Staff Report

WASHINGTON: The US Senate has confirmed President Barack Obama's nominees to serve as ambassadors to Iraq and Pakistan, SAMAA reports.

By voice vote early Saturday morning, lawmakers backed the selection of Richard Olson to be U.S. envoy in Pakistan. His appointment comes as an already tenuous relationship between Islamabad and Washington has been complicated by anti-American protests in several Pakistani cities against an anti-Islam film.

The Senate also backed Robert Beecroft for the post in Iraq. -SAMAA