Amarillo

Model who alleged Russian meddling in US election tells Moscow court she will not publish Deripaska recordings

Anastasia Vashukevich, the model who recorded a former employer of Paul Manafort allegedly discussing US relations with a Russian deputy prime minister during the 2016 election, has promised in a Moscow court not to release any further recordings.  Ms Vashukevich previously claimed to have evidence of Russian interference in the US election from a fling with Oleg Deripaska, the metals magnate to whom Donald Trump's campaign manager Manafort reportedly promised private briefings, something Deripaska always denied. Video she uploaded to Instagram showed Mr Deripaska speaking on a yacht in 2016 with Sergei Prikhodko, a deputy prime minister and long-time aide to Vladimir Putin. In a separate audio recording, Mr Deripaska is heard discussing Russia's “bad relations with America”. The pair talked about the “issue with America,” Ms Vashukevich had claimed. After her Instagram posts were discovered in February 2018, Ms Vashukevich was arrested while leading a sex training seminar in Thailand, and Mr Deripaska successfully sued Ms Vashukevich for violating his right to privacy with her photographs and recordings. A Russian court ordered her to delete the posts and pay him £5,800 in emotional damages. She and her partner from the sex training received a suspended sentence for soliciting and conspiracy last week and deported to Belarus, their native country. On her way there, they were arrested in a Moscow airport on Thursday. They face prostitution charges carrying up to six years in prison. After being led by bailiffs into a glass defendant's cage on Saturday, Ms Vashukevich asked Mr Deripaska's forgiveness and promised no more revelations. Ms Vashukevich was deported by Thailand and arrested at Moscow airport Credit: Vasily Maximov/AFP “There won't be any more audio recordings about Oleg Deripaska,” she told journalists from a glass defendant's cage. “I won't compromise him anymore, so he can relax, really, I've had enough." She claimed that she was now subject to "fabricated" criminal cases in Thailand, Russia and Belarus. Ms Vashukevich declined to comment when asked by The Telegraph if the prostitution charges against her were related to claims of Russian election interference. The court delayed a hearing on her confinement until Tuesday after investigators said they didn't have enough evidence to make their arguments. Mr Deripaska has denied interference and said he never received an offer of private briefings. He is under US sanctions, but sanctions against some of his companies are set to be lifted this week despite controversy in congress. Mr Deripaska is seen speaking to Mr Prikhodko in footage posted by Ms Vashukevich Credit: Instagram The meeting on the yacht took place in August 2016 off the coast of Norway, according to an investigation by opposition activist Alexei Navalny. A private jet linked to Mr Deripaska had flown between New York and Moscow and then to Norway in the previous days, Mr Navalny found. Manafort, who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and agreed to cooperate with Robert Mueller's investigation into election interference, told a Russian acquaintance he could offer private briefings to Mr Deripaska the month before, according to emails seen by The Atlantic and other publications. Russia ordered YouTube to take down Mr Navalny's video investigation, but it is still available and has more than 8 million views. While in jail in Thailand, Ms Vashukevich claimed to have more than 16 hours of audio recordings and photographs providing evidence of Russian interference in the US election. She promised to provide the evidence if the United States gave her asylum. Miss Vashukevich in detention in Thailand  Credit:  JORGE SILVA/REUTERS Ms Vashukevich told CNN she witnessed Mr Deripaska meeting three Americans in 2016 and 2017 and said “they had a plan for the election”. She said she had photographs of one of the Americans with Mr Deripaska, but refused to name any of the men. CNN also reported FBI agents had unsuccessfully tried to see her in Thailand.

Native American veteran: 'Mob mentality' in students seen in viral video was 'scary'

In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Native American leader Nathan Phillips of Ypsilanti describes incident with students caught on video.

