recent posts

// WP_Query arguments
$args = array(
	'post_type'              => array( 'post' ),
	'post_status'            => array( 'publish' ),
	'nopaging'               => true,
	'posts_per_page'         => '8',
	'order'                  => 'DESC',
	'orderby'                => 'date',
	'tax_query'              => array(
		'relation' => 'AND',
		array(
			'taxonomy'         => 'category',
			'terms'            => 'test',
			'field'            => 'slug',
			'operator'         => 'IN',
			'include_children' => true,
		),
	),
);

// The Query
$recent_posts = new WP_Query( $args );

// The Loop
if ( $recent_posts->have_posts() ) {
	while ( $recent_posts->have_posts() ) {
		$recent_posts->the_post();
		// do something
	}
} else {
	// no posts found
}

// Restore original Post Data
wp_reset_postdata();