and receiver Kenny Stills.

elected Mauritanian economist Sidi Ould Tah as its next president on Thursday to steer the region’s top development finance institution through difficult times amidand other key partners.

Tah, 60, was elected by the bank’s board of governors, which includes finance ministers and central bank governors from its 81 regional and non-regional member countries. He will take over on Sept. 1 for a five-year term, succeeding, who is stepping down after two terms.The election took three rounds of voting to decide between the five candidates in the contest. Tah won with 76.18% of the vote, ahead of Zambia’s Samuel Maimbo (with 20.26%), who is a vice-president of the World Bank, and former Senegalese economy minister Amadou Hott (3.55%).

The vote came during the bank’s annual meetings in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where economic headwinds — from debt distress to climate shocks — have dominated discussions.Observers see Tah’s leadership as pivotal in steering the institution through a period of rising pressure on African economies and tightening global development finance.

As the institution undergoes a leadership transition, the Trump administration is

, slashing $555 million in funding. The White House says such a commitment no longer aligns with the administration’s priorities.The announcement came a day after Rubio

of new visa interviews for international students as the department prepares guidelines for increased vetting of their activity on social media.Together, the announcements from the State Department added to uncertainty for America’s international students, who have faced intensifying scrutiny from President Donald Trump’s administration.

Earlier this year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested and tried towho had been involved in campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war. And the Trump administration abruptly