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Gigantic metal sculptures made by Kosovo-born artist Petrit Halilaj adorn the rooftop of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in an ode to a childhood affected by war. Garentina Kraja has the story. Camera: Vladimir Badikov 

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Taipei, Taiwan — When Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te is sworn into office on May 20, he will be facing what is perhaps the toughest first term of any leader the democratically ruled island of 23 million has ever elected since 1996.  Analysts say that Lai will not only need to carefully manage relations with China but also need to work to maintain steady ties with Washington during an election year. Branded a secessionist by Beijing, China has beefed up the scale and frequency of military activities and coast guard patrols near Taiwan since Lai was elected in January. Beijing has also opened new flight routes near Taiwan’s outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu in April, which some analysts view as an attempt to redefine the longstanding status quo across the Taiwan Strait.    Such efforts are widely seen as part of China’s pressure campaign towards Taiwan. But unlike the large-scale military exercises the Chinese military held around the island in 2022 and 2023, Beijing’s recent actions are “quieter” by comparison, said Amanda Hsiao, a senior China analyst at the International Crisis Group.   China is trying “to present itself as seeking peaceful unification and doesn’t want to be seen as a provocateur,” Hsiao said.  China views Taiwan as part of its territory and has repeatedly vowed to reunite with the island, by force if necessary.  Lai’s four-year presidency falls within the time fame U.S. military and intelligence officials have publicly said Chinese leader Xi Jinping has set for the Chinese military to have an invasion plan in place by 2027. The date also marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army. Some Taiwanese experts say while the Lai administration should be aware of the significance of 2027, they shouldn’t arrange Taiwan’s preparation for a potential Chinese invasion around this timeframe. “2027 shouldn’t be viewed as the definitive year that China will invade Taiwan, because Beijing’s calculation involves a lot of factors, including the dynamics across the Taiwan Strait,” said Li Da-Jung, director of the Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies at Taiwan’s Tamkang University.  In his view, the Lai administration should prioritize efforts to strengthen Taiwan’s capabilities to defend itself and deter China from invading the island.  Boosting exchanges Since Taiwan’s pro-sovereignty Democratic Progressive Party came to power in 2016, China has cut off all official communication and increased the level of pressure against Taiwan.  Beijing has also suggested that it’s open to increasing exchange with Taipei by lifting some travel restrictions and hosting several delegations from Taiwan’s China-friendly opposition party Kuomintang.  Increasing exchanges with China-friendly actors in Taiwan “will be a major focus in the near term for China,” Hsiao said.  For his part, Lai has said he is committed to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and that he is willing to engage with Beijing on the basis of dignity and parity. In a pre-recorded speech this week at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2024, he said, "I will not rule out dialogue with China on the principles of mutual respect, mutual benefits, and dignity, with no preconditions.”  China’s offer to reopen cross-strait exchanges, especially resuming group tourism between China and Taiwan, is both an opportunity and a challenge for Taiwan’s new government.  “The Lai administration could point to the return of group tourism as an early success in their term and this would be a useful way of signaling to international partners that they are responsibly handling their relationship with Beijing,” Hsiao said.  However, she added that the Lai administration should also be mindful of the potential costs of accepting offers from Beijing.  “A return to group tourism could create some dependencies on China that Beijing could leverage and exploit next time they are unhappy with the relationship,” Hsiao told VOA.  For now, she thinks the Chinese government will try to “lean on” the United States and opposition parties in Taiwan to keep the new Taiwanese government “on a more moderate course.”  Lai’s inauguration speech will be “a key indicator” of his administration’s approach to China. “How he talks about and defines cross-strait relationships will be significant,” Hsiao told VOA. Washington announced this week that they will send an unofficial delegation – which includes two former senior U.S. officials and a scholar – to attend the inauguration. Continuity in U.S.-Taiwan relations  While tensions between China and Taiwan will likely remain high, some experts say relations between the United States and Taiwan will largely remain unchanged under the new Taiwanese government, since bilateral ties have reached a new level of stability during Tsai Ing-wen’s tenure.   “So much of what we are looking forward to in the U.S.