President Joe Biden is expected to nominate Los Angles Mayor Eric Garcetti as the next US ambassador to India. Garcetti's name was not among the slew of nominations, including ambassadors to Mexico and Israel, announced by the White House on Tuesday, but he is considered a certainty for new delhi pending background checks after assent from India. Garcetti's name has been in the mix for several weeks now along with former Congressman Jim McDermoot from Washington state. But went against him despite his strong link with India as co-founder of the India caucus and a physican who has visited India some two dozen times. Garcetti has no known India background or ties, but he is considered a trusted Democratic insider who has the ears of both President Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris. From a diplomatic perspective, the jury is out on whether his unfamiliarity with a nation as complex as India is a disadvantage or whether someone with coming in with a clean slate with no preconceived ideas is an advantage. Israeli aircraft struck Hamas sites in Gaza on Wednesday after incendiary ballons were launched from the Palestinian enclave in the first such attacks since a fragile ceasefire ended 11 days of deadly fighting last month. The violence poses an early test for the government of new PM Naftali Bennett, whose patchwork coalition came to power on sunday. An Egyptian-mediated truce that halted fighting between Israel and Gaza militants did not immediately appear to be threatened by the Flare-up, with the overnight Israeli airstrikes giving way to calm by morning. Egyptian and UN diplomats were mediating between both sides, two sources involved in the talks told NYT. There were no reports of casualties on either side. The overnight Violence follows a march in East Jerusalem.
