October 27, 2017 (Friday)
Arts and culture
- Kazakh alphabets
- President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan announces that the Kazakh language will begin using a Latin script, rather than the current Cyrillic script. (Official site of the Kazakh presidency) (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
International relations
- Burundian unrest (2015–2018)
- Burundi becomes the first country to leave the International Criminal Court amid accusations the government committed crimes against humanity, including torture of political opponents. Burundi has accused the ICC of deliberately targeting Africans for prosecution. (BBC)
- Russia–United States relations
- The United States releases a list of 39 Russian military companies and intelligence agencies targeted by economic sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. (CBS News)
Law and crime
- 2017 Special Counsel investigation
- A federal grand jury approves the first charges from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 federal elections. The charges are sealed by a court order. (CNN) (The Hill)
Politics and elections
- Catalan independence referendum, 2017, Catalan Republic (2017), 2017 Spanish constitutional crisis
- Catalonia declares independence from Spain as the Catalan Republic. (CNN)
- The Parliament of Catalonia votes and starts a "constituent" process towards independence from the Kingdom of Spain. The Senate of Spain votes to permit direct rule according to article 155 of the Spanish Constitution. (BBC) (NPR) (Reuters)
- The euro drops to a three-month low after the declaration is made. (Fund Strategy) (Reuters)
- Prime Minister of Spain Mariano Rajoy dissolves the Parliament of Catalonia, dismisses the Government of Catalonia and calls a regional election for December 21. He also fires the police chief, announces the takeover of regional ministries by national ministries and closes overseas representations of Catalonia. (Reuters) (The New York Times)
- 2017 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis
- The High Court of Australia finds that Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce of the National Party and several senators were ineligible for the 2016 federal election. (ABC)
- The government led by Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull loses its one-seat majority unless Joyce wins a by-election in the Division of New England. (9 News)