Megyn Kelly officially signed off from Fox News Channel for good last night, and she did so with gratitude and grace.
“I am sincerely grateful for your trust, your patience and your good humor over the years — which is one of the reasons why saying goodbye is so hard,” the soon-to-be NBC personality said at the end of her final “Kelly File.” “But the truth is, I am lucky to have been doing a job whose ending it bittersweet. And I leave you know I am better for having been here. I hope you feel the same.”
“Thank you for everything, and I’ll see you again, soon,” she signed off. Watch the video above.
Also Read: Tucker Carlson to Take Megyn Kelly’s Time Slot on Fox News
Kelly turned down a four-year, $100 million offer to stay with Fox News, TheWrap learned earlier this week. The pitch came directly from head honcho Lachlan Murdoch. Financial terms of her agreement with NBC News have not been disclosed.
The popular newswoman said she is leaving in part because she needs for time for her three children, something the new gig can offer. Kelly will have a weekday show at NBC, which will air during school hours. Her 9 p.m. Fox News time slot often kept her at work past midnight.
Kelly has been a Fox News star for several years, but her stock rose when Donald Trump harshly criticized her during the Republican primary, in part because she asked a tough question about his attitude toward women during an August 2015 Republican primary debate. Kelly finished 2016 with the No. 2 most-watched show in cable news, behind only her lead-in, Bill O’Reilly.
Read original story Watch Megyn Kelly’s Final Farewell to Fox News (Video) At TheWrap