-Taiwan relationship, whether [it] is meaningful bilateral trade agreement or more robust defensive military sales, are all things that rely on the groundwork laid out by Tsai and previous administrations in Taiwan,” said Lev Nachman, a political scientist at National Chengchi University in Taiwan.  However, despite the predictability of the new Taiwanese government’s policy direction toward the U.S., Nachman said the U.S. Presidential election in November, which will likely be a rematch between current President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, could add uncertainties to relations between Taipei and Washington.  “What Biden represents is a level of predictability and certainty and that’s important in this part of the world when both sides of the Taiwan Strait are operating off imperfect information about what the other side is going to do,” he told VOA in a video interview.  But if Trump wins the election in November, Nachman said Taiwan’s new administration should be prepared for some uncertainties. A potential Trump presidency “brings uncertainty, imperfect information, and a level of no pragmatism from the U.S. that would be the biggest challenge for Taiwan and the entire [Indo-Pacific] region to navigate,” he added.   Tamkang University’s Li said the Lai administration should start engaging with Trump’s advisors as soon as possible. “Taiwan’s incoming government should maintain close communication with Trump’s advisors and highlight the importance of Taiwan during bilateral conversations,” he told VOA. Efforts to diversify Taiwan’s foreign relations  While relations with China and the U.S. dominate Taiwan’s foreign policy agenda, the island has increased its diplomatic engagements with European countries during Tsai’s second term.  “The EU and Taiwan have been thinking about how they can strengthen cooperation in certain areas while being mindful of potential limitations [over the last four years,]” Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, an expert on EU-Taiwan relations at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan, told VOA in a video interview.  Since 2020, Taiwan has deepened its economic engagement with some Central and Eastern European countries. In 2021, Taiwan opened a trade office in Lithuania under the name “Taiwan” instead of the island’s official name, the Republic of China.  Since then, it has signed several cooperation agreements related to bilateral tech collaboration with countries like Lithuania and the Czech Republic.  Additionally, Taiwan has hosted several high-level parliamentary delegations from Lithuania and the Czech Republic in recent years. Ferenczy and Nachman both said that while these visits have helped to elevate mutual understanding and interests between Taiwan and some European countries, the new government under Lai should focus on adding substance to these newly elevated ties.  The Lai administration “needs to approach these newfound allies with a level of pragmatism [by] pursuing meaningful alliances in trade or [increase] exchanges,” Nachman told VOA.

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SYDNEY — Australian scientists say they have discovered how an enzyme “hidden in nature’s blueprint” could help develop climate-resilient crops able to remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  An Australian study, by researchers from Australian National University and the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, focuses on a type of bacteria researchers call “tiny carbon superheroes.”  Cyanobacteria, a type of algae-like bacteria also called blue-green algae, are found in fresh and coastal waters, as well as oceans.  They are commonly known for their toxic blooms in lakes and rivers.   Through the process of photosynthesis, Australian scientists say, they capture about 12% of the world’s carbon dioxide each year.  Their study says a carbon dioxide-concentrating mechanism in cyanobacteria lets them turn atmospheric carbon dioxide into sugars for cells to eat more quickly than most standard plants and crops. Until now, the Australian team was unaware how critical an enzyme in cyanobacteria, called carboxysomal carbonic anhydrase, was to the process. The study says the mystery of how the enzyme maximizes the cyanobacteria’s ability to extract atmospheric carbon dioxide has been solved. Ben Long, a senior lecturer in molecular plant biology at Australia's University of Newcastle and is the study’s lead author. He told VOA that the aim is to engineer crops that can absorb more greenhouse gases.    “We are actually interested in utilizing this CO2-concentrating mechanism from cyanobacteria, which we know is a remarkably efficiently system for capturing CO2 and we want to engineer that into plant cells to make plant cells able to capture CO2 far more effectively and efficiently,” Long said. The research says that engineered plants that are more efficient at capturing carbon dioxide could increase crop yield, making global food systems that are more resilient to climate change.  Long says the findings should be part of international efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.   “Every technology has to be brought to bear to try to reduce CO2 emissions and reduce CO2 in the atmosphere and I think to date we have not really focused much on those potential biological applications to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Long said. The study has been published in the journal Science Advances.

