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MELBOURNE, Australia — A 16-year-old boy armed with a knife was shot dead by police after he stabbed a man in the Australian west coast city of Perth, officials said Sunday. The incident occurred in the parking lot of a hardware store in suburban Willetton on Saturday night. The teen attacked the man and then rushed at police officers before he was shot, Western Australian Premier Roger Cook told reporters Sunday. "There are indications he had been radicalized online," Cook told a news conference. "But I want to reassure the community at this stage it appears that he acted solely and alone," Cook added. A man was found at the scene with stab wounds to his back. He was taken to a hospital in serious but stable condition, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Police and Australian Security Intelligence Organization agents have been conducting a counterterrorism investigation in the east coast city of Sydney since another 16-year-old boy stabbed an Assyrian Orthodox bishop and priest in a church on April 15. That boy has been charged with committing a terrorist act. Six of his alleged associates have also been charged with a range of offenses, including conspiring to engage in or planning a terrorist act. All remain in custody. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had been briefed on the latest stabbing in Perth by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw and ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess, who heads the nation's main domestic spy agency. "I'm advised there is no ongoing threat to the community on the information available," Albanese said. "We are a peace-loving nation and there is no place for violent extremism in Australia," he added. Police received an emergency phone call after 10 p.m. from a teenager saying he was going to commit acts of violence, Western Australian Police Commissioner Col Blanch said. The boy had been participating in a program for young people at risk of radicalization, Blanch added. "I don't want to say he has been radicalized or is radicalized because I think that forms part of the investigation," he said. Police said they were later alerted by a phone call from a member of the public that a knife attack was underway in the parking lot. Three police officers responded, one armed with a gun and two with conducted energy devices. Police deployed both conducted energy devices but they failed to incapacitate the boy before he was killed by a single gunshot, Blanch said. Some Muslim leaders have criticized Australian police for declaring last month's church stabbing a terrorist act but not a rampage two days earlier in a Sydney shopping mall in which six people were killed and a dozen wounded. The 40-year-old attacker in the mall attack was shot dead by police. Police have yet to reveal the man's motive. The church attack is only the third to be classified by Australian authorities as a terrorist act since 2018. In December 2022, three Christian fundamentalists shot dead two police officers and a bystander in an ambush near the community of Wieambilla in Queensland state. The shooters were later killed by police. In November 2018, a Somalia-born Muslim stabbed three pedestrians in downtown Melbourne, killing one, before police shot him dead.

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.

TBILISI, Georgia — Several thousand Georgians marked Orthodox Easter with a candlelight vigil outside Parliament on Saturday evening as daily protests continue against a proposed law that critics see as a threat to media freedom and the country's aspirations to join the European Union. The proposed bill would require media, nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofits to register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad. Protesters and the Georgian opposition denounce it as "the Russian law," saying Moscow uses similar legislation to stigmatize independent journalists and those critical of the Kremlin. Demonstrators crowded along a broad avenue in Tbilisi late Saturday, clutching Georgian and EU flags, as a small choir sang Easter songs and activists bustled about distributing food, including handpainted eggs and traditional Easter cakes. Unlike at mass rallies earlier in the week, which met with a heavy police response, the atmosphere was peaceful. Unarmed police officers stationed sparsely at the vigil's sidelines received festive foods along with the protesters. Most Western churches observed Easter on April 9, but Orthodox Christians in Georgia, Russia and elsewhere follow a different calendar. "It is the most extraordinary Easter I have ever witnessed. The feeling of solidarity is overwhelming, but we should not forget about the main issue," activist Lika Chachua told The Associated Press, referring to the proposed legislation. The legislature approved a second reading of the bill Wednesday. The third and final reading is expected later this month. The proposal is nearly identical to a measure that the governing Georgian Dream party was pressured to withdraw last year after large street protests. Georgian Dream argues the bill is necessary to stem what it deems as harmful foreign influence over the country's political scene and to prevent unidentified foreign actors from trying to destabilize the country's political scene. But EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has described the parliament's move as "a very concerning development" and warned that "final adoption of this legislation would negatively impact Georgia's progress on its EU path." Russia-Georgia relations have been strained and turbulent since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the two fought a brief war in 2008 that ended with Georgia losing control over two Russia-friendly separatist regions. In the aftermath, Tbilisi severed diplomatic ties with Moscow, and the issue of the regions' status remains a key irritant, even as relations have somewhat improved. The opposition United National Movement accuses Georgian Dream, which was founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, of serving Moscow's interests. The governing party vehemently denies that.