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WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s typically an unquestioned honor to participate in the inauguration of an American president. Who wouldn’t want to be part of such a historic event?
This time, though, it’s different.
The sharp divisions over Donald Trump ’s election have politicians, celebrities and even high school students debating whether taking part in the inauguration is a political act that demonstrates support for the new president and his agenda or a nonpartisan tribute to democratic traditions and the peaceful transfer of power.
Among critics of the president-elect, everyone from Hillary Clinton and Hollywood A-listers to the band director at tiny Madawaska Middle/High School in northern Maine and singers in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is wrestling with this issue — and reaching different conclusions.
Bill and Hillary Clinton served belated notice this past week that they’ll be on the inaugural podium when Trump takes the oath of office Jan. 20. At least two legislators have said they’ll boycott the ceremony.
In Utah, singer Jan Chamberlin was so dismayed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s decision to perform at the swearing-in that she decided not only to sit out the event but to resign from the choir she dearly loves.
„The president-elect does not represent anything that reflects my moral views,“ says Chamberlin, who voted for independent Evan McMullin. She said she’s concerned that participation in the inauguration will tarnish the choir by creating a false impression that the church supports Trump.
A fellow choir member, Cristi Brazao, who also didn’t support Trump, posted on her Facebook page that she’ll be singing at the inauguration because „my mission as a singer has always been to soften hearts, to bridge gaps, to make connections and also to make friends. “
Similar debates have played out among the dancers of the Radio City Rockettes and members of the marching band of historically black Talladega College in Alabama after inaugural planners announced that the groups would be performing.
For Ben Meiklejohn , director of the 30-student Pride of Madawaska Marching Band, performing for an inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial will give his teenage musicians the experience of a lifetime and has nothing to do with politics. He still remembers when his high school band marched in the 1989 inaugural parade for George H. W. Bush.
„I’ve always thought that music transcends politics, that music can get beyond the barriers that divide people,“ says Meiklejohn, who voted for the Green Party ’s Jill Stein.
Apparently that’s not the case in left-leaning Hollywood, where publicist Howard Bragman says most entertainers see „no separation between Trump the man“ and his inauguration, and want nothing to do with him.
Trump denies he’s facing any shortage of top talent.
„The so-called „A“ list celebrities are all wanting tixs to the inauguration, but look what they did for Hillary, NOTHING. I want the PEOPLE! “ the president-elect tweeted last month.
On Wednesday, he tweeted that album sales for classical teenage singer Jackie Evancho , who has also performed at events with President Barack Obama , had „skykrocketed“ after her Dec. 14 announcement that she’ll sing the national anthem at the swearing-in. Her sales did rise after the announcement, and that could be partly due to the inauguration. But it also could be a matter of timing: Christmas albums sell well during the holidays and Evancho appeared on an NBC holiday special Dec. 19.
Participation in an inaugural is always a personal decision, and no doubt people have opted to sit out past inaugurations due to differences with the president-elect.
But historians and others say this year’s public angst over whether to be associated with the inauguration is unusual.
Before the 2001 inauguration of George W. Bush., plenty of people harbored bitter feelings about the recount and Supreme Court ruling that left Republican Bush ahead of Democratic Vice President Al Gore. But former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer doesn’t recall the same type of debate over whether to participate in the inauguration. He shies away from blaming one party or the other, but laments the greater polarization surrounding what traditionally has been „an American moment. “
„Add this to the long and growing list of things that pull us apart,“ says Fleischer.
Inaugural historian Jim Bendat points to bipartisan participation in past inaugurals. Singer Ethel Merman , a prominent Republican, sang at Democrat John F. Kennedy ’s inaugural gala in 1961. Contralto Marian Anderson sang at the second inaugural of Republican Dwight Eisenhower and at Kennedy’s inauguration.
„It’s really hard to look at this inauguration the same way that we have looked at all others,“ says Bendat, author of the inaugural history book, „Democracy’s Big Day. “ Many performers „don’t see Donald Trump as the type of person that they want to identify with because of the way that he campaigned for more than a year. “
Robert Reich , a former Bill Clinton administration official, thinks politicians should feel the same way. After the Clintons said they would attend the inauguration, Reich tweeted that „by attending Trump’s inauguration, they’re normalizing it – as if Trump were just another president. “
„The underlying issue here isn’t the normal and noble desire to overcome partisanship and promote a peaceful transition of power,“ Reich added in an email. „It’s that Donald Trump became president by lying, demeaning women, denigrating racial and ethnic minorities, denying intelligence reports of foreign intervention in our election, excusing violence against opponents, and undermining the freedom and independence of the press. “
Band director Meiklejohn offers a different take: „We’re not the president-elect or his advisers or his team or any of the people that are going to be setting policy. We’re just a group of 7th to 12th graders from Madawaska, Maine, coming to play some music. “
___
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Stung by years of failure to stop Syria’s bloodshed, the United States is now just a bystander to the civil war as President Barack Obama’s tenure ends.
Secretary of State John Kerry still is speaking sporadically with Russian, Turkish and Arab foreign ministers about cease-fire efforts, and there are occasional consultations with the opposition.
But less than two weeks before Donald Trump’s presidency begins, the Obama administration no longer is even claiming to play the leading part in the peace mediation that it spearheaded unsuccessfully for years. Formal contacts with Russia and others in Geneva, the main meeting point for the U. S.-led diplomacy, have ended.
Leadership has been ceded to Russia and, to a lesser degree, Turkey and Iran.
After helping Syria’s military oust the remaining rebels from the city of Aleppo last month, Moscow has cast itself as the would-be peacemaker. It clinched a new truce without Washington’s help and announced Friday that it was starting to draw down its forces in the region.
Russian envoys also are organizing the first talks between the Syrian government and opposition in nearly a year. The discussions are set for later in January in Astana, Kazakhstan.
“We still are at the proverbial table,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said Friday. “We may not be at the table in Astana, we may not be at the table in Moscow, I understand that. But it’s not like we are walking away from Syria.”
He added later: “We aren’t connected to this piece of it. It’s not like we’re pulling out from the whole puzzle.”
With no indication about how the incoming Trump administration intends to proceed on Syria, U. S. diplomats are wary of engaging in any new initiatives that would require a sustained American role. As a result, the Obama administration is ambivalent about attending, even in an observer role, the proposed peace meeting. Turkey has told the U. S. its presence would be acceptable, American officials said, but Washington has yet to make a decision.
The diminution of the American role could have drawbacks.
Obama demanded almost six years ago that Syrian President Bashar Assad leave power and allow for a democratic transition. But Obama’s reticence to plunge the United States into another Mideast war meant the U. S. never had the capability to shape such an outcome. Its increasingly marginal role in recent months means it could have even less capacity to help shape Syria’s future and safeguard vital American interests, such as Israel’s security and fighting the Islamic State group.
On the other hand, Obama hands the baton to Trump without any large-scale military or diplomatic engagement in Syria. Obama never wanted to own the conflict, which has killed up to a half-million people and prompted millions to flee as refugees. On Saturday, at least 43 people were killed when a car bomb ripped through the center of a busy commercial district of a rebel-held Syrian town along the Turkish border, activists and rescue workers said.
Obama’s reticence to intervene in the war at least means Trump will have flexibility, which Obama didn’t have in inheriting the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
In a farewell news conference Thursday, Kerry insisted the administration hadn’t given up on Syria and that he hoped the warring sides could get to “real negotiations” on a peace agreement.
But some officials were frustrated by the administration essentially withdrawing from the process. For example, Kerry hasn’t spoken to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov since Dec. 27. Their discussions occurred almost daily at some points last year.
Russia, which backs the Syrian government, and Turkey, a strong supporter of Syria’s moderate opposition, brokered the current shaky cease-fire, which came into effect on Dec. 30. The truce has mostly held but not altogether halted fighting; the government and opposition have blamed each other for violations.
The truce doesn’t include areas in Syria controlled by IS.
The U. S. is pressing on with its effort in that campaign, and Trump and his national security advisers have said it will be a top priority for them.
The Obama administration has an undisclosed number of special operations troops, presumably about 200 to 250, in Syria. They are advising and assisting what the Americans call the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is comprised of Syrian Kurds and Arabs. Some of the Americans are embedded with the SDF in northern Syria.
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The Obamas leave the White House Jan. 20, but they won’t be going far. See photos of their new Kalorama house, inside and out.