Goma, DR Congo — Reputed to be the coltan capital of the world, the mining town of Rubaya, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has fallen into the hands of rebels. The fall of Rubaya is causing a stir among local residents who fear M23 will use profits from the coltan mines to fund their war against the DRC government. Estimated to hold more than 70 percent of the planet's coltan reserves, the town of Rubaya has been under the control of the M23 rebels since April 30.  According to Mapenzi Mulume, a young man from Masisi territory, the rebels have set up teams to exploit the minerals 24 hours a day, and women and children are also invited to join, he laments. He says that since the M23 rebels occupied the mining town of Rubaya, they've been mining 24 hours a day. He noted that children are working in rotating shifts. He said he deplores child labor and calls on the international community to intervene on behalf of the people of Rubaya.   The M23 rebels have been fighting the DRC government since 2021, following an earlier conflict that ended with a government victory. People in Masisi territory fear the rise in power of the rebels and their allies in the Rwandan army. Exaucé Kavatsawa, a local resident, believes the rebels have achieved one of their primary objectives with the conquest of the important coltan reserve. He says that Rubaya is a really rich deposit of coltan and other raw materials, and so the fall of Rubaya is a salvation for the M23. He says the access to Rubaya will enable the rebels to find the means to finance their war.   In a communiqué issued by the Ministry of Mines, the Congolese government asserted that, since the occupation of Rubaya by the M23, tons of raw materials from the Democratic Republic of Congo have been crossing the Rwandan border on a daily basis via the Nyiragongo territory occupied by the M23. Rwanda has not commented on the issue. These assertions are rejected by the rebels, whose military spokesman is Major Willy Ngoma. He confirms that mining continues in the mines, but he asserts it is by local indigenous populations. He says the struggle of the government is not about minerals, and asserts that none of their authorities, civil or military, can get involved in this mineral trafficking business. When a citizen is in his own backyard, he says, digging, finding something and selling it, it has nothing to do with the authorities. The population can sell because they are free in their country, and we only ensure their security.    The M23 rebels have extended their zone of control beyond the town of Rubaya in recent weeks, where the minerals of cassiterite and manganese are also mined in considerable quantities.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

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PARIS — French police on Friday shot dead an armed man who was trying to set fire to a synagogue in the northern city of Rouen. "National police in Rouen neutralized early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city's synagogue," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Police responded at 6:45 am (0445 GMT) to reports of "fire near the synagogue," a police source said. A source close to the case told AFP the man "was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired. The individual died." "It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock," Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol wrote on X. He made clear there were no other victims other than the attacker. Two separate investigations have been opened, one into the fire at the synagogue and another into the circumstances of the death of the individual killed by the police, Rouen prosecutors said. Such an investigation by France's police inspectorate general is automatic whenever an individual is killed by the police. The man threatened a police officer with a knife and the latter used his service weapon, said the Rouen prosecutor. The dead man was not immediately identified, a police source said. Asked by AFP, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office said that it is currently assessing whether it will take up the case. France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe's largest Muslim community. There have been tensions in France in the wake of the October 7 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel, followed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Red hand graffiti was painted onto France's Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, prompted anger including from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned "odious anti-Semitism." "Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating anti-Semitism means defending the Republic," Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), wrote on X. France was hit from 2015 by a spate of Islamist attacks that also hit Jewish targets. There have been isolated attacks in recent months and France's security alert remains at its highest level.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Seoul, South Korea — North Korea has fired at least one "unidentified ballistic missile," Seoul's military said Friday, hours after leader Kim Jong Un's powerful sister denied widespread allegations that Pyongyang is shipping weapons to Russia. North Korea "fires unidentified ballistic missile toward East Sea," Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan. Japanese broadcaster NHK, citing government sources, said the missile "appeared to be short range and has already fallen." The launch came hours after Kim Yo Jong accused Seoul and Washington of "misleading the public opinion" on the issue with their repeated accusations that Pyongyang is sending weapons to Moscow for use in Ukraine. She said the North's "tactical weapons including multiple rocket launchers and missiles shown by us recently are produced to discharge the only one mission... to prevent Seoul from inventing any idle thinking." The launch is the latest since the North fired a volley of what Seoul said were short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on April 22. North Korea is barred by rafts of U.N. sanctions from any tests using ballistic technology, but its key ally Russia used its U.N. Security Council veto in March to effectively end U.N. monitoring of violations, for which Pyongyang has specifically thanked Moscow. The U.N. panel of experts was investigating allegations that North Korea was transferring weapons to Moscow, with Seoul claiming in March that some 7,000 containers of arms had been sent to Russia for use in Ukraine since around July 2023. Washington and experts have said Pyongyang is seeking a range of military assistance from Russia in return, such as satellite technology and upgrading its Soviet-era military equipment. The North said last week it would equip its military with a new 240mm multiple rocket launcher this year, adding that a "significant change" for the army's artillery combat capabilities was under way. Reaction to drills? Kim Jong Un inspected a new tactical missile weapons system Tuesday and called for an "epochal change" in war preparations by achieving arsenal production targets. Analysts say the nuclear-armed North could be ramping up production and testing of artillery and cruise missiles before sending them to Russia for use in Ukraine. The launch also comes a day after advanced South Korean and U.S. stealth fighters, including Washington's F-22 Raptors, staged joint air combat drills. Such drills infuriate North Korea, which views them as rehearsals for invasion. The North has appeared especially sensitive to air drills in the past, with experts noting its air force is the weakest link in its military. "It appears that this is a counter-military demonstration in response to recent South Korea-US air exercises," Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP. "It also appears to contain a warning message regarding the large-scale South Korea-U.S. joint exercises scheduled for August," Yang said. Inter-Korean relations are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang declaring South Korea its "principal enemy." It has jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and threatened war over "even 0.001 mm" of territorial infringement.

