Venezuela's President names new mining minister

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro named a new mining minister on Sunday, the latest of several appointments as he seeks to strengthen his position against opposition pressure to quit. Announcing the appointment of Jorge Arreaza, 43, in a television broadcast, Maduro recalled that developing mining was part of his emergency plan to reboot the stricken economy. Arreaza is a son-in-law of Maduro's late predecessor Hugo Chavez, father of the "socialist revolution" that is now floundering in crisis. Venezuelans are suffering shortages of food and medicine as prices for the country's crucial oil exports have fallen. More…