The Palestine Liberation Organization's Central Council approved on Thursday the creation of the position of vice president for its executive committee, the official news agency WAFA reported.According to WAFA, the vice president will be selected from the current members of the executive committee, following a nomination by the committee's chairman and approval by its members.The chairman will also have the authority to assign duties, dismiss vice presidents, or accept their resignations, said the report.An Israeli tank driver was killed by sniper fire in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said in a statement on Thursday.The soldier, who served in the 79th Battalion of the "Machatz" Armored Brigade, was killed "during combat in northern Gaza," the military said, adding that his family had been notified of his death. The slain soldier's name has not yet been cleared for publication.In addition, an officer in the Yahalom Unit and a reservist from the same battalion were severely wounded in the incident and evacuated to a hospital, according to the statement.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday projected that growth in Asia and the Pacific will slow to 3.9 percent this year amid escalating trade tensions, marking a 0.5 percentage point decline from its previous projection."A leader in global trade, Asia accounted for nearly 60 percent of global growth in 2024. However, the region's successful growth model, based on trade liberalization and integration into value chains, faces mounting challenges," IMF officials said in a blog published on Thursday."The downgrade of 0.5 percentage point, our sharpest since the pandemic, reflects weaker global demand, reduced trade, tighter financial conditions, and heightened uncertainty," according to the blog.Three people were killed and five others injured in a bomb explosion in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Thursday, officials said.The incident occurred in Kalat district, where a passenger van was targeted by a roadside bomb, official sources from the district told Xinhua.The injured passengers were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.No group claimed responsibility for the attack.South Sudan hosts 552,333 refugees and asylum-seekers across 140,445 households, settled in 29 locations nationwide as of March, the United Nations refugee agency said on Thursday.The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said this includes 548,430 registered refugees and 3,903 asylum-seekers.The UNHCR said the majority of the refugees and asylum-seekers are from neighboring Sudan, which has faced a two-year conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023.