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BEIJING — Russian President Vladimir Putin focused on trade and cultural exchanges Friday during his state visit to China that started with bonhomie in Beijing and a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping that deepened their "no limits" partnership as both countries face rising tensions with the West. Putin praised China at a China-Russia Expo in the northeastern city of Harbin, hailing the growth in bilateral trade. He will also meet with students at Harbin Institute of Technology later Friday. Harbin, capital of China’s Heilongjiang province, was once home to many Russian expatriates and retains some of those historical ties in its architecture, such as the central Saint Sophia Cathedral, a former Russian Orthodox church. Though Putin's visit is more symbolic and is short on concrete proposals, the two countries nonetheless are sending a clear message. "At this moment, they’re reminding the West that they can be defiant when they want to," said Joseph Torigian, a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institute. At the exhibition in Harbin, Putin emphasized the importance of Russia-China cooperation in jointly developing new technologies. "Relying on traditions of friendship and cooperation, we can look into the future with confidence," he said. "The Russian-Chinese partnership helps our countries’ economic growth, ensures energy security, helps develop production and create new jobs." Putin started the second day of his visit to China on Friday by laying flowers at a monument to fallen Soviet soldiers in Harbin who had fought for China against the Japanese during the second Sino-Japanese war, when Japan occupied parts of China. At their summit Thursday, Putin thanked Xi for China’s proposals for ending the war in Ukraine, while Xi said China hopes for the early return of Europe to peace and stability and will continue to play a constructive role toward this. Their joint statement described their world view and expounded on criticism of U.S. military alliances in Asia and the Pacific. The meeting was yet another affirmation of the friendly "no limits" relationship China and Russia signed in 2022, just before Moscow invaded Ukraine. Putin has become isolated globally for his invasion of Ukraine. China has a tense relationship with the U.S., which has labeled it a competitor, and faces pressure for continuing to supply key components to Russia needed for weapons production. Talks of peacefully resolving the Ukraine crisis featured frequently in Thursday's remarks, though Russia just last week opened a new front in the Ukraine war by launching attacks at its northeastern border area. The war is at a critical point for Ukraine, which had faced delays in getting weapons from the U.S. China offered a broad plan for peace last year that was rejected by both Ukraine and the West for failing to call for Russia to leave occupied parts of Ukraine. In a smaller meeting Thursday night at Zhongnanhai, the Chinese leaders' residential compound, Putin thanked Xi for his peace plan and said he welcomed China continuing to play a constructive role in a political solution to the problem, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency. They also attended events to celebrate 75 years of bilateral relations. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Russia has increasingly depended on China as Western sanctions have taken a bite. Trade between the two countries increased to $240 billion last year, as China helped its neighbor defray the worst of Western sanctions. European leaders have pressed China to ask Russia to end its invasion in Ukraine, to little avail. Experts say China and Russia's relationship with each other offer strategic benefits, particularly at a time when both have tensions with Europe and the U.S. "Even if China compromises on a range of issues, including cutting back support on Russia, it’s unlikely that the U.S. or the West will drastically change their attitude to China as a competitor," said Hoo Tiang Boon, who researches Chinese foreign policy at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. "They see very little incentive for compromise." Xi and Putin have a longstanding agreement to visit each other’s countries once a year, and Xi was welcomed at the Kremlin last year. 

