Three of 11 vessels chartered by Chevron were Thursday transporting oil from Venezuela to the US, according to an AFP analysis of ship-tracking data, as export sanctions raised concerns over the South American country's storage capacity.
The United States could run Venezuela and tap into its oil reserves for years, President Donald Trump said in an interview published Thursday, less than a week after toppling its leader Nicolas Maduro.
French researcher Laurent Vinatier arrived in France on Thursday following a prisoner exchange involving a Russian basketball player wanted in the United States, officials said.
- Heavy wind, rain, snow to batter Europe
- Morocco coach Regragui aims to shift pressure to Cameroon before AFCON clash
Politics
Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned Thursday that the UK has "severely restricted the right to protest" in recent years and was expanding "repressive measures" against peaceful demonstrators.
January 08, 2026
RECENT NEWS
The US trade deficit made a sharp and unexpected pullback in October, reaching its lowest level since 2009 as goods imports dropped while President Donald Trump's tariffs took hold, government data showed Thursday.
January 08, 2026
RECENT NEWS
Russia has exchanged jailed French researcher Laurent Vinatier for a Russian basketball player who was being held in France, state media reported on Thursday, citing Russia's FSB security service.
January 08, 2026
The Spanish government and the Catholic Church signed a landmark agreement Thursday to compensate victims of sexual abuse by clergy, aiming to settle what officials described as a "moral debt".
January 08, 2026
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that the United States was "breaking free from international rules" and "gradually turning away" from some of its allies.
January 08, 2026
Politics
The United States could run Venezuela and tap into its oil reserves for years, President Donald Trump said in an interview published Thursday, less than a week after toppling Nicolas Maduro.
January 08, 2026
RECENT NEWS
England will limp home from Australia after a humbling 4-1 Ashes defeat but appear likely to stick with the regime of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, who have vowed to learn lessons from a painful tour.
Nobel winner and Belarusian dissident Ales Bialiatski told AFP on Thursday that it was "very important" to keep up pressure on Belarus in order to free political prisoners after his first meeting with the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Russia on Thursday slammed a plan for European peacekeepers to be deployed to Ukraine as "dangerous" and dubbed Kyiv and its allies an "axis of war", dousing hopes the plan could be a step towards ending the almost four-year-war.
Bordeaux-Begles's South African back-rower Jean-Luc du Preez says that Northampton will be desperate for revenge for last season's Champions Cup final defeat when the teams meet in the pool stage on Sunday.
January 08, 2026
Sports
Cristian Romero added to the mounting crisis at Tottenham as the Argentine appeared to take a swipe at the club's hierarchy after apologising for their latest dismal defeat.
January 08, 2026
RECENT NEWS
Former Premier League referee David Coote was given a suspended prison sentence on Thursday after admitting making an indecent image of a child, with the judge describing his "spectacular fall from grace".
Security forces used tear gas and live fire to disperse protesters in Iran, rights groups said Thursday, as people angered by economic crisis kept up their challenge to the authorities and exiled opposition groups urged new protests as well as strikes.
Stock markets fell Thursday as an early-year rally ran out of steam, with investors locking in profits ahead of the release of key US jobs data this week.
Johannes Vermeer's painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring" will be displayed in Japan later this year, the Dutch Mauritshuis museum said Thursday, a rare outing abroad for one of the world's most famous artworks.
January 08, 2026
- Syria tells civilians to leave Aleppo's Kurdish areas
- Farmers enter Paris on tractors to rage against trade deal
- 'Sign of life': defence boom lifts German factory orders
- China confirms extradition of accused scam boss from Cambodia
- Japan's Fast Retailing raises profit forecast after China growth
- Olympic champion Zheng out of Australian Open
- England's Brook 'deeply sorry' for nightclub fracas
- New clashes in Iran as opposition urges more protests