Recent developments surrounding the South China Sea

BEIJING (AP) — A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves:

A century on, Basra's British-era shipyard going strong

Thousands of ships, including former dictator Saddam Hussein's yacht, have passed through the Iraqi shipyard's three docks, where a giant steam engine hauls them out of the water and up the century-old wooden tracks. Mohammed Adnan, who has been operating the huge steam engine for six years now, says it is not easy. "They say they [the British] brought in the wood from Burma... we tried to drill a 1.5 inch nail into it once, we couldn't," said Jassim Hussain Sabour, the shipyard's longest-serving worker.

Different angle of video of Catholic high school students and Native American shows the man approached them

Viral video of confrontation between students and Native Americans draws outrage; Garrett Tenney reports.

Zimbabwe Says Tweet About Palace Coup Talk Was Fake

Bloomberg erroneously reported earlier that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesman, George Charamba, dismissed rumors of a palace coup, citing a tweet from the account. Charamba does not have a Twitter account, Regis Chikowore, principal director at the information ministry, said by phone.

Meet the Women Who Protested the Women’s March

Women from various political and ideological backgrounds challenged the 2019 Women’s March by marching in protest and organizing alternative rallies near the Washington, D.C. event on Saturday. The third annual Women’s March took place in Freedom Plaza, a more confined space than in years past, suggesting that organizers anticipated smaller crowds after facing allegations of anti-Semitism and defending Nation of Islam’s anti-Semitic leader Louis Farrakhan. Following the development of those controversies, conservative group Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) organized a rally across the street in the name of “all women” at the same time as the Women’s March.

'Welcome' refugees in Kansas celebrate their American birthdays

Many of nearly 100 excited children running around a community center in Kansas City over the weekend had two things in common. Far from a strange coincidence, the date is usually assigned to immigrants who arrive in the United States without birth certificates, as refugees often do.

4 Arizona Women Convicted for Leaving Water for Migrants

"If giving water to someone dying of thirst is illegal, what humanity is left in the law of this country?”

America's F-35 Stealth Fighter: The Ultimate Missile Killer?

The Pentagon wants to add F-35 stealth fighters to America's missile shield. But to have any chance at shooting down ballistic missiles, the F-35 might need a new weapon.

'World will end in 12 years if we don't address climate change,' Ocasio-Cortez says

The youngest woman ever elected to Congress said climate change is her generation's World War II.

The Latest: New York City airport faces wind disruptions

The Latest on the winter storm hitting the East Coast (all times local):

China's population growth slows despite two-child policy

China's population grew at a slower rate last year despite the abolition of the one-child policy, official data showed Monday, raising fears an ageing society will pile further pressure on an already slowing economy. China's government raised the limit to two children in 2016 to rejuvenate the world's most populous country, which has nearly 1.4 billion people, and experts say it may remove the cap next year. "Decades-long social and economic transformations have prepared an entirely new generation in China, for whom marriage and childbearing no longer have the importance as they once did for their parents generation," said Wang Feng, a sociology professor at University of California, Irving.

The Entry-Level 2019 Porsche Cayenne Deserves Your Attention

Porsche’s base Cayenne will have you seeking out the roads usually reserved for sports cars.

‘Fox & Friends’ mistakenly airs Ruth Bader Ginsburg obituary graphic

The hosts of ‘Fox & Friends’ apologised on Monday after airing a graphic suggesting that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. “We need to apologise,” co-host Steve Doocey said later on the program. “A technical error in the control room triggered a graphic of RBG with a date on it.

The Mueller Squirrel Cage

Special Counsel Robert Mueller recently indicted yet another peripheral character in his Trump probe, Russian attorney Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, for alleged money laundering in a matter quite separate from Trump. Like almost all of Mueller’s indictments of the past 20 months, the charges against Veselnitskaya had nothing to do with his original mandate of finding any possible Trump–Russia collusion. If Mueller was not a special counsel, and if he was not looking for anyone deemed useful to flip to find dirt on Donald Trump, then Veselnitskaya would have been just another daily Washington foreign influence-peddler being courted with impunity by her American influence-peddling and often equally suspect counterparts.

