Good Morning Australia!! - Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists swap prisoners - Macron will have to acknowledge the obvious this week - A gunman in a church is caught on video - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

"The mutual release of the detainees has ended," announced Ukraine after completing a swap of some 200 prisoners with pro-Russian separatists, releasing and repatriating detained fighters for civilians and service personnel held captive in some cases for years.  The Ukrainian government received 76 former captives, while officials with the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk said they received 124.  The exchange came after Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy held their first face-to-face talks in Paris earlier this month.  The moderators of those talks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, welcomed the exchange.

French President Emmanuel Macron will address the ongoing protests against his proposed pension reforms in Tuesday's New Year address to the nation.  The strikes are expected to disrupt transportation for a fifth consecutive week when Monday rolls around to Europe.  Macron is expected to express sympathy for travelers whose plans have been dashed, acknowledge the constitutional right to strike, and call for dialogue.  But he is not immediately expected to drop or alter his pension plan, which critics say will pay seniors less and force people to work longer before retirement.  The next pension talks are scheduled 7 January before a nationwide day of protest scheduled for 9 January.

US air strikes in western Iraq and Syria have killed several Iran-linked militia fighters with the Kata'ib Hezbollah armed group.  These strikes were retaliation for Hezbollah's rocket attacks on Iraqi military targets, the latest of which killed a US contractor.  "In response to repeated Kata'ib Hizbollah (KH) attacks on Iraqi bases that host Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) coalition forces, US forces have conducted precision defensive strikes against five KH facilities in Iraq and Syria that will degrade KH's ability to conduct future attacks against OIR coalition forces," the Pentagon said on Sunday.  The US had been keeping a lower profile in Iraq as of late, but felt the Iraqi government wasn't doing enough about the KH harassment.

A man with a machete broke into the home of a Rabbi just north of New York City, stabbing five men at a Hanukkah observance and leaving the place a gruesome mess.  "I was praying for my life," said 65-year old Aron Kohn, "He started attacking people right away as soon as he came in the door.  We didn’t have time to react at all."  The suspect, 38-year old Grafton Thomas, was still drenched in blood when he was caught by police crossing the George Washington Bridge en route back to his home in New York City.  Regional officials denounced it as an act of "domestic terrorism".  It comes after a spike in anti-Semitic attacks in the New York City region, including street assaults and the siege at a New Jersey kocher market that left six people dead.

A gunman with an assault weapon opened fire inside a church outside Fort Worth, Texas, killing one person and wounding another.  But this was Texas after all, so the armed guard at the "West Freeway Church of Christ" pulled his gun and fired back at the gunman, killing him with one shot.  IN A CHURCH.  Oh, and it was all caught on video because the church was live-streaming Sunday services at the time.  The wounded person is in a critical condition.