MEREDITH, New Hampshire — Burt Rutan was alarmed to see the plane he had designed was so loaded with fuel that the wing tips started dragging along the ground as it taxied down the runway. He grabbed the radio to warn the pilot, his older brother Dick Rutan. But Dick never heard the message.  Nine days and three minutes later, Dick, along with copilot Jeana Yeager, completed one of the greatest milestones in aviation history: the first round-the-world flight with no stops or refueling.  A decorated Vietnam War pilot, Dick Rutan died Friday evening at a hospital in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, with Burt and other loved ones by his side. He was 85. His friend Bill Whittle said he died of a severe lung infection.  "He played an airplane like someone plays a grand piano," said Burt Rutan of his brother, who was often described as having a velvet arm because of his smooth flying style.  A design, a dream Burt Rutan said he had always loved designing airplanes and became fascinated with the idea of a craft that could go clear around the world. His brother was equally passionate about flying. The project took six years.  There was plenty to worry Burt during testing of the light graphite plane, Voyager. There were mechanical failures, any one of which would have been disastrous over a distant ocean. When fully laden, the plane couldn't handle turbulence. And then there was the question of how the pilots could endure such a long flight on so little sleep. But Burt said his brother had an optimism about him that made them all believe.  "Dick never doubted whether my design would actually make it around, with still some gas in the tank," Burt Rutan said.  Voyager left from Edwards Air Force Base in California just after 8 a.m. on Dec. 14, 1986. Rutan said with all that fuel, the wings had only inches of clearance. Dick couldn't see when they started dragging on the runway. But when Burt called on the radio, copilot Yeager gave a speed report, drowning the message.  "And then, the velvet arm really came in," Burt Rutan said. "And he very slowly brought the stick back and the wings bent way up, some 30 feet at the wingtips, and it lifted off very smoothly."  They arrived back to a hero's welcome as thousands gathered to witness the landing. Both Rutan brothers and Yeager were awarded a Presidential Citizenship Medal by President Ronald Reagan, who described how a local official in Thailand at first "refused to believe some cockamamie story" about a plane flying around the world on a single tank of gas.  "We had the freedom to pursue a dream, and that's important," Dick Rutan said at the ceremony.   A vet of combat missions Richard Glenn Rutan was born in Loma Linda, California. He joined the U.S. Air Force as a teenager and flew more than 300 combat missions during the Vietnam War.  He was part of an elite group that would loiter over enemy anti-aircraft positions for hours at a time. The missions had the call sign "Misty" and Dick was known as "Misty Four-Zero." Among the many awards Dick received were the Silver Star and the Purple Heart.  He survived having to eject twice from planes, once when his F-100 Super Sabre was hit by enemy fire over Vietnam, and a second time when he was stationed in England and the same type of plane had a mechanical failure. He retired from the Air Force with the rank of lieutenant colonel and went on to work as a test pilot.  Dick Rutan set another record in 2005 when he flew about 10 miles (16 kilometers) in a rocket-powered plane launched from the ground in Mojave, California. It was also the first time U.S. mail had been carried by a such a plane. 

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.