Mexico probes negligence in pipeline blast that killed 91

Mexico has opened an investigation into what caused a deadly pipeline explosion, including possible negligence by authorities, the attorney general said Monday, as the death toll rose to 91 people. It is still unclear exactly how events unfolded leading up to the Friday blast, which occurred as hundreds of people rushed to collect fuel in buckets and jerrycans from a geyser of gasoline that was spouting from an illegal pipeline tap near the town of Tlahuelilpan, in the central state of Hidalgo. Attorney General Alejandro Gertz said investigators were trying to determine who tapped the pipeline -- whether locals acting alone or one of the criminal gangs that have turned fuel theft into a booming industry in Mexico.

How to Use a Smart Speaker as Your Smart Home Hub

It used to be that controlling smart home devices such as smart thermostats, home security cameras, or smart locks involved pulling out your smartphone, opening up the app for each device, and ta...

Video shows Florida toddler walking towards police with hands up during her father's arrest

TPD said the toddler unexpectedly got out the pickup truck and imitated her parents, who were suspects, walking toward officers with her hands raised.

The Latest: Bitter cold freezes US regions hit by storm

BOSTON (AP) — The Latest on the winter storm moving across the country (all times local):

Release Jailed Canadians, China Experts Urge Xi in Open Letter

The group, including former U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke, ex-Hong Kong Governor Christopher Patten and five former Canadian ambassadors to China, released an open letter to the Chinese leader Tuesday urging the two men’s freedom. The letter said that Michael Kovrig, a Canadian diplomat on leave to work with the International Crisis Group in Hong Kong, and Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur who helped organize tourist trips to North Korea, had advocated exchanges that help build ties around the globe.

The Chevrolet Silverado Four-Cylinder Gets Worse Fuel Economy Than the V-8 in Our Test

Here's more proof that downsizing and turbocharging have their limits.

AFP to cut 95 jobs, CEO says, scaling back initial 125 target

Agence France-Presse will cut 95 jobs over the next five years, 30 fewer than announced in October, without affecting targeted savings, CEO Fabrice Fries said Monday. Presenting a revised version of his "transformation plan" to employee representatives, Fries said the company would still save 14 million euros ($15.9 million) on wage costs and five million euros on other expenses by 2023. To achieve this, management will convert 15 of the current 175 expatriate postings into local jobs and realise savings through replacing senior employees with younger ones.

Trump’s lawyer Giuliani says he listened to ‘all the tapes’, before admitting: ‘I shouldn’t have said tapes’

Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani appeared to inadvertently reveal the existence of taped evidence relating to collusion between the president’s campaign and Russia before immediately rowing back on his statement in a car-crash interview. Mr Giuliani has struggled in recent days to help clear up the situation surrounding claims in a BuzzFeed News report Mr Trump instructed his former lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

France hits Google with 50 million euro data consent fine

France's data watchdog on Monday announced a fine of 50 million euros ($57 million) for US search giant Google, using the EU's strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the first time. Google was handed the record fine from the CNIL regulator for failing to provide transparent and easily accessible information on its data consent policies, a statement said. The CNIL said Google made it too difficult for users to understand and manage preferences on how their personal information is used, in particular with regards to targeted advertising.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day: At Ebenezer Baptist Church, a call to action to end 'chaos'

A memorial for Martin Luther King Jr. at Ebenezer Baptist Church proceeded Monday after almost being derailed by the federal government shutdown.