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At least 21 people have been injured in violent clashes between Sri Lankan government supporters and villagers marching against what they say is a plan to take over private land for an industrial zone in which China will have a major stake.
Police used tear gas and water cannons to try to break up the clashes, which took place as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was attending an opening ceremony for the industrial zone, near the port city of Hambantota, about 150 miles south east of the capital, Colombo.
The clashes began when government supporters started throwing rocks at villagers who were marching to the ceremony site.
The protesters, organised by the opposition and led by Buddhist monks, responded by throwing rocks at the government supporters. A group that appeared to have been transported to the area by the government joined in, attacking the protesters with poles.
Twenty one people, including three police officers, were taken to a government hospital in Hambantota, a hospital official said.
Sri Lanka’s government has signed a framework agreement for a 99-year lease of the Hambantota port with a company in which China will have 80% ownership. Officials also plan to set up a nearby industrial zone where Chinese companies will be invited to set up factories.
The villagers and monks are opposed to it and demand their residential and farmlands be spared.
A court had issued a restraining order on the protest, saying it could lead to unrest, but the protesters defied it.
Mr Wickremesinghe inaugurated the industrial zone despite the clashes. Speaking at the ceremony, China’s ambassador to Sri Lanka, Yi Xianliang, said that his country hopes to invest the equivalent of £4 billion in the region within the next five years, and that the new industries are expected to generate 100,000 jobs.
China invested about £1 billion in the port in what some analysts call its „string of pearls“ strategy in countries surrounding its rival India. Although the project has seen losses since 2010, Sri Lanka’s government, at first critical of the enterprise, approached China to seek help to make it viable.
D. V. Chanaka, one of the protest organisers, said he fears the port area will become a „Chinese colony“.
„We are against leasing the lands where people live and do their farming, while there are identified lands for an industrial zone,“ Mr Chanaka said. „When you give away such a vast area of land, you can’t stop the area from becoming a Chinese colony. “
After the lease expires, it can be negotiated for another 99 years, according to the framework agreement, whose terms are still being negotiated. The government also has proposed to lease 15,000 acres (6,070 hectares) in Hambantota district and adjoining Moneragala district for the industrial zone.
Mr Wickremesinghe, speaking to reporters earlier in the week, said the partnership arrangement was necessary to free Sri Lanka from the debt incurred to build the port. He blamed the debt on former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose government was friendly to Beijing.
AP

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Thousands of people have lined up in freezing temperatures hoping to get a ticket to President Barack Obama’s farewell speech in his hometown of Chicago.
Tickets were being handed out on Saturday morning at McCormick Place, a convention centre on Lake Michigan.
Mr Obama plans to speak to supporters there on Tuesday night – carrying on a tradition set in 1796 when George Washington addressed the American people for the last time as president.
The President has described the event as „a chance to say thank you for this amazing journey“.
Tickets are free but had to be picked up in-person.
AP

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A cyber attack disrupted services for 10 hours at the main Baltic news agency in Estonia, bosses said on Saturday.
The Tallinn-based Baltic News Service said the attackers targeted „servers in the BNS network“ at around 2pm on Friday.
The agency said it managed to get the system up and running again around midnight on Friday, adding that its services were functioning normally on Saturday.
BNS did not say who it suspected was behind the attack.
BNS sends out news from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in those three Baltic languages, and in English and Russian.
AP

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