Bloomberg: “Keir Starmer’s efforts to hold back a potential leadership challenge showed new cracks, as allies of leading Labour Party rivals signaled they were ready to challenge him for the prime minister’s job.”

“Starmer’s former No. 2, Angela Rayner, indicated on Thursday that she was preparing for a bid to lead the governing Labour Party after announcing she had been cleared by a tax probe. The prime minister’s supporters had been expecting Health Secretary Wes Streeting to quit the Cabinet and declare his own challenge.”

Bloomberg: “When President Xi Jinping met US leader Donald Trump in Beijing on Thursday, he posed a big question: Can China and the US avoid the ‘Thucydides Trap’? It’s a phrase that sounds academic, but it goes to the heart of Beijing’s ambitions for their relationship.”

“The term was popularized by Harvard political scientist Graham Allison in the early 2010s, drawing on the ancient Greek historian Thucydides. His argument: when a rising power challenges an established one, conflict inevitably follows. Allison’s research found this pattern played out repeatedly across history and he used this framing as a lens to examine the US-China rivalry.”

“In simple terms, it’s about structural tension. China’s rise — economically, technologically and militarily — challenges America’s long-standing dominance as a world superpower. Even if neither side seeks confrontation, the risk is that competition itself creates pressure that’s hard to control.”

“Pope Leo XIV has criticized a European rush to rearm, warning it is diverting resources from education and health, as he reiterated his message of peace,” Bloomberg reports.

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, delivered a warning on Taiwan to President Trump as the two leaders began their summit in Beijing on Thursday, saying that the issue, if handled poorly, could lead to conflict and “an extremely dangerous situation,” the New York Times reports.

Wall Street Journal: “Xi’s statement, while in line with China’s longstanding position, threatened to dim the mood of a visit both countries hoped would stabilize ties. The meetings that began Thursday morning at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing were billed as a gathering of superpowers to quell economic and trade disputes.”

“The Chinese leader, however, aims to weaken the U.S. commitment to Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that Beijing seeks to bring under its control.”