Prince Philip 'could be sent on driving awareness course' as police investigate crash

The Duke of Edinburgh could be sent on a drivers’ awareness course, it has emerged, as police continue to investigate a crash which left two women hospitalised. The Duke, 97, is understood to have no intention of giving up driving, having been photographed on public roads driving a new car less than 48 hours after the accident. He is understood to be complying with a Norfolk Police investigation, which will see him interviewed about what happened. Two women, aged 45 and 28, will also be asked for their recollections of the accident, after their Kia Carens collided with the Duke’s Land Rover Freelander on the A149 on Thursday. Both police and palace have emphasised that the investigation will be conducted in the same way as any other traffic accident, despite one of the involved parties being married to the Queen. That process would see him interviewed in the coming days, before police officers recommend whether to proceed with charging anyone involved. The scene of the crash, on the A149 at Sandringham The Duke has already passed an eye test as part of the investigation, celebrating by defiantly driving himself around the public roads near to Sandringham alone less than 48 hours after the accident. He was caught on camera driving in dark glasses without wearing a seatbelt, in a gesture that has been criticised by onlookers. A spokesman for Norfolk Police said: “We are aware of the photograph. “Suitable words of advice have been given to the driver and this is in line with our standard response when being made aware of or receiving such images showing this type of offence.” The law states that drivers can be fined up to £500 if caught without a seatbelt. The Duke of Edinburgh drives the Queen and Barack and Michelle Obama during their visit to Windsor Credit: Geoff Pugh If the Duke was found to be at fault for the Sandringham accident, he could be charged with driving without due care and attention, which carries a maximum penalty of nine points on a driving record and a £5,000 fine. It is thought unlikely that a prosecution would come to court. A police source said yesterday that non-royal drivers involved in a similar collision would more likely be offered a drivers’ awareness course, with improving their motoring skills considered more in the public interest than a court case. The Duke reportedly said "I'm such a fool" after being pulled from his wrecked Land Rover Freelander on Thursday after it flipped on its side following the collision with a Kia close to Sandringham. Witnesses claim he had told police at the scene he had been “dazzled” by the low sun at 2.45pm. A spokesman for Norfolk Police said: “As is standard procedure with injury collisions, the incident will be investigated and any appropriate action taken.”

Deep freeze grips eastern United States, 12-year-old dies in Chicago

Temperatures fell to single-digits Fahrenheit (about -20 C) from New York City to Boston and through northern New England and froze melting snow late on Sunday and early Monday, said Marc Chenard at the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. "Boston will be just 3 degrees (Fahrenheit) this morning, with wind chills of minus 12 or more," he said. "New York City and D.C. will be in that same range, maybe hitting the teens later today.

Suspect arrested in beating of 88-year-old woman in San Francisco's Visitacion Valley

San Francisco police have arrested an 18-year-old suspect in the brutal beating of an 88-year-old great-grandmother in the city's Visitacion Valley neighborhood.

May’s Brexit Plan B Still Keeps Her Dependent on Opposition Votes

May lost the vote on her Brexit deal last week 432-202, with 118 largely Euroskeptic Conservative lawmakers and all 10 members of the Democratic Unionist Party -- who are supposed to be her allies -- opposing her. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has expressed more interest in another election than in saving May’s Brexit deal, which makes it risky for the prime minister to try to win his party’s support.

State of the Union 2019: When will Trump make the annual address to Congress and what is its history?

Donald Trump is currently pondering how to deliver his second State of the Union address to Congress with the US government mired in its longest shutdown in history. House speaker Nancy Pelosi asked the president to postpone his speech on 16 January and suggested he submit it by letter, a manoeuvre Republicans were quick to brand “political” and which appeared to provoke Mr Trump into denying Ms Pelosi’s congressional delegation the use of a military plane to visit troops in Afghanistan. The address is still scheduled for 9pm EST on 29 January at the time of writing, with the president tweeting: “Nancy, I am still thinking about the State of the Union speech, there are so many options – including doing it as per your written offer (made during the Shutdown, security is no problem), and my written acceptance.

Tourist killed by falling window from Hong Kong hotel

A hotel employee arrested after a window she was cleaning fell onto a busy Hong Kong street and killed a tourist was released on bail Tuesday as investigators try to work out what caused the fatal tragedy. Police said a 24-year-old female tourist from the Chinese mainland was struck by the window which fell from the 16th floor of the Mira Hotel in the busy Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district on Monday. The accident sparked alarm that a window could possibly fall from the outside of a modern hotel building in a city stacked with skyscrapers.

