Most viewed nation/world stories of the year on WRAL.com

The end of 2017 is here, and WRAL.com is taking a look at the most viewed stories of the year. According to our records, these national and international stories topped the charts.

Pledging emphatically to empower America's "forgotten men and women," Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States on Jan. 20. "This American carnage stops right here," Trump declared. In a warning to the world, he said, "From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this moment on, it's going to be America first."

Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, was accused of killing 26 people, including the 14-year-old daughter of the church's pastor, and injuring more in the November shooting.

The two discussed ways to work together to address North Korea's nuclear and ballistic weapons program, the White House said.

Elections officials said they "actively invested" reports that Russian hackers attacked a U.S. voting software supplier days before last year's presidential election.

Even as other countries have urged caution, dialogue and reciprocal confidence-building measures, Trump has belittled the North Korean leader as "rocket man" and hinted that he is ready to take military action.

McCain’s position on the tax overhaul had been closely watched, as he sank his party’s effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act with a dramatic middle-of-the-night thumbs-down in July.

Children were among the 22 people killed in a suicide attack after an Ariana Grande concert at Britain's Manchester Arena.

With the earliest incidents allegedly taking place in the mid-1960s, Cosby has been accused by numerous women of sexual assault. In 2017, many other individuals came forward claiming assault by celebrities and public figures. On a more personal level, users took to social media this year to also express their own incidents of assault.

The Unite the Right rally was a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia from August 11 to 12. Its stated goal was to oppose the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park.

Protesters in August surrounded the Silent Sam confederate status on-campus at UNC, petitioning for its removal. Also in August, the Robert E. Lee statue was vandalized.

At least 216 people died in Mexico City -- the country's capital -- and in the states of Puebla, Mexico and Morelos in September, officials said.

Called the worst mass shooting in modern history, more than 50 people died when a gunman opened fire on a concert crowd from the window of a Las Vegas hotel room in early October.

A California wildfire that has killed two people and seared its way through cities, towns and wilderness northwest of Los Angeles in December has become the largest blaze ever officially recorded in California, authorities said.