TAIPEI — Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progress Party candidate William Lai won Saturday's presidential election after the main opposition candidate conceded defeat.
Why it matters: The Chinese government is likely to ratchet up its pressure campaign against Taiwan in response to the election of a politician that Beijing has called a "separatist through and through."
Israel and Hamas reached an agreement through Qatari mediation to transfer medicine to the hostages held in Gaza, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said in a statement on Friday.
The big picture: It's the first time since the Oct. 7 attack that Hamas agreed to allow Israel to send the hostages critically needed medicine.
A handful of European and Asian countries dominate a new global ranking of the world's most powerful passports, with citizens of those nations able to travel most freely throughout the world.
Why it matters: The list, released this week byHenley & Partners, highlights the growing divide between the travel privileges that people from different countries enjoy — sometimes referred to as "passport privilege."
The U.S. and U.K. conducted airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Thursday after the group defied repeated warnings to halt its attacks on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea, President Biden said.
The big picture: Biden said in a statement that at his direction the military forces, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, "successfully conducted strikes" against several targets "used by Houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation in one of the world's most vital waterways."