TULKARM, West Bank — Israeli forces killed five Palestinians, including four fighters from the militant group Hamas, in an overnight raid near the city of Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli officials said Saturday. Hamas confirmed that four of the men killed during the raid in Deir al-Ghusun village were from its al-Qassam armed wing. The Palestinian health ministry said their bodies had been taken by the Israeli military. There was no information about the fifth man, whose body was too disfigured for immediate identification, the Palestinian health ministry in the West Bank said. The Israeli military confirmed the deaths and said an Israeli officer from a special police unit was wounded in the operation that targeted a Hamas cell responsible for numerous shootings and car bombing attacks. It said the group was responsible for killing a reservist soldier and wounding a police officer in an attack last November and also carried out a car bombing attack in April that wounded two Israelis including a soldier. Saturday's operation near of Tulkarm was the latest in a series of clashes in the West Bank between Israeli forces and Palestinians. The violence had deescalated for more than two years but picked up in intensity since the Hamas-led attack on Israel last October. Hamas, the Islamist group that Israel has been fighting in Gaza, had also been building its fighting network in the West Bank before the start of the war. During the raid, the Israeli army leveled a two-story house with a bulldozer in an operation that lasted more than 12 hours. According to Palestinian Health Ministry records, nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or Jewish settlers in the West Bank or East Jerusalem since October 7. Many have been armed fighters, but stone-throwing youths and uninvolved civilians have also been killed. Palestinians want the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, as the core of an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital. U.S.-backed talks to reach an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled for the past decade, but the Gaza war has raised pressure for a revival of efforts to reach a two-state solution. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's seven-month-old assault on the Gaza Strip, say health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave. The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting about 250 others, of whom more than 130 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

omaha, nebraska — Warren Buffett cautioned the tens of thousands of shareholders who packed an arena for his annual meeting that artificial intelligence scams could become "the growth industry of all time."  Doubling down on his cautionary words from last year, Buffett told the throngs he recently came face to face with the downside of AI. Someone made a fake video of Buffett, apparently convincing enough that Buffett himself said he could imagine it tricking him into sending money overseas.  The billionaire investing guru predicted scammers will seize on the technology and may do more harm with it than good.  "It has enormous potential for good and enormous potential for harm and I just don't know how that plays out," he said.  Earnings  The day started early Saturday with Berkshire Hathaway announcing a steep drop in earnings as the paper value of its investments plummeted and it pared its Apple holdings. The company reported a $12.7 billion profit, or $8.825 per Class A share, in first the quarter, down 64% from $35.5 billion, or $24,377 per A share a year ago.  But Buffett encourages investors to pay more attention to the conglomerate's operating earnings from the companies it owns. Those jumped 39% to $11.222 billion, or $7,796.47 per Class A share, led by insurance companies' performance.  None of that got in the way of the fun.  Throngs flooded the arena to buy up Squishmallow plush toys of Buffett and former Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, who died last fall. The event attracts investors from around the world and is unlike any other company meeting.  "This is one of the best events in the world to learn about investing. To learn from the gods of the industry," said Akshay Bhansali, who spent the better part of two days traveling from India to Omaha.  A notable absence  Devotees come for tidbits of wisdom from Buffett, who famously dubbed the meeting Woodstock for Capitalists.  This was the first meeting since Munger died.  The meeting opened with a video tribute highlighting some of his best-known quotes, including classics like "If people weren't so often wrong, we wouldn't be so rich." The video also featured skits the investors made with Hollywood stars over the years, including a "Desperate Housewives" spoof where one of the women introduced Munger as her boyfriend and another in which actress Jaimie Lee Curtis swooned over him.  As the video ended, the arena erupted in a prolonged standing ovation honoring Munger, whom Buffett called "the architect of Berkshire Hathaway."  Buffett said Munger remained curious about the world up until the end of his life at 99, hosting dinner parties, meeting with people and holding regular Zoom calls.  For decades, Munger and Buffett functioned as a classic comedy duo, with Buffett offering lengthy setups to Munger's witty one-liners.  Together, the pair transformed Berkshire from a floundering textile mill into a massive conglomerate made up of a variety of interests, from insurance companies such as Geico to BNSF railroad to several major utilities and an assortment of other companies.  Next Gen leaders  Munger's absence, however, created space for shareholders to get to know better the two executives who directly oversee Berkshire's companies: Ajit Jain, who manages the insurance units; and Abel, who handles everything else and has been named Buffett's successor. The two shared the main stage with Buffett this year.  The first time Buffett kicked a question to Greg Abel, he mistakenly said "Charlie?" Abel shrugged off the mistake and dove into the challenges utilities face from the increased risk of wildfires and some regulators' reluctance to let them collect a reasonable profit.  Morningstar analyst Greggory Warren said he believes Abel spoke up more Saturday and let shareholders see some of the brilliance Berkshire executives talk about.  A look to the future  Buffett has made clear that Abel will be Berkshire's next CEO, but said Saturday that he had changed his opinion on how the company's investment portfolio should be handled. He had previously said it would fall to two investment managers who handle small chunks of the portfolio now. On Saturday, Buffett endorsed Abel for the gig, as well as overseeing the operating businesses and any acquisitions.  "He understands businesses extremely well, and if you understand businesses, you understand common stocks," Buffett said. Ultimately, it will be up to the board to decide, but the billionaire said he might come back and haunt them if they try to do it differently.  Nevertheless, the best applause line of the day was Buffett's closing remark: "I not only hope that you come next year but I hope that I come next year." 

