NATIONAL BRIEFS

WASHINGTON: Power confirmed for UN

The Senate easily confirmed President Barack Obama's selection for UN ambassador on Thursday, capping a month in which senators used a bipartisan truce on once-mired nominations to fill a cluster of vacancies in Obama's second-term administration. Samantha Power was approved 87-10, putting the former Obama foreign policy adviser and outspoken human rights advocate into the job formerly held by Susan Rice, now the president's national security adviser. Obama, meanwhile, chose John Koskinen, 74, a retired corporate and government official with experience managing organizations in crisis, as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, under fire for targeting political groups.

R.I. and MINNESOTA: Gay nuptials in 2 more states

In public celebrations and intimate ceremonies, gay couples exchanged vows Thursday in Minnesota and Rhode Island as the number of places where same-sex couples can wed grew to more than a quarter of U.S. states. Dozens of gay couples began getting hitched at the stroke of midnight in Minnesota, the largest Midwestern state where it is now legal to do so. In Rhode Island, the last New England state to allow same-sex marriage, weddings began at 8:30 a.m., when municipal offices opened. As of Thursday, same-sex couples can marry in 13 states and in Washington, D.C.

PENNSYLVANIA: Dying 2-year-old is best man

A 2-year-old boy with only weeks to live will serve as best man when his parents are wed Saturday. Sean Stevenson and Christine Swidorsky, of Jeannette, had planned to marry next year but decided to move the ceremony up so their son, Logan, could participate. Logan has Fanconi anemia, a rare disease that often causes cancer. He was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia at 14 months old and had a stem cell transplant a year ago. He lost one kidney to a tumor in March and now has a mass on his other kidney. Last week, doctors told the couple the boy would live only two to three weeks more.