Kerry promotes Jon Finer to be his chief of staff

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry informed the State Department on Friday that he has promoted Jon Finer, a former foreign correspondent for the Washington Post, to be his new chief of staff. Finer, until now deputy chief of staff, travels with Kerry on his foreign trips and sits in on most of his meetings. He will replace David Wade, who is stepping down but will continue to accompany Kerry, a senior U.S. official said. "We have a lot to do over the next two years ... whether it is continuing the Iran nuclear talks, defining ​the path forward with India, our upcoming strategic dialogue with China (and) our efforts to normalize relations with Cuba," Kerry told the State Department in a letter obtained by Reuters. A Rhodes scholar, Finer previously worked at the White House as an adviser to Vice President Joe Biden and to former deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken, who is now the deputy secretary of state. As a journalist, he covered the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Israel's conflicts with Lebanon in 2006 and Gaza in 2009, and Russia's war with Georgia in 2008, according to his State Department biography. (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Tom Heneghan)