens that they spun the wheel and it landed on Nigeria,” he said.”The problem is that this presidency isn’t questioning the analysis of the Christian Right. They’re literally taking their assessment of this conflict for Gospel.”Following South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu requested a meeting with Trump to clear the air.The White House visit went disastrously for Ramaphosa, who was played footage by Trump who alleged a “genocide” against the white minority by the post-apartheid government, a narrative promoted online by white nationalists.Hudson said meeting Trump would be the “absolute wrong move” for Tinubu, seeing that the US leader has shown he is not willing to accept explanations from others.Instead, Hudson said Nigeria could leverage Trump’s anger by asking for more security assistance to help fight Boko Haram militants.The United States is inching toward sending attack helicopters approved for Nigeria in 2022. The Trump administration in August approved another $346 million arms sale to Nigeria.Nigeria has “a very real interest in combating Boko Haram and extremist threats in the country,” Hudson said.”If the Nigerians were smart, they would look for ways to use these threats and turn them into a cooperative arrangement that actually helps them.”

At least three people died and 11 more were injured after a UPS cargo plane crashed shortly after takeoff on Tuesday from Louisville International Airport in Kentucky, exploding into flames as it crashed into businesses adjacent to the airport, sending a massive plume of black smoke over the area. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 departing for Hawaii crashed at around 5:15 p.m. local time (2215 GMT). Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear told a press briefing that he expected the number of dead and injured was going to rise, with the current toll including only those on the ground that were currently accounted for.UPS said in a statement that three crew members were on board the aircraft, adding that “we have not confirmed any injuries/casualties.”Beshear said the status of the three crew members was unknown and said that he was “very concerned” for them.The cause of the crash was under investigation by the FAA and the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Video shared by local broadcaster WLKY appears to show the aircraft’s left engine on fire as it tried to lift off.Louisville serves as the main US air hub for UPS, according to a company fact sheet. The package delivery giant travels to more than 200 countries via nearly 2,000 flights per day, with a fleet of 516 aircraft. UPS owns 294 of those planes and hires the rest through short-term leases or charters. Aerial footage of the crash site showed a long trail of debris as firefighters blasted water on the flames, with smoke billowing from the disaster area.Governor Beshear said the aircraft hit a petroleum recycling facility “pretty directly.”- Government shutdown -The crash comes amid one of the longest government shutdowns in US history, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warning of “mass chaos” earlier Tuesday due to a lack of air traffic control staff. “You’ll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it because we don’t have the air traffic controllers,” Duffy told reporters.In a statement on X, Duffy called footage of the crash “heartbreaking,” adding: “Please join me in prayer for the Louisville community and flight crew impacted by this horrific crash.”In January, an American Eagle airliner hit a military Black Hawk outside Washington’s Ronald Reagan airport, killing 67 people.That crash, which ended the United States’ 16-year streak of no fatal commercial air crashes, has added to concerns about the US air traffic control system, which some regard as an understaffed operation beset by problems with old equipment.

Democrat Abigail Spanberger will be the first woman to run the US state of Virginia after winning back the governor’s mansion from Republicans Tuesday, US media projected — in voters’ first verdict on Donald Trump’s return to office.  While the high-profile mayoral contest in New York City grabbed the headlines, the race in Virginia — alongside a gubernatorial election in New Jersey — was seen as offering a sharper critique of Trump 2.0 and a clearer preview of how next year’s midterm elections might play out.Pitting centrist Democrats against Trump-aligned Republicans, both elections were seen as signaling whether middle-of-the-road voters had made peace with the president’s radical cost-slashing agenda — or plan to give his party a bloody nose in 2026.Trump has driven a steamroller through the federal bureaucracy since returning to office in January, shuttering entire agencies and cutting an estimated 200,000 jobs even before the government shutdown.The result in Virginia — which is second only to California in the size of its federal workforce — was no surprise, as polls had shown Spanberger holding a steady lead of seven to 12 points throughout the campaign.The former CIA officer and three-term congresswoman was projected to beat Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, a Marine veteran and staunch Trump ally, by a comfortable margin that even threatened to end in double digits. “All year, Virginians have seen our economy come under attack, jobs get ripped away, and prices skyrocket,” Spanberger posted on social media before the polls closed.”They’re tired of the chaos. They’re ready for a Governor who will be laser-focused on growing our economy and lowering costs — a Governor who will put them first.”- Tighter race -Casting herself as a bulwark against Trump’s aggressive federal downsizing, Spanberger vowed to be “a governor who will stand up” for the thousands of federal workers laid off by Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.Earle-Sears ran a campaign aimed at firing up conservatives, mirroring the playbook of outgoing, term-limited Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin to focus on culture war issues such as transgender athletes and abortion.In another first, Ghazala Hashmi was projected to beat Republican talk show host John Reid in the Virginia lieutenant governor’s race, becoming the first Muslim woman to win a statewide race in US history. In New Jersey — which was due to be called later Tuesday — Democratic former Navy pilot Mikie Sherrill was also seen as the favorite, but locked in a tighter battle with Republican businessman Jack Ciattarelli. Trump’s decision to freeze funding for the Hudson Tunnel project — a vital link between New Jersey and New York — was seen as a boost for Sherrill, who has vowed to “fight this tooth and nail.” On a pivotal day in US democracy, with elections at various levels of government taking place across the country, Pennsylvanians were picking new state supreme court justices while California was delivering its verdict on redistricting measure Proposition 50.California Governor Gavin Newsom spearheaded the plan to redraw congressional districts in response to Trump pressuring Texas into a rare and contentious mid-decade redistricting.The Texas move, aimed at yielding five more Republican seats in the closely divided US Congress, would likely be canceled out by approval for Proposition 50 in left-leaning California.