Main News of January 8

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* On the second anniversary of the mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona that left her critically injured and six people dead, former US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords launched a high-profile campaign against gun violence in America by taking aim at her former colleagues in Congress

* An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldier was shot dead in southern Afghanistan by a man in an Afghan National Army (ANA) uniform on Monday, the alliance said

* Ukraine’s jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko declared ‘civil disobedience’ at the prison hospital where she is undergoing treatment

RUSSIA

* Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is planning to make his first official trip to Russia sometime in spring to discuss a long-running territorial dispute over the Kuril islands with Russian President Vladimir Putin, local media reported

* Two Americans will face trial over their alleged abuse of a Russian adoptee, a Virginia court told RIA Novosti

* Russia’s Aerospace Defense Forces will received about 20 new radar stations this year, a Defense Ministry spokesman said