International News from Thursday, January 8th, 2026

Laurent Vinatier, a French researcher serving a three-year prison sentence in Russia for violating Moscow's foreign agent laws, has been freed as part of a prisoner exchange, French and Russian officials said on Thursday.

Israeli strikes killed at least 11 Palestinians in separate strikes in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said, in what the military said came in response to a failed rocket attack in the enclave.

Ukrainian officials were racing to restore power on Thursday after Russian strikes plunged two southeastern regions into near-total blackout overnight, forcing critical infrastructure to rely on reserves.

French farmers blockaded sites in Paris on Thursday in protest against a sweeping trade deal the European Union is poised to sign with South American nations and other local grievances.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the US would withdraw from dozens of international and UN entities because they "operate contrary to US national interests".

The US has seized two Venezuela-linked oil tankers in the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday, one sailing under Russia's flag, as part of President Donald Trump's aggressive push to dictate oil flows in the Americas and force Venezuela's socialist government to become an ally.

A US immigration agent has shot and killed a 37-year-old woman in her car in Minneapolis on Wednesday during an immigration enforcement surge, according to local and federal officials, the latest violence in President Donald Trump's nationwide crackdown on migrants.