United Airlines passengers stranded over 15 hours at frigid Canadian military base

United Flight 179 passengers leaving New Jersey were stranded for nearly a day in Canada and then sent back to Newark Liberty International Airport.

Haute Couture: the best catwalk beauty looks from day one

A dusty rose lipstick and dewy complexion added to the overall effect of nostalgic, sorrowful beauty, while the jewel-encrusted veils pulled over the models' faces meant they retained an aura of mystique. Giambattista Valli's models also sported heavy eyeliner, but this time it was swept out towards the temples in a languorous feline flick that lent a degree of attitude to the beauty look. This was underscored with a bold brow and a matte complexion.

Florida police run over couple lying in the road to watch lunar eclipse

A police officer in Florida ran over two people lying on a dark road to watch the lunar eclipse, leaving them requring hospital treatment. A statement given to the Palm Beach Post by police said that the two were run over after choosing to lie in the park because it was “extremely dark”.

China's 2018 economic growth sinks to 3-decade low

BEIJING (AP) — China's economic growth hit a three-decade low in 2018, adding to pressure on Beijing to beef up stimulus measures and settle a tariff war with Washington.

Report reveals an undeclared North Korean missile base headquarters

"The Sino-ri missile operating base and the Nodong missiles deployed at this location fit into North Korea's presumed nuclear military strategy by providing an operational-level nuclear or conventional first strike capability," the report said. The discovery of an undeclared missile headquarters comes three days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he "looks forward" to another summit to discuss denuclearization with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in late February.

Two feet of snow, -40 degrees possible as storm roars East

A blast of winter that dropped more than a foot of snow in parts of the Midwest grew more angry as it roared east on Sunday.

Staff fraud may cost China's DJI drone maker $150 million

Chinese drone maker DJI has placed 45 employees under investigation for alleged fraud that could cost the company more than one billion yuan ($150 million) in losses, the firm said Monday. The world's top civilian drone maker said in an internal memo that most of the employees involved in the fraud worked in the supply chain, and 29 were fired while 16 were reported to the police. The case is expected to involve more than 100 people and many people will be facing a sentence in jail, according to Friday's memo, whose authenticity was confirmed by a company spokeswoman on Monday.

Graham says he'll ask Trump to meet Pakistan, Afghan leaders

ISLAMABAD (AP) — U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Sunday that he will urge President Donald Trump to meet with the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan so that they can devise a plan to end Afghanistan's 17-year war, the U.S.'s longest military engagement.

Covington Catholic chaperone: Our students were targeted for what they stood for and the color of their skin

A mother who chaperoned Covington Catholic students during their trip to Washington says the now-viral confrontation with Native American activists was a result of Black Hebrew Israelites throwing 'horrific insults' at the teens. Jill Hamlin speaks out on 'Fox & Friends.'

British Airways is giving one of its Boeing 747s a 1960s-era paint scheme

British Airways will paint one of its Boeing 747's in a retro scheme that dates to the 1960s as part of an effort to commemorate its 100th birthday.

Dodge Challenger to join electrification revolution

At the Detroit Auto Show this past weekend, Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley announced that the tides are turning towards hybrid electrification for the brand's iconic muscle car's powertrain. As emission standards continue to be tightened, automobile manufacturers find themselves needing  to develop alternatives to conventional powertrains, and muscle cars are not safe from the transition. According to The Detroit News, upcoming generations of Dodge Challengers are expected to go without their classic V-8, supercharged, 700 horsepower engines.

