What and where is the current list?
Regarding the odd list case with the link reference definition, the source is probably at Example 0.28:
Link reference definitions can occur inside block containers, like lists and block quotations.
Example 175 shows how a paragraph can start directly after a line containing a reference link definition.
A sub-question is whether this should be an empty list item:
-
foo
There is no example or prose explaining exactly that.
I have found myself wishing such embedded link reference definitions would work but would still be shown in the output, especially in lists where they otherwise always lead to empty list items because nothing can precede or follow them therein.
- [foo]: bar
baz
.
<ul>
<li><a href="bar">[foo]: bar</a></li>
</ul>
<p>baz</p>