WASHINGTON — Trucks carrying badly needed aid for the Gaza Strip rolled across a newly built U.S. floating pier into the besieged enclave for the first time Friday as Israeli restrictions on border crossings and heavy fighting hinder food and other supplies reaching people there. The shipment is the first in an operation that American military officials anticipate could scale up to 150 truckloads a day entering the Gaza Strip as Israel presses in on the southern city of Rafah as its seven-month offensive against Hamas rages on. But the U.S. and aid groups also warn that the pier project is not considered a substitute for land deliveries that could bring in all the food, water and fuel needed in Gaza. Before the war, more than 500 truckloads entered Gaza on an average day. The operation's success also remains tenuous due to the risk of militant attack, logistical hurdles and a growing shortage of fuel for the trucks to run due to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip since Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Israel's offensive since then has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, local health officials say, while hundreds more have been killed in the West Bank. The U.S. military's Central Command acknowledged the aid movement in a statement Friday, saying the first aid crossed into Gaza at 9 a.m. It said no American troops went ashore in the operation. "This is an ongoing, multinational effort to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza via a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature, and will involve aid commodities donated by a number of countries and humanitarian organizations," the command said. Troops finished installing the floating pier Thursday. Hours later, the Pentagon said that humanitarian aid would soon begin flowing and that no backups were expected in the distribution process, which is being coordinated by the United Nations. The U.N., however, said fuel deliveries brought through land routes have all but stopped and this will make it extremely difficult to bring the aid to Gaza’s people. "We desperately need fuel," U.N. deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said. "It doesn’t matter how the aid comes, whether it’s by sea or whether by land, without fuel, aid won’t get to the people." Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said the issue of fuel deliveries comes up in all U.S. conversations with the Israelis. She also said the plan is to begin slowly with the sea route and ramp up the truck deliveries over time as they work the kinks out of the system. Aid agencies say they are running out of food in southern Gaza and fuel is dwindling, while the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Food Program say famine has taken hold in Gaza’s north. Israel asserts it places no limits on the entry of humanitarian aid and blames the U.N. for delays in distributing goods entering Gaza. The U.N. says fighting, Israeli fire and chaotic security conditions have hindered delivery. Israel also fears Hamas will use the fuel in its fight against Israeli troops. Under pressure from the U.S., Israel has in recent weeks opened a pair of crossings to deliver aid into hard-hit northern Gaza and said that a series of Hamas attacks on the main crossing, Kerem Shalom, have disrupted the flow of goods. There's also been violent protests by Israelis disrupting aid shipments. Israel recently seized the key Rafah border crossing in its push against Hamas around that city on the Egyptian border, raising fears about civilians' safety while also cutting off the main entry for aid into the Gaza Strip. U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the pier project, expected to cost $320 million. The boatloads of aid will be deposited at a port facility built by the Israelis just southwest of Gaza City and then distributed by aid groups. U.S. officials said the initial shipment totaled as much as 500 tons of aid. The U.S. has closely coordinated with Israel on how to protect the ships and personnel working on the beach. But there are still questions on how aid groups will safely operate in Gaza to distribute food, said Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator of USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, which is helping with logistics. "There is a very insecure operating environment," and aid groups are still struggling to get clearance for their planned movements in Gaza, Korde said. The fear follows an Israeli strike last month that killed seven relief workers from World Central Kitchen whose trip had been coordinated with Israeli officials and the deaths of other aid personnel during the war. Pentagon officials have made it clear that security conditions will be monitored closely and could prompt a shutdown of the maritime route, even just temporarily. Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, a deputy commander at the U.S. military’s Central Command, told reporters Thursday that "we are confident in the ability of this security arrangement to protect those involved." Already, the site has been targeted by mortar fire during its construction, and Hamas has threatened to target any foreign forces who "occupy" the Gaza Strip. Biden has made it clear that there will be no U.S. forces on the ground in Gaza, so third-country contractors will drive the trucks onto the shore. Cooper said "the United Nations will receive the aid and coordinate its distribution into Gaza." The World Food Program will be the U.N. agency handling the aid, officials said. Israeli forces are in charge of security on shore, but there are also two U.S. Navy warships nearby that can protect U.S. troops and others. The aid for the sea route is collected and inspected in Cyprus, then loaded onto ships and taken about 320 kilometers to a large floating pier built by the U.S. off the Gaza coast. There, the pallets are transferred onto the trucks that then drive onto the Army boats. Once the trucks drop off the aid on shore, they immediately turn around the return to the boats.

