Donald Trump ditches media, sends sarcastic New Year’s ‘love’ to haters

PARTY TIME: Herald columnist Howie Carr, right, and his wife Kathy, are seen last night at a New Year's Eve party with President-elect Donald Trump. A new media flap has emerged after President-elect Donald Trump ditched the traveling press pool - this time for a round of golf.

Top China issues to watch in 2017

A lot has happened in 2016. In January, Taiwan's independence-leaning Tsai Ing-wen won the island's presidential election by a landslide; in July, an international court handed down a landmark ruling against Beijing's claims in the South China Sea, and in November, Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton to become the United States' next leader.

China’s Xi says won’t let anyone make ‘fuss’ about its territory

China will never allow anyone to "make a great fuss" about its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights, President Xi Jinping said in his New Year's address, while China's top official in charge of Taiwan ties warned of risk ahead in 2017. China's increasingly assertive moves to push its territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea, including building artificial islands, has unnerved its neighbors.

The Latest: Recovery delayed for missing plane with 6 aboard

In this Aug. 1, 2008 photo, Dublin Irish Festival honorary chairman John T. Fleming proposes at toast following the tapping of the first Dublin Stout Keg at Brazenhead in Dublin, Ohio. A flight-tracking service shows that a plane piloted by the Ohio executive with five other people onboard quickly lost altitude after taking off from Cleveland's lakeshore airport.

Peter Funt: Next yeara s news, today

Thanks to Donald Trump and the Chicago Cubs my outlandish predictions for 2016 were eclipsed by, of all things, reality. Worse, the fine art of fake news was commandeered by demons who used it for social and political gain - something my colleagues and I would never have dreamed possible.

Trump bids a blockbuster 2016 farewell

President-elect Donald Trump will say goodbye to 2016 alongside 800 paying guests at his Mar-a-Lago estate Saturday, surrounded by an explosion of white and green flowers in his massive ballroom. The annual Mar-a-Lago New Year's Eve, which wife Melania and son Barron will also attend, is a highlight on the private club's social calendar, members say.

Look back at the Clinton campaign in cartoons: Darcy cartoon gallery

Hatchimals were the hot Christmas toy this season that left many parents and kids hot and bothered when the toy didn't perform as advertised. Just as some Hatchimals failed to fully hatch, so to did the Hillary Clinton coronation campaign, leaving all involved with egg on their faces.

Search for missing plane, 6 aboard, yields no clues

In this Aug. 1, 2008 photo, Dublin Irish Festival honorary chairman John T. Fleming proposes at toast following the tapping of the first Dublin Stout Keg at Brazenhead in Dublin, Ohio. A flight-tracking service shows that a plane piloted by the Ohio executive with five other people onboard quickly lost altitude after taking off from Cleveland's lakeshore airport.

Putin congratulates Trump, not Obama, in New Year’s statement

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated US President-elect Donald Trump, rather than President Barack Obama, in his annual New Year's greetings statement to foreign heads of state and government. However, Putin did convey his seasonal greetings to Obama, his family and the American people in a separate statement earlier Friday, while responding to the latest wave of US sanctions against Russia.

Ex-POW from Hillary Clinton campaign ads dies

Joel Sollender, a Jewish World War II veteran and former prisoner of war, who appeared in an ad on behalf of Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, September, 2016. Joel Sollender, a World War II prisoner of war who appeared in television ads for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, has died.

Swastika

The Ellis family's home at the beginning of Hanukkah, left, and early Friday morning when the menorah was vandalized, right. When Naomi and Seth Ellis's young sons said that they wanted lights on their house in Chandler, Ariz., like all their neighbors' Christmas decorations, the parents knew what to tell their three Jewish boys: Yes.

Putin says Russia won’t expel diplomats; Trump offers praise – Fri, 30 Dec 2016 PST

President Vladimir Putin castigated the United States on Friday for trying to punish Russia but said his country will not immediately retaliate and instead will wait for a new U.S. approach by Donald Trump. The president-elect praised Putin's move and called him "very smart."

Putin says Russia wona t expel US diplomats in hacking flap

President Vladimir Putin castigated the United States on Friday for imposing sanctions and expelling Russian diplomats amid allegations of Russian meddling in the American presidential election, but said no U.S. diplomats will be ousted in reprisal for President Barack Obama's moves in the wake of hacking attacks. In a burgeoning controversy surrounding complaints from the Obama administration about a cyberattack against America's political system, the White House on Thursday unleashed a string of sanctions and coupled them with an order that 35 Russians be expelled.

NYC deploying ‘extraordinary assets’ to secure Times Square on New Year’s Eve

New York City officials, including Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Chief James P. O'Neill, made it crystal clear today that they aren't taking any chances when it comes to securing the city for its New Year's Eve celebrations. Sixty-five sand trucks and 100 blocker vehicles are among the "extraordinary assets" the NYPD today said it will deploy around Times Square Dec. 31. That's more security than in previous years and is meant partly to deter the kind of rogue-vehicle attacks used by ISIS-inspired terrorists in Berlin shortly before Christmas and in Nice, France, in July, officials said.