*At the invitation of Myanmar's President U Win Myint, Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Myanmar from January 17 to 18, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced on Friday (January 10).
* Iraq's ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement on Thursday that it has summoned the Iranian ambassador to inform him of Iraq's objection to attacks on military bases on Iraqi territories and that Iraq considers this action as a violation of sovereignty. The statement called on all parties to exercise self restraint and affirmed Iraq's independence.
* Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani phoned Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday to discuss the latest developments in the region and ways to ensure security and stability regionally and internationally, the state news agency said, amid increasing US-Iranian tensions.
* Britain on Friday said it was advising against all travel to Iran as information suggested a Ukrainian airliner that crashed on Wednesday had probably been shot down by Iran.
* The US House of Representatives voted on Thursday to stop President Donald Trump from further military action against Iran as the Middle East remained tense after the US killing of a top Iranian commander and Iran's retaliatory missile strikes. The resolution passed 224-194 along party lines in the Democratic-controlled House with nearly all Republicans opposed.
* Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez said power should be fully restored across the island by Monday after the worst earthquake in over a century knocked out the US territory's biggest generating plant and left nearly all its 3 million residents without electricity.
* US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he has approved increased sanctions on Iran after a missile strike this week on Iraqi bases housing American military personnel, but gave no other details.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday oversaw military exercises from a naval vessel in the Black Sea near Crimea, including the test launch of a hypersonic air-launched Kinzhal missile, the Kremlin said.
* Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has raised the issue for a "comprehensive" inquiry into the nation's bushfire crisis. Morrison on Thursday raised the prospect of establishing a royal commission into the bushfires, which have claimed at least 27 lives and burned about 10 million hectares of land.
* Iran denied on Thursday that a Ukrainian airliner that crashed near Tehran had been hit by a missile, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said in a statement, according to state TV.
* A Ukrainian airliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people aboard, was likely brought down by an Iranian missile, Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said on Thursday, citing intelligence from Canadian and other sources.
* A ceasefire regime has been established in the northwestern Syrian region of Idlib, TASS news agency reported citing a Russian defence ministry official on Thursday.
* Britain was on course Thursday to finally end its membership of the European Union (EU) in just three weeks time. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's fast-track race to "get Brexit done" cleared its final hurdle in the House of Commons when his European Union Withdrawal Bill cleared its final hurdle by a vote of 330 to 231.
* Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan remained deadlocked after two days of talks in their disputes over a giant hydropower dam on the Nile though Cairo said it hoped the issues would be resolved by Jan. 15 in line with a deadline agreed with Washington.
* Yemen's government on Thursday signed a new agreement with the Southern Transitional Council (STC) to implement the Saudi-brokered deal, including withdrawing all military forces from Aden.
* The United States will send police to Honduran borders to train and support the Central American country's authorities in immigration control, acting US Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said at an event in Tegucigalpa on Thursday.
* Bangladesh will conduct countrywide population and housing census early next year. The State agency Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) will carry out the "Population Census and Household Listing 2021" between Jan. 2 and Jan. 8 next year.
* Suspected Islamist militants killed 25 soldiers and wounded six others in an attack on an army outpost in west Niger near its border with Mali on Thursday, the government said in a statement.