MOSCOW — Ukraine launched a wave of drones at Russia and the annexed Crimea peninsula overnight, killing two people, including a child, and setting an oil refinery ablaze, officials said Friday. The attack was Ukraine's largest aerial offensive in weeks and comes as Russian forces advance along the frontline, making their biggest territorial gains in 18 months as Kyiv struggles with ammunition and manpower shortages. Russia's military said it had intercepted or destroyed more than 100 Ukrainian air and sea drones in the south of the country, and over annexed Crimea and Black Sea overnight. "Fifty-one UAVs were destroyed and intercepted over Crimea, 44 over the Krasnodar region, six over the Belgorod region and one over Kursk region," it said, adding naval forces destroyed six drone boats. One drone struck a family driving near the border in Russia's Belgorod region, killing a mother and her 4-year-old son, the region's governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. "The child was in critical condition. Doctors did everything possible to save him," he said, but "to much grief, the 4-year-old died in hospital." The father was injured but "is in shock" and refused medical help, while the driver of the car was treated for shrapnel wounds to his hands, he added. Another drone attack caused a fire at a gas station in the village of Bessonovka, but the flames were quickly put out, according to the governor. In the coastal town of Tuapse in the southern Krasnodar region, two Ukrainian drones hit an oil refinery, sparking a large fire but without causing any casualties, authorities said. The Russian-controlled port of Sevastopol on the annexed Crimean peninsula suffered a "partial blackout" after debris from downed drones fell on an electrical substation, the city's Russian-installed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said. "While restoration work continues, the city will not be able to receive enough energy. There will be isolated blackouts," he warned, adding that schools would cancel lessons. Ukraine did not immediately comment but in the past has denied targeting civilians. The drone wave comes as Russian forces push into Ukraine's northeast after storming across the border in a fresh offensive last week. Ukraine has evacuated almost 9,000 civilians from the border area, as Russia advances towards Vovchansk and nearby villages.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

HOUSTON — Fast-moving thunderstorms pummeled southeastern Texas on Thursday for the second time this month, killing at least four people, blowing out windows in high-rise buildings, downing trees and knocking out power to more than 900,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area. Officials urged residents to keep off roads, as many were impassable and traffic lights were expected to be out for much of the night. "Stay at home tonight. Do not go to work tomorrow, unless you're an essential worker. Stay home, take care of your children," Houston Mayor John Whitmire said in an evening briefing. "Our first responders will be working around the clock." The mayor said four people died during the severe weather. At least two of the deaths were caused by falling trees, and another happened when a crane blew over in strong winds, officials said. Streets were flooded, and trees and power lines were down across the region. Whitmire said wind speeds reached 160 kph, "with some twisters." He said the powerful gusts were reminiscent of 2008's Hurricane Ike, which pounded the city. Hundreds of windows were shattered at downtown hotels and office buildings, with glass littering the streets below, and the state was sending Department of Public Safety officers to secure the area. "Downtown is a mess," Whitmire said. There was a backlog of 911 calls that first responders were working through, he added. At Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, the retractable roof was closed due to the storm. But the wind was so powerful it still blew rain into the stadium. Puddles formed on the outfield warning track, but the game against the Oakland Athletics still was played. The Houston Independent School District canceled classes Friday for some 400,000 students at all its 274 campuses. The storm system moved through swiftly, but flood watches and warnings remained for Houston and areas to the east. The ferocious storms moved into neighboring Louisiana and left more than 215,000 customers without power. Flights were briefly grounded at Houston's two major airports. Sustained winds topping 96 kph were recorded at Bush Intercontinental Airport. About 900,000 customers were without electricity in and around Harris County, which contains Houston, according to poweroutage.us. The county is home to more than 4.7 million people. The problems extended to the city's suburbs, with emergency officials in neighboring Montgomery County describing the damage to transmission lines as "catastrophic" and warning that power could be impacted for several days. Heavy storms slammed the region during the first week of May, leading to numerous high-water rescues, including some from the rooftops of flooded homes.