LOME, Togo — Togo's ruling party has won 108 out of 113 seats in parliament, according to the final provisional results of last month's legislative election announced on Friday. The sweeping majority secured by President Faure Gnassingbe's UNIR party follows the approval of controversial constitutional reforms by the outgoing parliament that could extend his 19-year rule. The new charter adopted in March also introduced a parliamentary system of government, meaning the president will be elected by parliament instead of by universal suffrage. Opposition parties were hoping to gain seats in the April 29 vote to enable them to challenge the UNIR party after they boycotted the last legislative poll and left it effectively in control of parliament. The election had been delayed twice because of a backlash from some opposition parties who called the constitutional changes a maneuver to allow Gnassingbe to rule for life. Constitutional amendments unanimously approved in a second parliamentary vote earlier in April shortened presidential terms to four years from five with a two-term limit. This does not take into account the time spent in office, which could enable Gnassingbe to stay in power until 2033 if he is re-elected when his mandate expires in 2025. 

MOLEPOLOLE, Botswana — At least 44 people who died in a horrific bus crash during Easter weekend in South Africa were laid to rest in neighboring Botswana on Saturday. About 5,000 mourners clad in black gathered in the Botswana village of Molepolole to pay their last respects nearly a month after the bus crash that claimed the lives of everybody on board except one 8-year-old child. The bus driver, Ogaufi Noonyane, was buried separately in the village of Thamaga, about 40 kilometers away. The victims were travelling to an Easter pilgrimage of the Zion Christian Church, one of the biggest churches in southern Africa, when their bus plunged about 50 meters from a bridge near Mokopane village in South Africa's northern province of Limpopo. The accident was a tragic reminder of how deadly South Africa’s roads become during the Easter period, when millions crisscross the country during the long holiday weekend. The mass funeral followed the repatriation of the victims' remains to their home country of Botswana. "We stand here with devastated hearts," said Limpopo provincial minister of health Phophi Ramathuba, who was among the South African dignitaries who attended the funeral. Atlang Siako, the sole survivor, was transported back home to Botswana after receiving medical attention in South Africa. Last month, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Botswana counterpart Mokgweetsi Masisi visited the scene of the crash, where they laid wreaths and paid their respects to the deceased. 

Louiville, kentucky — Mystik Dan won the 150th Kentucky Derby in a three-horse photo finish on Saturday, edging out Sierra Leone by a nose with Forever Young third in the tightest finish since 1996.  Sent off at 18-1 odds, Mystik Dan and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. rode the rail down the stretch with a short lead. Sierra Leone, the second choice at 9-2 odds, and Forever Young from Japan gave chase and pressured the leader to the wire in front of 156,710 people at Churchill Downs.  It was just the 10th Kentucky Derby decided by a nose — the closest margin in horse racing — and the first since Grindstone wore the garland of red roses in 1996.  The crowd waited several minutes before the result was reviewed by the stewards and declared official.  "The longest few minutes of my life," Hernandez said, after he and the bay colt walked in circles while the stunning result was settled. "To see your number flash up to win the Derby, I don't think it will sink in for a while."  Fierceness, the 3-1 favorite, finished 15th in the field of 20 3-year-olds.  Mystik Dan ran 1¼ miles in 2:03.34. Hernandez and trainer Kenny McPeek had teamed for a wire-to-wire win in the Kentucky Oaks for fillies on Friday with Thorpedo Anna. McPeek is the first trainer to sweep both races since Ben Jones in 1952 and the fourth overall.  McPeek's only other victory in a Triple Crown race was also a shocker: 70-1 Sarava won the 2002 Belmont Stakes — the biggest upset in that race's history. The colt spoiled the Triple Crown bid of War Emblem.  Sierra Leone lugged in and bumped Forever Young three times in the stretch, but jockey Ryusei Sakai didn't claim foul. 

