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South Korean presidential election
Opposition Lee Jae-Myung becomes South Korea's president

Opposition leader Lee Jae-Myung and the Democratic Party (DP) take home the victory in Tuesday's presidential election in South Korea.

- I will fulfill my mission to create a world where democracy is restored and the people are respected as independent while living in harmony with each other, he says in his victory speech, according to SVT.

Lee won a landslide victory over conservative Kim Moon-soo, who ran for ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol's former party.

The vote count was approved early Wednesday and his term began immediately. There is usually a one-month transition period between sitting presidents in South Korea, but because Lee won a new election after Yoon's impeachment, he will take office immediately.

The nuclear deal with Iran
Trump's demands are answered with a shrug: "Who are you?"

The United States has no way of weakening Iran's nuclear program. This is what Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in a speech to the nation, after Trump emphasized yesterday that he would not allow any Iranian enrichment of uranium.

- You have no say, Khamenei said in the speech. Who are you to tell Tehran whether we should have a nuclear program or not?

Instead, he emphasized that enrichment will continue. Without it, the country's nuclear program is not worth it and therefore it is key that enrichment continues, he said.

Tehran claims that it wants to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and denies Western accusations that it wants to develop nuclear weapons, writes Reuters.

But even though Khamenei completely dismissed the specific proposal for enrichment, he did not close the door to reaching an agreement with the United States, notes the AP.

Middle East crisis  Political situation in Israel
Israeli government is teetering – ultra-Orthodox threaten to leave

Government collapse and new elections are threatening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after a major internal row, sources for several Israeli media outlets report.

Historically, ultra-Orthodox Jewish men have escaped mandatory military service, but the rules have been viewed by others as unfair, leading to a review of the law.

On Tuesday evening, a long and fruitless meeting was held between the chairman of the parliament's defense committee, Yuli Edelstein, and several ultra-Orthodox parties. The religious parties want civilian service, such as volunteer work, to be sufficient as an effort. But Edelstein argues that 50 percent of young ultra-Orthodox in each cohort should be called up for military service in the IDF, according to Ynet.

Several high-ranking rabbis are now urging parties such as the Torah Party to leave the government.

- It was a difficult evening. A decision has been made by the rabbis – we are now moving towards new elections, says an ultra-Orthodox source.

Government crisis in the Netherlands
Analysis: Geert Wilders is now back in total isolation

Now no one is defending Geert Wilders anymore. This is what Frank Hendrickx and Ben Meindertsma write in an analysis in De Volkskrant after the right-wing nationalist politician's defection yesterday brought down the Dutch government.

In the 2023 election, his party PVV became the largest and he managed to leave his political solitude. But after yesterday's defection, it is unlikely that any other party will want to cooperate with the PVV and he is therefore back on familiar ground: in total political isolation.

"Wilders will persistently continue to campaign to become prime minister, but with which coalition partners?"

The collapsed four-party government was an "unhappy marriage" between technocrats and populists, writes Guus Valk in the daily NRC. The government has come close to falling several times, it has been full of cracks and has never really worked, according to the analysis.

"The coalition that promised to stand up for people who felt betrayed did not even last a year. But it was still longer than many had thought."