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First ever Indian-American to head World Bank

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Former Mastercard boss Ajay Banga has been elected to lead the World Bank as it strives to help low-income countries overcome debt and combat climate change.

Mr Banga, nominated by President Joe Biden for the post, is the first-ever Indian American to head the bank.

He will replace David Malpass, who had sparked outcry by appearing to question the role of humans in climate change.

He begins his five-year term on 2 June.

Now a US citizen, Mr Banga started his career in his native India, where his father was an officer in the army. He worked at Nestle and Citigroup before joining Mastercard where he stayed for more than a decade.

US President Joe Biden called him “a transformative leader” who had the experience to run the World Bank.

“He will help steer the institution as it evolves and expands to address global challenges that directly affect its core mission of poverty reduction — including climate change,” Mr Biden said.

In announcing Mr Banga’s confirmation, the bank’s executive directors said in a statement that they looked forward to working with him “on all the World Bank Group’s ambitions and efforts aimed at tackling the toughest development challenges facing developing countries.”

The US, the World Bank’s biggest shareholder, has traditionally been in charge of selecting the person to lead the institution, which lends billions of dollars to countries each year.

Developing countries have in the past complained about this, but Mr Banga was the only candidate for president.

“Ajay was elected with resounding approval from the executive directors, and will start his mandate with incredibly strong support from the membership of the World Bank,” a senior US official said about the vote.

Mr Banga’s appointment comes at a consequential moment for the development organisation.

The US and other wealthy nations have been pushing the bank to increase its lending to fight climate change. The bank’s $100bn (£80bn) per year or so of loans to help developing countries cope with climate change falls far short of the $1tn they say is needed.

Many developing nations are worried the focus on climate change will divert attention away from its anti-poverty efforts.

Developing countries have been hard hit by the pandemic, rises in food and in energy prices, and unsustainable levels of debt.

As president of the World Bank, Mr Banga will have to address these issues – all without any clear additional money on the table.

In an interview with the BBC in in March, when Mr Banga was on a listening tour in Africa, he said he wanted the bank to be a “catalyst” and “thought leader” for action,

“We also need to bring in the private sector to be able to reach these ambitious targets that we all have,” he said.

(BBC News)

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Trump says Israel has agreed to conditions for 60-day Gaza ceasefire

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Israel has agreed to the “necessary conditions” to finalise a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, US President Donald Trump has said.

During the proposed deal, “we will work with all parties to end the War”, Trump said in a post on Truth Social, without detailing what the conditions are.

“The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal. I hope… that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” Trump wrote.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said that Israel was “absolutely” ready for a ceasefire, but it was not immediately clear whether Hamas would accept the conditions of the proposed deal.

Trump’s announcement comes before a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scheduled for next week, in which the US president has said he would be “very firm”.

The US president said on Tuesday that he believed Netanyahu wanted to end hostilities in Gaza.

“He wants to. I can tell you he wants to. I think we’ll have a deal next week,” Trump added.

On Tuesday, Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer was due to meet US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance in Washington.

Speaking on the BBC News channel, Danon said that Hamas was “playing hardball”.

“We are putting pressure on Hamas, and if they will not come to the table, the only option we will have to bring back the hostages, is to apply more military pressure,” Danon said.

“The war will end when the hostages are back home,” he added.

Around 50 Israeli hostages are still in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

Last week, a senior Hamas official told the BBC mediators have increased efforts to broker a new ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, but that negotiations with Israel remain stalled.

Israel has said the conflict can only end when Hamas has been completely dismantled. Hamas has long called for a permanent truce and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Trump’s comments come shortly after Israel ordered evacuations in northern Gaza ahead of increased military action. At least 20 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a seafront cafe in Gaza City on Monday, according to medics and eyewitnesses.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza after Hamas’s 7 October, 2023 attack on Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed. At least 56,647 have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The Israeli military this week also said it was examining reports of civilians being “harmed” while approaching aid distribution centres in Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

More than 170 charities and other NGOs have called for the controversial group to be shut down. Organisations like Oxfam and Save the Children say Israeli forces “routinely” open fire on Palestinians seeking aid.

Israel denies this accusation and says the organisation is necessary to bypass Hamas interference in aid distribution.

In March, a previous ceasefire deal collapsed when Israel launched fresh strikes on Gaza. The Israeli military described the action as “pre-emptive strikes… based on Hamas’s readiness to execute terror attacks, build up force and re-arm”.

The previous ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas – which started on 19 January – was set up to have three stages, but did not make it past the first stage.

Stage two included establishing a permanent ceasefire, the return of remaining living hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

(BBC News)

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Thai prime minister suspended over leaked phone call

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Thailand’s Constitutional Court has suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who has come under mounting pressure to resign over her leaked phone conversation with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen.

The clip, in which Paetongtarn called him “uncle” and criticised a Thai military commander, sparked public anger and a petition for her dismissal, which the court is now considering.

That could make Paetongtarn the third politician in the powerful Shinawatra clan – which has dominated Thai politics for the past two decades – to lose power before completing their term.

