LONDON (AP) – Keir Starmer isn’t on the ballot, but the U.K. prime minister’s future is on the line in a special election on Thursday. Voters in the Makerfield district of northwest England are electing a new lawmaker, and the leading contender is Andy Burnham of the governing Labour Party.

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

WASHINGTON (AP) – Taiwan needs to purchase American weapons to ensure its self-defense in the face of a growing threat from Beijing, the island’s top diplomat in the U.S. said, adding that he has seen no change in Washington’s policy toward the self-governing island that China claims as its own.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday his country has won key pledges of further support from world leaders in defending itself from Russia’s full-scale invasion, now in its fifth year.

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) – Leaders at the Group of Seven summit on Wednesday threw their support behind U.S. President Donald Trump’s tentative agreement with Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and extend a shaky ceasefire.

Senior U.S. officials on Wednesday read the memorandum of understanding with Iran to journalists after days of secrecy over what is in the document. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to read the draft, which Iran has not released, ahead of a formal signing ceremony set for Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Federal Reserve kept its key rate unchanged Wednesday yet almost half the central bank’s policymakers said they could support a rate hike later this year, an unexpectedly aggressive outcome that would disappoint President Trump and suggests heightened concerns about persistent inflation.