comment: In Chinese culture, this will be the year of the rooster. In the culture of political Washington, this will instead be the year of the chicken.

One of the most volatile reality TV stars in history will have a powerful role in President-elect Donald Trump's White House.

A teenager has become an internet hero for dabbing as his dad is sworn into Congress, with Speaker Paul Ryan painfully unaware of what is happening.

As Barack Obama prepares to leave office, his staff has revealed what the President's been like behind the scenes in the White House.

COMMENT: Over a summer beer, someone casually asked me what I wanted for 2017. I just as casually said "world peace."

COMMENT: Much of the setting for 1987 movie The Running Man looks eerily prophetic now that we're here for real.

Seldom has a year started with so much upheaval in prospect.

COMMENT: The night he won the US presidency, Donald Trump gave a speech that was praised for its magnanimity.

"No Drama" Obama has let countless slights, many of them racist and despicable, evaporate. For Trump, however, every day is anchors away.

The Obama administration announced new measures to punish Russia for 2016 election interference including removal of 35 Russian government officials.

John Kerry, the outgoing US secretary of state, has issued a desperate final warning.

Trump's victory was similarly misread.

US President Barack Obama's comments about Britain's Labour Party has drawn ire across the pond.

COMMENT: Welcome to the return of an independent foreign policy.

Here are five unlikely black swan events that might catch everyone unawares in the coming year.

Sketch show at top of its game amid a bizarre political climate ripe for parody.

Every Christmas season, first ladies have visited sick children at Children's National Medical Centre.

Will the US collapse the moment Trump takes power in January? There are plenty of indicators the President-elect will change everything.

Donald Trump explicitly declared that he was ready for a new nuclear arms race with Russia and claimed that the United States would win it.

One might expect Russian President Vladimir Putin to take a victory lap after a lucky 2016. But Putin looks more tired than triumphant.

Donald Trump's youngest daughter Tiffany remains a mystery. But Insta snaps aside, her back story is sad and compelling.

Steve Braunias looks back on a year of thinking dangerously.

COMMENT: Steve Braunias looks back on satire and the secret diaries of 2016.

Comedian Tom Arnold says he has a tape of Donald Trump saying "every offensive thing ever". But releasing it would cost him big time.

Andrea Bocelli finally gave a definitely "no" to performing at Trump's inauguration after getting "too much heat" from fans.

COMMENT: The situation is complex even for the people who live there, let alone us trying to understand it. None of our business.

The US President-elect, Donald Trump, (which still sounds like a joke) made Twitter his preferred means of communication in his election campaign.

To the West he's the world's most threatening figure, but is North Korea's leader simply misunderstood?

What happens to the working class when millionaires and billionaires are in charge?