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.

tel aviv, israel — Thousands of Israelis protested on Saturday, demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accept a cease-fire agreement with the Islamist movement Hamas that would see the remaining Israeli hostages brought home from Gaza.   At a rally in Tel Aviv that took place as Hamas officials were meeting Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo, relatives and supporters of the estimated 100 hostages still alive and in captivity said anything possible had to be done to bring them home.  "I'm here today to support a deal now, yesterday," said Natalie Eldor. "We need to bring them back. We need to bring all the hostages back, the live ones, the dead ones. We got to bring them back. We got to switch this government. This has got to end."  The protests, ahead of the Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls this year on May 6, came as the war in Gaza nears the end of its seventh month amid growing international pressure to stop the fighting.  "The only thing that keeps us going is the hope that Bar is alive and surviving," said Ora Rubinstein, the aunt of Bar Kupershtein, who was seized along with more than 250 others when Hamas-led gunmen rampaged through Israeli communities near Gaza on October 7.  Many of those taken hostage are believed to be dead, but the families want them brought back.  "Everyone must be returned. We will not abandon them as the Jews were abandoned during the Holocaust," said Hanna Cohen, an aunt of 27-year-old Inbar Haiman, who was initially believed to have been taken hostage on October 7 but was subsequently found to have been killed. Her body is still believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza.  About 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were killed on October 7 in the deadliest day in Israel's history, according to Israeli tallies.  In response, Israel launched a devastating assault on the Gaza Strip, destroying large swaths of the enclave and killing more than 34,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.  Netanyahu's government has insisted that it will not stop the war until Hamas is destroyed and all the hostages are returned, but intensive efforts are underway to secure a halt to the fighting that might lead to a full cease-fire.  However, Netanyahu faces pressure from nationalist religious parties in his coalition to refuse a deal with Hamas and go ahead with the long-promised offensive against the southern Gaza city of Rafah. 

tokyo — Japan and India on Saturday decried remarks by U.S. President Joe Biden describing them as "xenophobic" countries that do not welcome immigrants, which the president said during a campaign fundraising event earlier in the week.  Japan said Biden's judgment was not based on an accurate understanding of its policy, while India rebutted the comment, defending itself as the world's most open society.  Biden grouped Japan and India as "xenophobic" countries, along with Russia and China as he tried to explain their struggling economies, contrasting the four with the strength of the U.S. as a nation of immigrants.  Japan is a key U.S. ally, and both Japan and India are part of the Quad, a U.S.-led informal partnership that also includes Australia in countering increasingly assertive China in the Indo-Pacific.  Just weeks ago, Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on an official visit, as the two leaders restated their "unbreakable alliance" and agreed to reinforce their security ties in the face of China's threat in the Indo-Pacific.  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also made a state visit to Washington last year, when he was welcomed by business and political leaders.  The White House said Biden meant no offense and was merely stressing that the U.S. was a nation of immigrants, saying he had no intention of undermining the relationship with Japan.  Japan is aware of Biden's remark as well as the subsequent clarification, a Japanese government official said Saturday, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.  The official said it was unfortunate that part of Biden's speech was not based on an accurate understanding of Japanese policies, and that Japan understands that Biden made the remark to emphasize the presence of immigrants as America's strength.  Japan-U.S. relations are "stronger than ever" as Prime Minister Kishida showed during his visit to the U.S. in April, the official said.  In New Delhi, India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Saturday also rebutted Biden's comment, saying India was the most open society in the world.  "I haven't seen such an open, pluralistic, and diverse society anywhere in the world. We are actually not just not xenophobic, we are the most open, most pluralistic and in many ways the most understanding society in the world," Jaishankar said at a roundtable organized by the Economic Times newspaper.  Jaishankar also noted that India's annual GDP growth is 7% and said, "You check some other countries' growth rate, you will find an answer." The U.S. economy grew by 2.5% in 2023, according to government figures.  At a hotel fundraiser Wednesday, where the donor audience was largely Asian American, Biden said the upcoming U.S. election was about "freedom, America and democracy" and that the nation's economy was thriving "because of you and many others."  "Why? Because we welcome immigrants," Biden said. "Look, think about it. Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they're xenophobic. They don't want immigrants."  Japan has been known for a strict stance on immigration. But in recent years, it has eased its policies to make it easier for foreign workers to come and stay in Japan to mitigate its declining births and rapidly shrinking population. The number of babies born in Japan last year fell to a record low since Japan started compiling the statistics in 1899.  India, which has the world's largest population, enacted a new citizenship law earlier this year by setting religious criteria that allows fast-tracking naturalization for Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, while excluding Muslims. 

