OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, standing outside of Oakland’s city hall, formally kicked off her campaign for the White House by presenting herself as the leader who can best unite an America that is at an “inflection point” and facing a critical question.

27 Jan 2019; AFP: The US Federal Reserve will hold its fire this week, leaving interest rates untouched and letting markets calm down after a tumultuous end to 2018.

Coming off Wall Street's worst December since the Great Depression and amid mounting fears about the global economy, Fed policymakers are now unanimously hammering a single message: they will be "patient" before pulling the trigger again.

KINSHASA, Jan 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) -- More than 50 mass graves were discovered by a joint UN and government fact-finding mission after ethnic violence in mid-December in a region of western Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN announced.

“There are more than 50 mass graves or mass graves and individual graves that we have identified” in Yumbi in the western province of Mai-Ndombe, Abdoul Aziz Thioye, director of the Joint UN Office for Human Rights in the DRC (UNJHRO), said on Friday.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — As the Trump administration rolls back environmental and safety rules for the energy sector, government projections show billions of dollars in savings reaped by companies will come at a steep cost: more premature deaths and illnesses from air pollution, a jump in climate-warming emissions and more severe derailments of trains carrying explosive fuels.

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) — Cuba’s president says a tornado in eastern Havana has killed three people and injured 174 others.

The Cuban capital was battered late Sunday and early Monday by powerful winds and heavy rains. A blackout hit many Havana neighborhoods around 9 p.m.

Early Monday, President Miguel Diaz-Canel posted photos of himself on Twitter with rescue workers besides what appeared to be a vehicle overturned by the storm. Little further information about the storm appeared in state media.

ISTANBUL; 28 Jan 2019; AA: Turkish opposition party leader strongly on Sunday condemned U.S. President Donald Trump's “coup attempt” against Venezuelan president.

“I strongly condemn Trump’s coup attempt against [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro and I hope Venezuela survives this hardship without being dragged into civil war conditions,” Devlet Bahceli, head of opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), said at his party’s group dinner in Istanbul.

28 Jan 2019; DW: Museumgoers looked on as a painting was taken from Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery, not realizing they were witnessing a theft. The painting by Russian artist Arkhip Kuindzhi is thought to be worth €160,000.

WASHINGTON; 28 Jan 2019; AA: U.S. administration has "accepted" on Sunday Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido’s designation of Carlos Alfredo Vecchio as the charge d’Affaires to the U.S.

In a written statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, "The United States accepted interim President Juan Guaido’s designation of Carlos Alfredo Vecchio as the Charge d’Affaires of the Government of Venezuela to the United States on January 25."

BANGKOK, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Kasikorn Research Center (K-Research) said on Monday that initial economic loss from the fine dust fouling the air in Bangkok and surrounding areas is estimated at 2.6 billion baht (82 million U.S. dollars) or more.

K-Research attributed it mainly to lost opportunities in tourism. "The initial opportunity cost for tourism was at 1-3.5 billion baht, representing 2.5-4.5 percent of tourism income contributed by Bangkok," said the report.

TEHRAN, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iran may adopt offensive military approaches to protect its interests, Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Mohammad Baqeri, said on Sunday.

While continuing to adhere to its broad doctrine of defense, the Iranian military forces would adopt offensive tactics when necessary, Baqeri was quoted as saying by Press TV.

Gadchiroli, Jan 27 (PTI) A 32-year-old villager, who was abducted by a group of Maoists over suspicion of being a police informer, was found dead Sunday here in Maharashtra, police said.

The victim, Sansay Tanu Beig, a resident of Jaravandi village under Erapalli tehsil of Naxal-affected Gadchiroli district, was abducted late Saturday night, a police official said.

Around 40 Maoists entered the village and barged into Beig's house from where they pulled him out after brandishing weapons, he said.

New Delhi, Jan 27 (PTI) Congress president Rahul Gandhi has all the qualities to make a good prime minister, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has said, and alleged that the BJP's propaganda machinery spent hundreds of thousands of crores to malign the Congress leader's image.

However, he also emphasised that the issue of who will be the prime minister can be settled after the 2019 polls by grand alliance members collectively.