In brief: Diplomat tapped for Somalia post

Washington – President Barack Obama has nominated a career diplomat to be the first U.S. ambassador to Somalia in nearly 25 years, filling a post that has been vacant since the Horn of Africa country collapsed into chaos in 1991, forcing the closure of the American embassy.

Obama on Tuesday tapped Foreign Service veteran Katherine Simonds Dhanani for the job, which will be based in neighboring Kenya until security conditions permit the embassy in the Somali capital of Mogadishu to reopen, the State Department said. Dhanani is currently director of regional and security affairs in the department’s Africa bureau.

The State Department said the nomination is a sign of the U.S. commitment to Somalia.

Creditors approve Greece’s extension

Brussels – Greece cleared a major hurdle Tuesday in its ongoing battle to remain solvent as its European creditors approved a four-month extension to its financial bailout – but the cash-strapped country has much more to do to convince its partners that it deserves longer-term help beyond the summer.

The country’s creditors in the 19-country eurozone endorsed Greece’s request for the extension after the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund – the main institutions handling Greece’s loans – provisionally backed a list of reforms that Athens proposed in a letter late Monday.

Greece had to draw up the list, which includes measures to combat tax evasion and corruption, to get the bailout extended.

Boy, 14, shot during protest

San Cristobal, Venezuela – A 14-year-old boy died Tuesday after being shot in the head during an anti-government protest in Venezuela’s restive western region.

Preliminary investigations suggest the student was injured during a confrontation between police and protesters in the city, and died on the way to the hospital.

One of the more radical opposition parties in the socialist South American country immediately called for a gathering in the capital Thursday to demand an investigation into the cases of students who have died at the hands of the government.