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.

washington — Supporters of two U.S. nationals seen as unjustly imprisoned overseas are raising concerns about what they see as a murky process by which the U.S. government decides whether to designate such individuals as wrongfully detained. Granting a wrongful detention designation to a U.S. national means the U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs is authorized to work with a coalition of government and private sector organizations to secure the detainee's freedom. Hostage rights advocates and relatives of the two U.S. nationals jailed in Iran and Russia tell VOA they want answers as to why the pair have been waiting months or years for a wrongful detention designation, while other Americans jailed in the same two countries have received the designation much more quickly. Designations are granted if a review by the secretary of state concludes that the U.S. national's case meets criteria  defined in the Levinson Act of 2020. One U.S. national whose case has been under review for years is 62-year-old retired Iranian ship captain Shahab Dalili. After immigrating to the U.S. with his family in 2014 upon being granted permanent residency, he returned to Iran in 2016 to attend his father's funeral and was arrested. Iranian authorities sentenced Dalili to 10 years in prison for allegedly cooperating with a hostile government, a reference to the U.S. His family denies the charge. While not a U.S. citizen, Dalili is considered a "U.S. national" under the Levinson Act, by virtue of his lawful permanent resident status. The other U.S. national, whose case has been under review for months, is Alsu Kurmasheva, a 47-year-old U.S.-Russian dual citizen and Prague-based journalist with VOA sister network RFE/RL. Kurmasheva had traveled to Russia last year to visit her elderly mother, but authorities blocked her from departing in June and confiscated her U.S. and Russian passports. They jailed her in October and charged her with failing to register as a foreign agent and with spreading falsehoods about the Russian military, offenses punishable by up to 10 years in prison. RFE/RL and the U.S. Agency for Global Media say the charges were filed in reprisal for Kurmasheva's work as a journalist. Asked about Kurmasheva at a Tuesday news briefing, U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said the Biden administration remains "deeply concerned" about her detention and believes she should be released. He said a "deliberative and fact-driven process" is underway regarding a wrongful detention designation in her case, but he declined to elaborate. Speaking with reporters last August, Patel said Dalili's case "has not yet been determined wrongfully detained" and declined to say more. There has been no update since then, Dalili's son Darian told VOA. In contrast to the unresolved status of Dalili's eight-year detention, two Iranian Americans whom Iran freed from detention last September in a prisoner exchange with the U.S., and whom U.S. officials declined to name, received wrongful detention designations in what appears to be a relatively quick time. The two individuals, whose backgrounds are revealed for the first time in this report as a result of a VOA open-source investigation, are San Diego-based international aid worker Fary Moini and Boston-based biologist Reza Behrouzi of Generate:Biomedicines. Moini and Behrouzi were among five Americans released by Iran in the September exchange. The first indications that the two had been detained in Iran came from images of them published by news outlets and by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan as the group traveled to the U.S. via Qatar. A day later, Iran's NourNews site named the two previously unidentified Americans as "Reza Behrouzi" and "Fakhr al-Sadat Moini," but gave no detail of their backgrounds. NourNews spelled Moini's first name differently than "Fary," the name she uses publicly in the U.S. U.S. officials said all five of the Americans had been designated as wrongfully detained, including three previously known detainees who had been jailed for years: Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz and Emad Sharghi. VOA contacted the State Department to ask when, where and why Moini and Behrouzi were detained in Iran, but it declined to provide an on-the-record response. Neither of the two responded to