World
Vote counting under way in Taiwan’s closely watched elections
Taipei, Taiwan – Voters have cast their ballots in Taiwan’s closely watched presidential and parliamentary elections, with the first results expected to be announced later on Saturday.
The presidential vote is a surprising three-way race between incumbent Vice President William Lai Ching-te from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP); the former mayor of New Taipei City Hou Yu-ih from the more conservative Kuomintang (KMT); and third-party candidate Ko Wen-je from the Taiwan People’s Party.
At stake is the future direction of Taiwan’s democracy: A continued push for a higher international profile as a de facto independent state by the DPP; closer ties with China but potentially better economic relations as promised by the KMT; or an untested but new third way between both parties as promised by the TPP.
Also at stake is the makeup of Taiwan’s 113-person unicameral legislature, voted in based on geographic constituency and a second list based on a party’s proportion of votes. Six seats are reserved for Indigenous Taiwanese.
In the last election, the DPP snuck through with a legislative majority, but their victory is far from certain this time thanks to competition from the KMT and TPP in many local races.
Some 19.5 million people were eligible to vote aged 20 and over, and voter turnout is expected to be high based on public transit data.
Taiwanese are required to return to the location of their household registration – typically their hometown – to vote in person, which means the leadup to elections can be a busy time for the island-wide rail service.
On Friday, Taiwan Railway Administration predicted a record 758,000 tickets in sales – higher than any previous election.
It was a surprise turnaround for what has been a relatively lacklustre campaign season focused on domestic issues, according to Brian Hioe, a frequent commentator on Taiwanese politics and founder of New Bloom Magazine.
“Shortly before train ticket sales weren’t doing that well and there was a sudden rebound,” he said. “I think it shows how quickly things can change in Taiwanese politics.”
“Oftentimes before the election itself, it suddenly sets up a national doom feeling. People suddenly worry what will happen if X candidate gets elected or if one rally turnout appears higher than expected,” Hioe also said. “That makes people mobilise.”
One of the most exciting things for me at Taiwan’s elections is to witness the vote counting where votes are counted transparently in front of voters. Police just announced that polls have closed and counting has started. Hou Yu-ih has an early lead at the voting center I’m at. pic.twitter.com/LsR6SWgh7D
— Roy Ngerng 鄞義林 Khûn Gī-lîm (@royngerng) January 13, 2024
Hioe said two key events may have spooked some voters this week into voting. The first was the massive turnout of 350,000 people on Friday at a rally for third-party candidate Ko, showing voters that he was a real contender despite the relative inexperience of his party.
The second were remarks made this week by former president and KMT member Ma Ying-jeou that Taiwan should trust Chinese President Xi Jinping.
While Ma is long retired from the presidency, he still carries weight within his party and some voters may be alarmed about his sway over KMT candidate Hou, Hioe said.
Many Taiwanese are distrustful of Beijing, which claims Taiwan as a province, and want their democracy to maintain its de facto independence.
Beijing typically relies on a combination of “carrot and stick” strategies to try to lure voters and also scare them into voting for their preferred candidates at election time – typically anyone other than the DPP.
Voters told Al Jazeera that polls had been busy since they opened early on Saturday.
Taipei resident Jason Wang said his plan to get to the polls early with his wife and daughter was put off slightly by a surprisingly long and diverse queue for 8am.
“It wasn’t old people, which was surprising. It was a lot of young couples – and I mean people who would spend their Friday night partying it up,” he said.
Guava Lai, a young DPP supporter in his 20s, said his social media was full of panicked posts from friends on Friday night that candidate Ko could win.
“My friends were pretty anxious especially the night before. For context most of my friends would be voting for DPP …and then seeing the news on Friday that Ko Wen-je had this many people and Hou Yu-ih had that many people,” he said. “That was the vibe I saw on my social media feed, people being anxious and also trying to reassure each other.”
The DPP has been in power for the past eight years under President Tsai Ing-wen.
In an ordinary election, Taiwan’s two main parties, the KMT and DPP, should be due to switch power, but Ko has upset the normal trajectory.
The outspoken former mayor of Taipei has been popular with younger voters who say they want something new from the old two-party system.
They include 25-year-old Nicky who told Al Jazeera she had voted for Ko as she left an elementary school voting station in Taipei on Saturday. Declining to use her full name, she said she liked Ko’s record as mayor and his can-do attitude and plainer style of speaking.
“He was the mayor of Taipei for eight years,” she said. “He can really get things done and he can solve problems. That’s what you want.” Her friends felt the same, she added.
Nicky was uncertain about Ko’s chances to win as most older voters prefer Taiwan’s two traditional parties, but she still wanted to show her support.
