Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is cohosting a reception with billionaire Republican donors next week for Donald Trump's inauguration, the latest sign of the Facebook founder's embrace of the president-elect.

The reception cohosted by Zuckerberg is set for Monday evening, shortly before the inaugural balls, according to two people familiar with the private plans who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss them.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused Russia on Wednesday of planning acts of sabotage worldwide that included "acts of air terror" against airlines.

Tusk spoke at a news conference in Warsaw alongside Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy.

Russia on Wednesday launched a major ballistic and cruise missile attack on regions across Ukraine, targeting energy production and compelling authorities to shut down the power grid in some areas despite freezing winter weather, officials said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that it launched a strike on "critically important facilities of gas and energy infrastructure that ensure the functioning of Ukraine's military industrial complex." It didn't give the target locations or other details.

Israel supplied Iran with centrifuge platforms containing explosives for its nuclear enrichment program, a top Iranian official has acknowledged for the first time, underscoring the sophistication of sabotage programs targeting the Islamic Republic.

The comments by Mohammad Javad Zarif, a former foreign minister who serves as vice president for strategic affairs for reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, appear aimed at explaining to the country's disaffected public the challenges Iran's government faces under crushing Western sanctions over the program. The comments also acknowledged details previously reported in Israel about a 2021 attack on Iran's underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility.

Russia's army on Wednesday announced a small exchange of captured soldiers with Kyiv in a deal mediated by the United Arab Emirates.

"As a result of the negotiation process, 25 Russian servicemen were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime. In return, 25 Ukrainian servicemen were handed over," Russia's defense ministry said on Telegram.

President-elect Donald Trump has expressed frustration that flags will be flying at half-staff when he takes office later this month.

It's an action put in place by President Joe Biden to honor the late President Jimmy Carter, who died last month at 100. It's not a timeline that Trump can do anything about — until after he takes office — although a large U.S. flag at Trump's home in Florida has been raised to full height following Carter's burial.

The defense ministers of Europe's five top military spenders have said they want to continue increasing their investments in defense but described meeting President-elect Donald Trump's challenge for them to raise spending to 5% of their overall economic output as complicated.

The defense ministers of Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Poland came together Monday near Warsaw for a meeting in a new format that they established after Trump was re-elected last year. Their first meeting in this format of five NATO members was held in Berlin in late November.

France's new prime minister, François Bayrou, is facing his first major test at parliament on Tuesday as his government has no majority amid unprecedented political instability.

Bayrou will address lawmakers through a general policy speech meant to outline his top priorities, including key budget decisions, one month after he was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron.

President Joe Biden said Monday that his stewardship of American foreign policy has left the U.S. safer and economically more secure, arguing that President-elect Donald Trump will inherit a nation viewed as stronger and more reliable than it was four years ago.

Biden trumpeted his administration's work on expanding NATO, rallying allies to provide Ukraine with military aid to fight Russia and bolstering American chip manufacturing to better compete with China during a wide-ranging speech to reflect on his foreign policy legacy a week before ceding the White House to Trump.

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 has hit southwestern Japan, the country's Meteorological Agency said Monday, while warning the public to stay away from coastal areas because of a tsunami threat.

Tsunami advisories were issued for Miyazaki Prefecture, where the quake was centered, in the southwestern island of Kyushu, as well as nearby Kochi Prefecture, shortly after the quake struck at 9:19 p.m. local time, according to the agency.