Lunar eclipse 2019: How to view today's super blood wolf moon in the UK

The Moon will turn red in the early hours of Monday morning as Britain experiences its last total lunar eclipse for 10 years. The Moon will start to darken at 2.35am with full eclipse beginning at 4.40am. It will be free of the Earth’s shadow by 7.49am. It  is the last chance for UK observers to see a total lunar eclipse in its entirety until 2029. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes exactly between the Sun and the Moon creating a shadow which stops solar rays reaching the lunar surface. Spectators can expect the Moon to begin to darken slowly before turning red as it becomes completely caught in Earth’s shade. Sometimes the eclipsed Moon is a deep red colour, almost disappearing from view, and sometimes it can be quite bright. January’s full Moon is also known as a ‘wolf moon’, a name deriving from Native American Tribes who said wolves would howl outside villages during full moons at the beginning of the year. What is a total lunar eclipse and how does it occur? The eclipse will occur when the Moon is at its closest point to Earth - making it a supermoon, so it will appear 14 per cent larger and 30 per cent brighter. In Britain the Moon will be above the horizon throughout the eclipse, though from the extreme southeast of England the Sun will have risen as it comes to an end. The red effect is due to Earth’s atmosphere. Without an atmosphere the Moon would appear black or even totally invisible when it was within Earth’s shadow. But because Earth’s atmosphere extends about 50 miles up, during a total eclipse, although the Moon is in shadow, there is a ring around our planet through which the Sun’s rays still pass. Unlike the other wavelengths the Sun's red light is scattered much less by air allowing it to travel through the atmosphere where other colours are lost. Finally it is bent by a process of refraction as it leaves the atmosphere on the opposite side, channelling it on to the Moon’s surface. Lunar eclipses always happen at a full Moon as this is when it moves behind the Earth and into line with the Earth and Sun but most of the time no eclipse takes place because the Moon's orbit is slightly tilted so it normally passes a little above or below the Earth’s shadow. Why does a total lunar eclipse not occur at every full moon? A full moon occurs every 29.5 days when Earth is directly aligned between the sun and the moon. The moon's orbital path around the Earth takes place at an angle of 5 degrees to Earth's orbital plane around the sun, otherwise known as the ecliptic. Lunar eclipses can only take place when a full moon occurs around a lunar node, the point where the two orbital planes meets. This means total lunar eclipses do not occur as frequently because the Earth's orbit around the sun is not in the same plane as the moon's orbit around the Earth. What is a blood moon and is it different to a total lunar eclipse? The moon's usual bright white hue may turn a burnt red-orange colour during a total lunar eclipse because sunlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere is bent towards it. Colours in the spectrum with shorter wavelengths are blocked and filtered away while those with longer wavelengths such as red and orange are able to pass through. The depth and darkness of the deep blood red varies during each eclipse, depending on how clear the atmosphere is at the time. Whenever this process of refraction happens, the moon is given the nickname 'blood moon'. A super blood moon rises over buildings on January 31, 2018 in Beijing, China Credit: VCG And this eclipse will also be a super moon? Yes. A super moon - which is when a moon appears 30 per cent brighter and 14 per cent bigger to the naked eye - happens when a full moon is at the point in its orbit that brings it closest to Earth Coincedentally this full moon - which is also a blood moon and also a total lunar eclipse - will be a supermoon, too. Supermoon is not an astrological term though. It's scientific name is actually Perigee Full Moon, but supermoon is more catchy and is used by the media to describe our celestial neighbour when it gets up close. Two more supermoons will occur this year: the second on February 19 and the third on March 21. Some people are also calling this moon a wolf moon... Yes, it's a wolf moon too - although this doesn't tell us anything about the state of the moon. Instead, the moniker 'Wolf Moon' was given to every January moon by Native Americans. The early Native Americans didn't record time using months of the Julian or Gregorian calendar. Instead tribes gave each full moon a nickname to keep track of the seasons and lunar months. Most of the names relate to an activity or an event that took place at the time in each location. However, it wasn't a uniform system and tribes tended to name and count moons differently. Some, for example, counted four seasons a year while others counted five. Others defined a year as 12 moons, while others said there were 13. Colonial Americans