Things you should know today: 1/17/2018

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Rival Koreas agree to form first unified olympic team

In this photo provided by South Korea Unification Ministry, South Korean Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung, center right, shakes hands with the head of North Korean delegation Jon Jong Su during their meeting at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone in Paju, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. The two Koreas are meeting Wednesday for the third time in about 10 days to continue their discussions on Olympics cooperation, days ahead of talks with the IOC on North Korean participation in the upcoming Winter Games in the South. (South Korea Unification Ministry via AP)

For the first time in 11 years North and South Korea are in negotiations to create a unified olympic team. These negotiations signify possible steps toward peaceful relations between the two countries, despite North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Plans for a unified olympic team still need to be approved by the International Olympic Committee, but the joint delegation is set to include a taekwondo demonstration team, journalists, athletes and officials.

Families of captive French jihadis sue to bring them home

This photo released on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018 by the YPG press office of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units shows French national Emilie Konig in a video. Konig is one of two notorious French Islamic State members with roots in Europe’s networks of violent extremists are appearing on video with nearly identical messages, insisting they insisting they are being treated well by the Kurdish forces jailing them. (YPG press office via AP)

Six French jihadists were captured during the Islamic State’s retreat, now their families are suing to have the government bring them home. French military chief Florence Parly is hesitant to bring the jihadists home, saying she sees no reason to bring them back for trial.

Century after pandemic, science takes its best shot at flu

Carolyn Kaster
Biologist Jason Plyler prepares to test how immune cells react to possible flu vaccines at the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, in Bethesda, Md. A major push is under way in labs around the country to create a super-shot that could eliminate the annual fall vaccination in favor of one shot every five or 10 years or just maybe, eventually, a childhood immunization that could last for life. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Scientists and researchers may finally be close to a developing stronger universal flu vaccine to boost protection and guard against future outbreaks. These scientific developments come 100 years after 1918 influenza outbreak that killed millions across the globe.

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