“I think it’s time for a change,” she said.
Some of her concerns were echoed by Ross Feingold, a lawyer and political analyst based in Taipei.
He emphasised that some voters were concerned with issues other than China, including transparency in public office.
“Just like other countries, there are recurring corruption issues, nepotism issues under the leadership of different political parties in Taiwan, and I think voters here want to know that the person who is going to lead them for the next four years is an honest man,” he told Al Jazeera.
World
Meta appeals landmark jury verdict that found it to blame for social media addiction for young users
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, has appealed the verdict of a landmark social media addiction lawsuit in Los Angeles, challenging the jury’s determination that the company designed its platforms to hook young users without concern for their well-being.
Lawyers representing Meta filed a notice of appeal Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The lawyers will provide their arguments related to the appeal in subsequent court filings.
The case centered on a 20-year-old woman who said she became addicted to social media as a child and that it worsened her mental health struggles. The jury found that negligence by both Meta and Google-owned YouTube, which was also a defendant in the case, was a substantial factor in causing harm to the young woman, identified in court only by her initials, KGM, and her first name, Kaley.
The jury awarded her $3 million in damages and recommended an additional $3 million in punitive damages. Her lead attorney, Mark Lanier, said in a statement Friday that the legal team is expecting the appellate court to “continue the careful application of the law to this case, affirming the verdict of the trial court.”
A notice of appeal starts what can be a lengthy process. A Meta spokesperson provided a statement Friday that they also gave when the jury returned the verdict in March, saying that teen mental health is “profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app.”
José Castañeda, a spokesperson for Google, said in a statement Friday that YouTube plans to appeal and that “these are standard motions for this case to move forward.”
Meta and Google had each filed post-trial motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict — a routinely filed motion by defense lawyers asking a judge to toss out the jury’s verdict — and for a new trial. The trial judge, Carolyn B. Kuhl, denied those motions in early June.
Tech companies like Meta and YouTube are shielded from legal responsibility for content posted by third parties, based on Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. To get around those protections, the plaintiffs focused on the design features of the platforms like “infinite scroll,” or the endless nature of feeds on the platforms, and autoplay functions.
Questions about encroaching into content-related territory were the subject of many objections from the defendants throughout the five-week trial.
The verdict in this case came during a time of legal woes for Meta. A jury in New Mexico returned a verdict finding that Meta’s platforms harm children’s mental health and safety just one day before the California jury reached its decision. The New Mexico jury, siding with state prosecutors who brought the case, landed on a penalty of $375 million. Meta has said the company disagrees with the verdict and will also appeal in that case.
“We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement at the time of the verdicts and again on Friday.
Kaley’s case was a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, and the verdict could influence the outcome of thousands of similar lawsuits accusing social media companies of deliberately causing harm. TikTok and Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. were also initially named as defendants in the case, but each settled for undisclosed sums before the trial began.
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Israel’s leaders are publicly signaling that their country is prepared to strike Iran for a third time, while a U.S. official tells Fox News Digital that Washington remains closely coordinated with Jerusalem.
“The IDF is on high alert and prepared to resume the campaign, regain air superiority, and carry out an independent Israeli strike against Iran to eliminate threats — even for a third time,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Minister Israel Katz said Thursday at a graduation ceremony for the Israeli Air Force’s newest pilots.
“If we have to return, we will return with even greater force,” Katz added.
ISRAEL DEFENSE CHIEF WARNS STRIKES ON IRAN COULD RESUME SOON, SIGNALS CAMPAIGN NOT OVER
U.S. Central Command shared this footage in a July 8, 2026, press release about strikes against Iran. (CENTCOM)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also warned Thursday that Israel’s campaign against Iran was not finished and said Tehran would not be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon, regardless of any agreement reached with Washington.
“The war has not yet ended,” Netanyahu said at the air force ceremony. “Alongside the old challenges, new challenges are emerging. Axes are falling, and axes are rising. We are paying attention to this. We are prepared for every scenario.”
Two Israeli sources told CNN Friday that the Trump administration does not currently want Israel to participate in the latest U.S. strikes against Iran.
“Netanyahu would really want to join the U.S. strikes, but the U.S. doesn’t want Israel involved at the moment,” one of the sources told CNN.
A U.S. official denied the report, telling Fox News Digital, “This is fake news. The United States has a strong relationship with Israel, which contributed to the resounding success of Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Epic Fury. We remain in close coordination with our Israeli partners.”
Israel first launched a major campaign against Iran in June 2025, with the United States later joining the fighting by striking the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities. On Feb. 28, the two allies launched a new, coordinated military campaign against Iran.
While Israeli leaders are openly presenting the military as ready for another campaign, some Israeli officials and analysts say there is little appetite for renewed fighting unless it produces a clear strategic result.