adopted some of the moon names and applied them to their own calendar system which is why they're still in existence today, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. The January moon was named Wolf Moon because villagers used to hear packs of wolves howling in hunger around this time of the year. Its other name is the Old Moon. What time can you see the blood moon eclipse? Observers in the British Isles who are willing to stay awake through the early hours of January 21 will be able to enjoy the total lunar eclipse. The totality in the UK is expected to last 1 hour, 1 minute and 58 seconds. However the peak of the eclipse will be at 05:12 GMT, which means you'll have to get up early to be able to catch it. At 02:36 GMT the moon will begin to darken as it enters the penumbral shadow and at 03:33 GMT the partial eclipse will begin, darkening further as it enters the Earth's umbra.  From approximately 04:41 GMT the moon will have completely entered the umbra shadow and the dark orange-red hue will appear in the sky, marking the start of the more visible total lunar eclipse. The maximum eclipse, where the moon is closest to the centre of the umbra, will occur at 05:12 GMT, with the total eclipse ending at 05:43 GMT. As the moon loses its blood red colour, it begins to enter the penumbral shadow again and the partial eclipse will end at 06:50 GMT.  While the moon continues to appear darker than usual, the penumbral eclipse will conclude at 07:49 GMT. The stages of the Moon during a total lunar eclipse Credit: Desiree Martin/AFP Blood moons and lunar eclipses of the past Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, created fear in 1504 after he used knowledge of an upcoming blood moon to convince the Arawak Indians to help him while stranded in Jamaica.  He led them to believe their lack of support would anger God and result in a blood moon in the sky. When the moon began to "bleed", the Arawak Indians were fooled into giving Columbus and his crew food. In more recent years, the total lunar eclipse of July 16, 2000 - which was seen in the Pacific Ocean, eastern Asia and Australia - was one of the longest to ever be recorded, lasting 1 hour 46 minutes.  The last lunar eclipse took place on July 27, 2018; and the totality spanned across 1 hour 43 minutes, marking the longest eclipse of the 21st century. Blood moon myths and tales From religious theories to modern day conspiracies, there are a range of myths and tales linked to the concept of a blood moon. Some Christian conspiracists consider a blood moon to be an apocalyptic sign from the heavens while the Inca thought it represented an attack by a cosmic jaguar.  The Hupa, a Native American tribe from northern California, believed the moon had 20 wives and numerous pets including lions and snakes. When the moon didn't give them enough food to eat, they attacked it, consequently making it bleed. The Batammaliba people in Togo and Benin, Africa, believe a lunar eclipse represents a fight between the sun and the moon, which humans must learn from in terms of their own arguments. Other astronomical events in 2019 The Quadrantid meteor shower reached its maximum rate of activity on January 4, with shooting stars appearing in the sky each night up until January 6. A conjunction of Venus and Jupiter will appear in the east sky before sunrise on January 22, showing the two bright planets 2.4 degrees from each other. The Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower will be seen in dark locations after midnight on May 7, while Saturn will shine the brightest on July 9, this year, as reaches its closest approach to Earth. Plus an annular solar eclipse will take place on December 26, starting in Saudi Arabia and concluding in the Pacific Ocean, with a ring of light appearing around the moon. Lunar eclipse pics

African leaders back Congo president-elect after contested poll

Regional support is crucial for Tshisekedi after a disorganized election on Dec. 30 that runner-up candidate Martin Fayulu says was rigged and that Congo's Catholic Church contested. Many worry that outgoing president Joseph Kabila will continue to hold sway, limiting Tshisekedi's power. The new president will be the first to take power through an election since Congo's independence in 1960, when Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was toppled in a coup after less than three months in office.

South Korea says troop talks deadlocked as U.S. demands 'unacceptable' funding increase

Despite 10 rounds of talks since March, the allies have failed to strike an accord to replace a 2014 deal that expired last year, which requires South Korea to pay about 960 billion won ($848 million) a year for keeping some 28,500 U.S. troops there. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that South Korea, where the United States has stationed soldiers since the 1950-53 Korean War, should bear more of the cost. The U.S. military has warned Korean workers on its bases they might be put on leave from mid-April if no deal is reached.