Alex Ossola

The Trump administration says Islamist groups are targeting Christians, but the Nigerian government doesn't agree.

Here's journal reporter Alexandra Wexler in Johannesburg.

A Defense Department official said Nigeria's government approved the Christmas Day strikes and worked with the U.S.

to carry them out.

Nigerian authorities today said that they aided the U.S.

strikes, but were adamant that the effort wasn't aimed at protecting any particular religious group.

Alexandra says that the cooperation comes after President Trump last month threatened military action in Nigeria if the government didn't do more to protect Christians.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said today that he would meet with President Trump in Florida on Sunday for talks on the plan to end the war with Russia.

Zelensky said they would discuss security guarantees for Kyiv and an economic agreement.

In Asia, the Chinese government has imposed sanctions on 20 U.S.

defense companies and 10 of their executives after the Trump administration last week approved $11 billion in weapons sales to Taiwan.

China's targets include Northrop Grumman, Boeing's defense unit that's based in St.

Louis, and Palmer Luckey, the founder of Andral Industries, Beijing's freezing assets and issuing bans on transactions with China.

It's also prohibiting the sanctioned executives from going to mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

The move emphasizes Beijing's claim over Taiwan, but is largely symbolic because U.S.

defense contractors generally do little business in China.

The U.S.

has sold arms to Taiwan for years.

China said today that the U.S.

weapons approval interferes with its internal affairs and undermines its sovereignty and territorial integrity.