The public warnings may overstate Israel’s desire to reenter the fighting, said Israeli analyst and journalist for Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth, Nadav Eyal.
“On the record, Israel is signaling that it is prepared and even eager to strike Iran. But off the record, sources are saying that it is anything but that,” Eyal told Fox News Digital. “The reason is clear: Any Israeli strike in Iran will lead to Iranian ballistic missile attacks against Israel.”
US CLAWS BACK KEY CONCESSION TO IRAN AFTER FRESH ATTACKS ON COMMERCIAL SHIPS IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, from left, US President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. Trump insisted Egypt and Jordan will take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, dismissing the countries’ refusal to accept people from the war-shattered territory. Photographer: Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)
Eyal said the domestic political consequences could make Netanyahu reluctant to begin another round of fighting, particularly as Israel approaches another election.
“If these strikes are meant to provide meaningful, strategic change, it is something the prime minister can sell to the public,” Eyal said. “But if the intention is only to use Israel as leverage, why should Israelis again experience a couple of weeks or more of sitting in safe rooms and losing their summer vacations, children’s day camps and summer camps? That could play out badly for the prime minister politically.”
“The truth is that Israel was not really enthusiastic about another strike,” he added. “That doesn’t mean it is not going to happen. If President Trump demands that Netanyahu join, it is very hard to see the Israelis saying no. But right now, I don’t see any passion for it.”
The diplomatic outreach continued even as Trump declared that the ceasefire with Iran was over.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
A source with knowledge of the situation told Fox News that Qatari negotiators have traveled to Iran, in coordination with the United States, to meet with Iranian officials in an effort to de-escalate the situation and create the conditions for negotiations to resume.
On Thursday, Netanyahu and Trump spoke by phone, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office, which said the two agreed to continue coordinating across several regional fronts. Trump briefed Netanyahu on American operations in the Gulf, the statement said.
NETANYAHU REJECTS REPORTS OF A RIFT WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP, SAYS THE TWO REMAIN ALIGNED ON IRAN
A satellite image shows damage at the control tower in the port of Chabahar, Iran, July 9, 2026, after the U.S. military said July 8, 2026, it launched fresh strikes on Iran to keep the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping. ( 2026 PLANET LABS PBC/Handout via Reuters)
The military warnings came as the Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Israel had provided the United States with intelligence about what is described as a fresh Iranian plot to assassinate Trump.
The developments follow renewed attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, where U.S. naval officials said the maritime threat remained “severe.” U.S. Naval Forces Central Command reminded commercial vessels Friday that an expanded southern route through the strait remained open and that no controlling authority could require ships to pay a fee for passage.
A U.S. official told Fox News on background that Iran’s attacks against commercial vessels were “acts of terrorism” and constituted failed performance under the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran.
“The United States is still committed to finding a resolution, and technical talks continue,” the official said. “Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon.”
Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, a former senior Israeli military intelligence officer who now heads the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said Israel had never regarded the memorandum as an adequate guarantee.
“From Israel’s perspective, the MOU was never a good deal,” Kuperwasser told Fox News Digital, speaking of the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran.
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CENTCOM shared footage of strikes against airplanes amid Iran war (U.S. Central Command on X)
“Israel should be on high alert, ready to face an Iranian attack and prepared to strike back if necessary,” he added.
For now, Israel’s leaders appear to be leaving Iran — and Washington — with little doubt that they are prepared to act. Whether the United States allows Israel to join the renewed campaign, however, could determine whether the latest confrontation remains limited or develops into another full-scale regional war.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
Published on •Updated
Belgium’s three regions announced on Friday that they would introduce a road tax next year that foreign drivers transiting the country would also have to pay.
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The country does not currently charge drivers to use its highways and the issue of introducing some form of payment has been debated for years.
“Everyone who uses our roads must contribute fairly to their maintenance,” said the transport minister for the southern Wallonia region, François Desquesnes.
Starting on 1 May 2027 drivers will need to register their vehicle and pay the road tax, with day passes available for drivers driving across the country.
An annual pass for a zero-emission car will cost €90 and up to €125 for higher polluting vehicles.
Road cameras that catch cars that haven’t paid for a pass will incur a fine of €70.
In Belgium, the individual regions are responsible for maintaining roads and motorways.
Currently, drivers can use almost all highways toll-free but the possibility of an introducing a charge has been under discussion for several years.
The revenue would be used for the operation and maintenance of the road network.
The proposed toll still needs final approval from the regions and European authorities.
According to the chairman of the liberal-conservative MR party, the government intends to offset the new toll by lowering other taxes for Belgians.
Additional sources • AFP
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