VOA requests for comment sent by email and through their social media profiles. But Behrouzi and Moini were active on their Facebook and X accounts until three months and 11 months respectively before their release, indicating both were detained for less than a year. Upon hearing from VOA about the State Department's silence on Moini's and Behrouzi's detentions in Iran, Darian Dalili said he believes "something is not right" about how they got their designations. "I think a lot of it has to do with the prominent status of these two people, whereas my father [Shahab Dalili] is a regular father of two," the younger Dalili said. Nizar Zakka — a Lebanese American who spent almost four years in what the U.S. said was unjust detention in Iran until being freed in 2019 — has urged the Biden administration to seek Shahab Dalili's release as a wrongfully detained U.S. national. Zakka told VOA he was happy that Moini and Behrouzi were released. But he said their attainment of wrongful detention designations in what appears to be a matter of months, while Dalili has waited years without securing that status, shows the designation process is not transparent. "The public has a right to know how two people freed by Iran in return for the U.S. unfreezing a huge sum of Iranian funds got their designations, whereas Dalili has not," Zakka said. "U.S. nationals like Dalili also should not be left behind," he added.   Russian American journalist Kurmasheva's wait for a U.S. decision on whether she is wrongfully detained after more than six months of Russian imprisonment also contrasts with the case of American reporter Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal. Gershkovich was arrested in Russia on March 29, 2023, on spying charges while working in the country as an accredited journalist. Twelve days later, Secretary of State Blinken announced his determination that Gershkovich was wrongfully detained. Kurmasheva's husband, Pavel Butorin, told VOA he does not know why Gershkovich got his designation so quickly while his wife continues to wait. "The designation of Evan's detention as wrongful was the right thing to do," Butorin said. "But the designation process is opaque, and I don't know where we are in it. I do know the State Department will prioritize those individuals formally designated as wrongfully detained in a prisoner exchange, so the designation is important for Alsu." Hostage rights advocate Diane Foley, president of U.S. nonprofit group Foley Foundation, told VOA she believes a big factor in Kurmasheva's wait for a designation is her dual citizenship. Foley said Gershkovich's case for a designation was clearer because he is solely a U.S. citizen. She said Kurmasheva's Russian citizenship means she is subject to Russian media regulations that the U.S. must examine to determine if she is jailed in violation of the detaining country's own law, one of the criteria of the Levinson Act. "That is what slows everything down," Foley said. "But we are pushing for Alsu to get the designation because she is a press freedom advocate and there is no excuse for Russia to retaliate by detaining her on a technicality."

amsterdam — Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Prime Minister Mark Rutte joined around 4,000 people Saturday for the country's annual World War II remembrance ceremony amid restricted public access and heightened security due to the war in Gaza.  The ceremony on Amsterdam's central Dam square, with the traditional two minutes of silence at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT) to commemorate the victims of World War II, passed smoothly despite fears that there might be protests.  Normally some 20,000 people attend the Dam commemoration without having to register. But earlier this week, municipal authorities announced unprecedented security measures to keep the ceremony safe and avoid possible disruptions linked to the Israel-Hamas war.  At the opening of a Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam in March, pro-Palestinian protesters opposed to Israel's military campaign in Gaza set off fireworks and booed Israeli President Isaac Herzog as he arrived on a visit.  Every town and city in the Netherlands holds its own remembrance ceremony on May 4 and tens of thousands of people attend the events. Then on May 5, the Netherlands marks the anniversary of its liberation from Nazi occupation in 1945.