Portal:Current events/2018 January 17

• Two Americans and two Canadians are abducted by unknown gunmen in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Two police officers are killed after engaging in a firefight with the abductors. (Reuters)
• Boko Haram insurgency
  • Suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers kill 12 people and injure 48 others, in Maiduguri, Nigeria. (Reuters)
• Insurgency in the North Caucasus
  • In Nazran, Ingushetia, arsonists set fire to the office of Memorial, a Russian human rights organization. (The Moscow Times)

• France–United Kingdom relations
  • The Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England, is to be displayed in the United Kingdom for the first time after French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to loan it out for the first time in 950 years. Subject to the outcome of tests, the loan is expected to happen somewhere after 2020. (BBC)

• 2018 Sapphire Aviation Bell UH-1H Iroquois crash
  • Zimbabwean politician Roy Bennett is killed in a helicopter crash near Raton, New Mexico, United States. (BBC)

• North Korea–South Korea relations
  • The South Korean Ministry of Unification announces that both North Korea and South Korea will march together under the Korean Unification Flag during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics. (CNN)
• Visa policy of the United States
  • The U.S. Department of Homeland Security discontinues the eligibility of citizens of Belize, Haiti, and Samoa to obtain H-2A and H-2B visas for temporary work. (Reuters)

• Freedom of the press, Media of the Philippines
  • Following the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines' revocation of Rappler's license, the National Bureau of Investigation of the Philippines launches a probe into Rappler. (Reuters)

• 2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis
  • The Parliament of Catalonia opens the new legislature. Roger Torrent (ERC) is named Speaker. Three parliamentarians in jail vote through proxies, the five parlementarians in exile in Belgium do not. Carles Puigdemont (PDeCAT, JuntsxCat), through his spokesman, considers it "perfectly plausible" for him to be president remotely. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says that he will not restore Catalonia's autonomous powers if the regional parliament permits Puigdemont to lead the government from exile. (BBC)
• Freedom of the press, Fake News Awards
  • Donald Trump tweets a link to the Republican National Committee's "Fake News Awards", won by ten stories and tweets that he considers misreported. The link also honors ten ways the President "has been getting results" thus far. (Politico)