the biden administration congratulated lai. ponding to a reporter's question this morning, president biden said the united states does not support independence for taiwan. lai is to be inaugurated in may. president biden also told reporters that he's confident the united states is "well-prepared" after a second round of u.s. strikes against iranian-backed houthi rebels in yemen. biden said the united states sent a private message to tehran. u.s. officials say they expect the houthis to retaliate, sting concerns of a wider middle east conflict. in gaza, pre-dawn israeli airstrikes killed more than 30 palestinians, including young children. the hamas-run gaza health ministry says nearly 24,000 people have been killed in gaza since the war began. still to come on "pbs news weekend". the rise of impeachment as a partisan weapon. and yomight be eating and drinking more microplastics than you think. ♪ >> this is pbs news weekend from weta studios in washington, he of the pbs newshour, weeknights on pbs. john: the taiwanese presidentia

the biden administration, and making sure they were congratulating the incoming lai administration ong to result in a warmer relationship with united states. like with the players in the region, it signals a maintenance of the status quo. president biden's first words when asked about the victory said that the u.s. does not support taiwan independence. secretary blinken's congratulatory note to the taiwan authorities data signal a maintaining of the status quo, unofficial relationship with the authorities in taiwan. all of that was meant not to provoke beijing. so we do have to see all sides, including william lai, and accepting victory on taiwan, no one was seemingly trying to provoke the situation right now. i think u.s.-taiwan relations, the four national security advisor saying that relationship is rocksolid in his unofficial trip to taiwan over the weekend, really symbolizing maintenance of the status quo. guy: if you are an investor and thinking about how the world works right now, thinking about the global technology sector, is it also a continuation of what we have gotten now,