Her ruling coalition is already teetering with a slim majority after a key conservative ally abandoned it two weeks ago.

The Constitutional Court voted 7-2 to suspend her while they consider the case for her dismissal and she has 15 days to present her defence.

In the meantime the deputy PM will serve as the country’s acting leader. Paetongtarn, however, will remain in the cabinet as culture minister, a new appointment following a cabinet reshuffle that was endorsed hours before she was suspended.

On Tuesday, Paetongtarn apologised again, adding that the purpose of her phone call with Hun Sen was “more than 100%… for the country”.

The call was about the border dispute between the two countries – although it’s decades old, tensions have risen again since late May when a Cambodian soldier was killed.

The leaked audio especially angered conservative lawmakers who accused her of appeasing Hun Sen and undermining Thailand’s military.

But she defended herself on Tuesday, saying, “I had no intent to do it for my own interest. I only thought about how to avoid chaos, avoid fighting and to avoid loss of lives.

“If you listened to it carefully, you’d understand that I didn’t have ill intentions. This is what I’ll focus and spend time on explaining thoroughly.”

If she is eventually dismissed, Paetongtarn will be the second prime minister from the Pheu Thai party to be removed from premiership since August last year.

At that time, her predecessor Srettha Thavisin was dismissed, also by the constitutional court, for appointing to his cabinet a former lawyer who was once jailed.

Days later, Paetongtarn – whose father is Thailand’s deposed leader Thaksin Shinawatra – was sworn in as prime minister.

Tuesday’s decision once again underscores the constitutional court’s power to unmake governments, which critics say can be weaponised to target political opponents.

This court has dissolved 34 parties since 2006, including the reformist Move Forward, which won the most seats and votes in the 2023 election but was blocked from forming the government.

“This has become a pattern in Thai politics… a part of the Thai political culture, which is not what a true political process is supposed to be,” said Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political science lecturer at Ubon Ratchathani University.

“The suspension by court order shouldn’t have happened but most people could see its legitimacy because the leaked conversation really made people question if the PM was genuinely defending the interest of the country.”

Paetongtarn, 38, remains the country’s youngest leader and only the second woman to be PM after her aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra.

Already struggling to revive a weak economy, Paetongtarn saw her approval rating fall to 9.2% last weekend, down from 30.9% in March.

The court’s decision comes on the same day as Paetongtarn’s father, who was seen as the driving force behind her government, battles his own political troubles.

Thaksin is fighting charges of insulting the monarchy over an interview he gave to a South Korean newspaper nine years ago. His trial started on Tuesday.

The controversial political leader, who returned to Thailand in 2023 after 15 years in exile, is the most high-profile figure to face charges under the country’s notorious lese majeste law.

Thaksin’s return was part of a grand compromise between Pheu Thai and its former conservative foes.

They include the military, which deposed two Shinawatra governments in coups, and groups close to the monarchy.

(BBC)

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Death toll in India factory blast rises to 34

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At least 34 people have been killed in a massive fire at a pharmaceuticals factory in the southern Indian state of Telangana, according to news agencies.

The blast took place during work hours on Monday at a unit of Sigachi Industries, leaving several injured and in critical condition.

“As many as 31 bodies have been extricated from the debris while three died in hospital while undergoing treatment,” senior district police official Paritosh Pankaj told the Press Trust of India.

Police have registered a case against the management of Sigachi Industries, based on a complaint by the son of a victim.

The company has said it is halting operations at the facility for 90 days, because of damage to equipment and structures within the plant.

“The incident has unfortunately resulted in loss of human life, and there may have been individuals who sustained injuries,” Sigachi Industries said in a statement, adding that it was ascertaining the number who are injured.

Authorities say approximately 60 people were in the building when the blast took place, leading to a complete collapse of the building.

Many of the workers were migrants from states like Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal in the north and east of the country.

The unit manufactured microcrystalline cellulose, a binding agent often used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food industries.

“Pressure seems to have built up when the workers were operating the spray dryer,” a senior rescue official told the Indian Express newspaper. “Fine dust chemical particles too accelerated the blast and the subsequent fire.”

At least 25 victims were rushed to nearby hospitals with varying degrees of burns and injuries, rescue officials told the newspaper. Many had reportedly inhaled poisonous fumes.

Rescue workers are still clearing the debris at the blast site and have told ANI news agency that they are unsure how many people were still trapped.

“Once we are all done with the clearing, only then we will be able to assess if any other body is still remaining under the debris or if it is all clear,” GV Narayana Rao, director of Telangana fire disaster response emergency, told Reuters.

Officials say DNA testing is being used to identify bodies that were charred beyond recognition.

The ruling Congress government in the state expressed “deep shock over the massive fire accident” and said compensation will be given to the families of the deceased and injured.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed condolences and announced compensation of 200,000 rupees ($2,336; £1,699) for each for the families of the deceased and 50,000 rupees for the injured.

(BBC News)

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