* At the invitation of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese president, Kim Jong-un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is visiting China, a spokesperson said on January 8.
* The Republic of Korea (RoK)'s presidential Blue House on January 8 welcomed the visit by Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to China, as it was anticipated to contribute to building peace on the Korean Peninsula.
* More than 600 people were rescued in Ukraine in the past 24 hours after being trapped in their vehicles by a heavy snowstorm, the State Service for Emergencies said on January 8.
* Influential business body London First on January 8 called for a second referendum in the event the Brexit deal is voted down in the UK parliament later this month and no workable alternative plan is found.
* The Turkish presidential spokesman said on January 8 that the United States should hand over its 16 military bases used for fighting the Islamic State (IS) militants in northern Syria to Turkey or the local authorities after its pullout.
* US President Donald Trump has been considering declaring a possible national emergency to acquire the money for building his pledged wall on the US-Mexico border, Vice President Mike Pence said on January 7.
* French President Emmanuel Macron held a telephone conversation with his American counterpart Donald Trump to discuss Washington's plan to pull out its forces from Syria, the Elysee said on January 8.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on January 8 that the country will keep working with its global partners to neutralize US sanctions against the Islamic republic.
* The RoK President Moon Jae-in on January 8 replaced his chief of staff and two senior secretaries as he entered the third year of his five-year term.
* Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA and French company Maurel & Prom signed a 400-million-US dollar agreement to increase production of crude in the western state of Zulia, said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 7.
* At least one civilian was killed and 26 others wounded after an explosion ripped through a road in Khost, a city in eastern Afghanistan, on January 8, officials said.
* At least 55 fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were either killed or wounded in a counterattack unleashed by the Islamic State (IS) in eastern Syria, a war monitor reported on January 8.
* South Sudan has resumed oil production in the northern Unity region after disruption by a five-year old conflict which damaged oil wells.
